DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Mims, a WALL STREET JOURNAL tech columnist, follows a notional USB cable from Vietnam to a U.S. consumer’s door, bringing in a wide range of topics along the way: container ships, ports, trucking, Amazon, FedEx, UPS, robots, “scientific management,” and industrial AI, with a nod throughout to the impact of Covid. Fouhey brings intelligence and care to the many details and appropriate pacing, as well as energy, expressiveness, and a likable manner. Though his narration is clearly thoughtful, an occasional misapplied emphasis, as well as noticeable insertions of rerecorded segments, causes minor distraction now and then. But the smart, fact-filled text and generally engaging delivery still make for an enjoyable, even absorbing, program. W.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 06/28/2021
Wall Street Journal technology columnist Mims chronicles a product’s journey from manufacturer to doorstep in his timely debut, an enlightening exploration of e-commerce. Combining studies of human ingenuity, technological advances, and labor practices, Mims begins at an electronics factory in Vietnam. Picking a USB charger as his object of study, he details the 14,000 miles it travels to North America, beginning with a barge ride to one of the busiest ports in Southeast Asia, where the gadget, housed in a shipping container, is transferred by a 13-story high crane onto a cargo ship (his awe at global freight is infectious; shipping containers, for instance, are “the one object most responsible for the state of today’s world”). He also explores the history of a labor system that prizes efficiency above all else, studying the design of an Amazon warehouse, the cabin of an 18-wheeler, and the passenger seat of a UPS truck to detail the toll of “stressful working conditions that push people to their limit.” Readers will be hooked by Mims’s ability to turn what could’ve been a dry supply-chain explainer into a legitimate page-turner. For those interested in what goes on before packages arrive at their door, this is a no-brainer. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"Wall Street Journal technology columnist Mims chronicles a product’s journey from manufacturer to doorstep in his timely debut. . . . Readers will be hooked by Mims’s ability to turn what could’ve been a dry supply-chain explainer into a legitimate page-turner. For those interested in what goes on before packages arrive at their door, this is a no-brainer." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Mims writes in a digestible style that conveys a pleasing you-are-there quality, and he does not shy away from describing the vast economic inequalities involved in the movement of commodities and the indifference of many managers toward their workers . . . A surprisingly absorbing foray into the optimization of product flow." — Kirkus Reviews
"Mims will have readers enthralled with the minutiae of what he calls a 'sophisticated field of human endeavor.' This book will appeal to general audiences and those in any part of the industry." — Booklist
"A detailed and dedicated explainer about the state of the logistics industry, Arriving Today by Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims offers a snapshot of a logistics industry in flux. The world described in the book is a marvel of human ingenuity . . . a world that, because of the pace of change in the industry, is likely to be unrecognizable in five years’ time." — strategy+business
Our global economy runs on logistics. Mims expertly demystifies this secretive science as he vividly portrays the ways in which it often robs the most vulnerable workers of their health and humanity. — Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound
With the elegance and efficiency of a first-rate tech journalist, Mims leads us into the nooks and crannies, robots, AI, warehouses, and ships that are highly complex so as to make our daily life simple. A must-read. — Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and author of Four and The Algebra of Happiness
A meticulously and presciently rendered account of the surprising journey of a USB charger from the factory to my home. It's nice to get your stuff fast. But Mims asks us to ponder, Was it worth it? — Steve LeVine, author of The Powerhouse
Adeptly draws us into the container ships, fulfillment centers, and algorithms that deliver us what we want, when we want it. A balanced, much-needed account. — Robert Kanigel, author of The One Best Way and Hearing Homer's Song
Mims elegantly explores the micro and the macro of how our modern world of stuff works, in a way that illuminates, dazzles, and sometimes terrifies. — Rose George, author of Ninety Percent of Everything, Nine Pints, and The Big Necessity
A backstage pass into the twenty-first-century global economy, Arriving Today is the resource for understanding how modern supply chains really work—and why they sometimes fail. — Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport
Finally, a book that sheds light on automation, logistics, and their impact on our everyday life today, and in the future. An engaging and insightful narrative. — Oren Etzioni, professor emeritus at the University of Washington and CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence
Arriving Today is the essential key to understanding how our world is getting smaller and more interconnected by the day. — Gary Tan, cofounder of Initialized Capital
Ryan Petersen
A backstage pass into the twenty-first-century global economy, Arriving Today is the resource for understanding how modern supply chains really work—and why they sometimes fail.
Booklist
"Mims will have readers enthralled with the minutiae of what he calls a 'sophisticated field of human endeavor.' This book will appeal to general audiences and those in any part of the industry."
strategy+business
"A detailed and dedicated explainer about the state of the logistics industry, Arriving Today by Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims offers a snapshot of a logistics industry in flux. The world described in the book is a marvel of human ingenuity . . . a world that, because of the pace of change in the industry, is likely to be unrecognizable in five years’ time."
Steve LeVine
A meticulously and presciently rendered account of the surprising journey of a USB charger from the factory to my home. It's nice to get your stuff fast. But Mims asks us to ponder, Was it worth it?
Rose George
Mims elegantly explores the micro and the macro of how our modern world of stuff works, in a way that illuminates, dazzles, and sometimes terrifies.
Brad Stone
Our global economy runs on logistics. Mims expertly demystifies this secretive science as he vividly portrays the ways in which it often robs the most vulnerable workers of their health and humanity.
Scott Galloway
With the elegance and efficiency of a first-rate tech journalist, Mims leads us into the nooks and crannies, robots, AI, warehouses, and ships that are highly complex so as to make our daily life simple. A must-read.
Robert Kanigel
Adeptly draws us into the container ships, fulfillment centers, and algorithms that deliver us what we want, when we want it. A balanced, much-needed account.
Oren Etzioni
Finally, a book that sheds light on automation, logistics, and their impact on our everyday life today, and in the future. An engaging and insightful narrative.
Gary Tan
Arriving Today is the essential key to understanding how our world is getting smaller and more interconnected by the day.
Booklist
"Mims will have readers enthralled with the minutiae of what he calls a 'sophisticated field of human endeavor.' This book will appeal to general audiences and those in any part of the industry."
DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Mims, a WALL STREET JOURNAL tech columnist, follows a notional USB cable from Vietnam to a U.S. consumer’s door, bringing in a wide range of topics along the way: container ships, ports, trucking, Amazon, FedEx, UPS, robots, “scientific management,” and industrial AI, with a nod throughout to the impact of Covid. Fouhey brings intelligence and care to the many details and appropriate pacing, as well as energy, expressiveness, and a likable manner. Though his narration is clearly thoughtful, an occasional misapplied emphasis, as well as noticeable insertions of rerecorded segments, causes minor distraction now and then. But the smart, fact-filled text and generally engaging delivery still make for an enjoyable, even absorbing, program. W.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-07-24
A survey of the logistical innovations that bring a product to your doorstep with the tap of a keyboard.
In his first book, Wall Street Journal technology columnist Mims follows the trail of a USB device, an everyday piece of computer equipment, from its construction in a Vietnamese factory (and back even further, to the extraction of the elements that went into making its intricate interior) to its arrival at a buyer’s home. This device is only one of “100 billion—the number of parcels shipped every year, worldwide, as of 2020.” The author goes on to recount the lives of the people in the global supply chains that make it possible for the designers to get their inventions—also well explored—to market. Mims also chronicles the relevant history, from the scientific management theories of Frederick Taylor (and the alienation left in their wake) to the construction lines of Henry Ford (ditto) and the “centuries of experience, craft, and technology accumulated by sailors and naval architects” that allow a crew of 30 to 40 individuals to pilot a vessel three football fields long, stacked with thousands of containers, across entire oceans. Mims writes in a digestible style that conveys a pleasing you-are-there quality, and he does not shy away from describing the vast economic inequalities involved in the movement of commodities and the indifference of many managers toward their workers—from injuries to psychological impacts—since they can be trained in hours and discarded if they do not hit their “make rate.” Inevitably, there is plenty of predictive analytics, load-balancing algorithms, fulfillment engines, and dynamic route planning—right down to a minimum of left turns for delivery trucks. Remarkably, Mims makes docking a cargo vessel and loading conveyor belts, and even making that left turn, well worth close examination.
A surprisingly absorbing foray into the optimization of product flow.
