In December 1958, Leonard Read published an essay titled “I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E Read.” This essay was written from the point of view of the pencil and details the complexity and range of functions and processes required to create the seemingly simple object of a pencil.
These functions and processes start with the growing and harvesting of the wood, the development of the “lead” (which is a complex process involving graphite, clay, water and other elements), through to the logistics and planning to bring everything together and then deliver the pencil to the user. The essay examines the absence of any single mastermind “forcibly dictating those countless actions,” yet the pencil comes into being and pencils have been used for hundreds of years.