I, Pencil
"I, Pencil" is an essay by American economist Leonard Read. The full title is "I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read" and it was first published in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman. It was reprinted in the same publication in May 1996 and as a pamphlet entitled "I... Pencil" in May 1998. Milton Friedman authored the introduction and Donald J. Boudreaux wrote the afterword for the reprint. Friedman also paraphrased the essay in his 1980 PBS television program Free to Choose and the accompanying book of the same name.[1] The essay is included in a collection of Leonard Read's writings titled Anything That's Peaceful: The Case for the Free Market.
"I, Pencil" is written in the first person from the point of view of an Eberhard Faber pencil. The pencil details the complexity of its own creation, listing its components (cedar, lacquer, graphite, ferrule, factice, pumice, wax, glue) and the numerous people involved, down to the sweeper in the factory and the lighthouse keeper guiding the shipment into port.
Links
- Resources page at Mises.org
- Full text with intro from Anything That's Peaceful
- Full text (PDF, HTML, MP3) at FEE
- Full text at Econlib.org
- Audio reading by Floy Lilley
- Articles, essays and reviews
- "I, Toaster" by Art Carden, January 2011
- "I, Star Wars" by Art Carden, July 2010
- "I, Pencil – Illustrated" (visual diagram) by Chris K, September 2009