PRIZES to win! PROMOTIONS

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

The Origins of Efficiency

Brian Potter

$59.99

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

QTY:

English
Stripe Press
14 October 2025
A step-by-step examination of how production processes

from penicillin and automobiles to steel and semiconductors

get more efficient over time, and why it matters for unlocking a new era of abundance.

Efficiency is the engine that powers human civilisation. It's the reason rates of famine have fallen precipitously, literacy has risen, and humans are living longer, healthier lives compared to preindustrial times. But where do improvements in production efficiency come from?

In The Origins of Efficiency, Brian Potter argues that improving production efficiency

finding ways to produce goods and services in less time, with less labor, using fewer resources

is the force behind some of the biggest and most consequential changes in human history.

With unprecedented depth and detail, Potter examines the fundamental characteristics of a production process and how it can be made less time- and resource-intensive, and therefore less expensive. The book is punctuated with examples of production efficiency in practice, including how high-yield manufacturing methods made penicillin the 'miracle drug' that reduced battlefield infection deaths by 80 percent during World War II; the 100-year history of process improvements in incandescent light bulb production; and how automakers like Ford, Toyota, and Tesla developed innovative production methods that transformed not just the automotive industry but manufacturing as a whole. He concludes by looking at sectors where production costs haven't fallen, and explores how we might harness the mechanisms of production efficiency to change that.

The Origins of Efficiency is a comprehensive companion for anyone seeking to understand how we arrived at this age of relative abundance

and how we can push efficiency improvements further into domains like housing, medicine, and education, where much work is left to be done.
By:  
Imprint:   Stripe Press
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 229mm,  Width: 152mm, 
ISBN:   9781953953520
ISBN 10:   1953953522
Pages:   384
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Brian Potter is the author of the Construction Physics newsletter and a senior infrastructure fellow at the Institute for Progress. He writes about the technology and economics of building construction, with a focus on improving productivity and reducing costs. He previously managed an engineering team at Katerra, a SoftBank-backed construction startup, and has 15 years of experience as a structural engineer. He holds a bachelor's in civil engineering from Georgia Tech and a master's in systems engineering from the University of Central Florida.

Reviews for The Origins of Efficiency

“Brilliant and comprehensive. Brian Potter is the single best writer in America on how important things get built, and his new book is the single best example of his work.” —Derek Thompson, author of Hit Makers and coauthor of Abundance “This is unlike any other book I’ve read. It is a very high-level whole-systems overview of all known manufacturing processes (past and present), crammed with dense details, stories, anecdotes, and lessons from the front lines. Its grand/minute perspective is unusual—especially for production processes we usually never see. If you have any interest in, or responsibility for, how to make stuff at scale, you need to read this book.” —Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired “Brian Potter does impeccable, detailed research that he turns into clairvoyant insight about civilization’s most arcane processes. Here, he examines the mechanisms that enable spectacular efficiency in the production of goods and services. They comprise, he notes, ‘the engine that powers human civilization.’”  —Stewart Brand, cofounder and president of The Long Now Foundation and creator and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog


See Also