Synopses & Reviews
On ship-tracking Web sites, the waters are black with dots. Each dot is a ship; each ship is laden with boxes; each box is laden with goods. In postindustrial economies, we no longer produce but buy, and so we must ship. Without shipping there would be no clothes, food, paper, or fuel. Without all those dots, the world would not work. Yet freight shipping is all but invisible. Away from public scrutiny, it revels in suspect practices, dubious operators, and a shady system of “flags of convenience.” And then there are the pirates.
Rose George, acclaimed chronicler of what we would rather ignore, sails from Rotterdam to Suez to Singapore on ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls; she patrols the Indian Ocean with an anti-piracy task force; she joins seafaring chaplains, and investigates the harm that ships inflict on endangered whales. Sharply informative and entertaining, Ninety Percent of Everything reveals the workings and perils of an unseen world that holds the key to our economy, our environment, and our very civilization.
Review
“Consistently absorbing.…Timely as well as deft…George's spirited book cracks open a vast, treacherous and largely ignored world.” The New York Times
Review
“Engrossing and revelatory…George not only explores a little-known world of commerce but also introduces readers to the many people who make shipping possible. That she does so with great empathy and self-effacing humor, much like Mary Roach, makes her subjects especially appealing.…George's book is packed with telling anecdotes and detailed accounts, some funny, some shocking. If there's a downside to her seafaring, it's that it comes to an end too soon.” San Francisco Chronicle
Review
“A fascinating account of the international ocean shipping industry and the arena it operates in, the largely ungoverned open seas.” The Seattle Times
Review
“Mind-blowing.…With its wide scope, voice of intellectual curiosity, and inter-ocean adventure, the book is reminiscent of Donovan Hohn's popular Moby Duck.” The Atlantic
Review
“Consistently illuminating in-depth analysis.…An eye-opening maritime exposé.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Rose George, with her precise and beautiful clarity of prose, has now fired a brilliant star-shell over the wine-dark sea and the ships that pass in its night, illuminating the details of the invisible ocean industry that is, and always will be, essential to all of us.” Simon Winchester, author of Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
Synopsis
Eye-opening and compelling, the overlooked world of freight shipping, revealed as the foundation of our civilization
On ship-tracking Web sites, the waters are black with dots. Each dot is a ship; each ship is laden with boxes; each box is laden with goods. In postindustrial economies, we no longer produce but buy, and so we must ship. Without shipping there would be no clothes, food, paper, or fuel. Without all those dots, the world would not work. Yet freight shipping is all but invisible. Away from public scrutiny, it revels in suspect practices, dubious operators, and a shady system of flags of convenience. And then there are the pirates.
Rose George, acclaimed chronicler of what we would rather ignore, sails from Rotterdam to Suez to Singapore on ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls; she patrols the Indian Ocean with an anti-piracy task force; she joins seafaring chaplains, and investigates the harm that ships inflict on endangered whales. Sharply informative and entertaining, Ninety Percent of Everything reveals the workings and perils of an unseen world that holds the key to our economy, our environment, and our very civilization.
About the Author
Rose George is the author of Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate, The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters and A Life Removed: Hunting for Refuge in the Modern World. A freelance journalist, she has written for The New York Times, Slate, Harpers, and the Financial Times. She lives in London.