Rose George becomes the icebreaker for the shipping industry, raising the planet’s awareness regarding its inability to survive without the service. However, apart from explaining how vital shipping actually is, the author draws the attention to the lives of the ships’ crews and the dark side of the freight industry. Ninety Percent of Everything is a work that introduces the reader to the world of shipping that supplies the humanity’s life in combination with its negative impacts in a form of a casual talk.
The first chapter serves as the actual introduction into the whole story behind the book and allows the reader to resonate with the human lens of the reading. George is neat in her writing style, which allows perceiving the heavy topic easier.
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The author provides a parallel between Kendal and her Captain Glenn. Four decades ago, Captain Glenn would be saluted at all times by his crew, officers, passing ships, and docks; now, he simply runs the ship and does eight hours of computer and paperwork. Notably, a couple of decades ago, shipping required admiralty excellence and mastery in mounting ships, as well as highly skilled crews to operate, support, and cargo them. The said issues outline the fading of value humanity exhibited. Being able to operate and facilitate a liner is an incredible skill regardless of the presence of technological novelties. Nonetheless, George makes it apparent that the humanity seems to devalue activities when computers come to dominate the operations; humans are only considered as facilitators for the machines then. To tackle the simplicity claim, George indicates just how many gears and devices an officer or a crew member has to run, all of which require a respective skill toolkit. On par with the value and complexity of freight shipping, the chapter also talks about the peculiarity of working on a ship. People lose track of time because of the movement, therefore, they maintain their own twenty-four hours to avoid the jetlag and other consequences while still being aware of the statutory time around