Eye-opening and compelling the overlooked world of freight shipping revealed as the
foundation of our civilization On ship-tracking Web sites the waters are black with dots. Each
dot is a ship each ship is laden with boxes each box is laden with goods. In postindustrial
economies we no longer produce but buy and so we must ship. Without shipping there would be
no clothes food paper or fuel. Without all those dots the world would not work. Yet freight
shipping is all but invisible. Away from public scrutiny it revels in suspect practices
dubious operators and a shady system of flags of convenience. And then there are the pirates.
Rose George acclaimed chronicler of what we would rather ignore sails from Rotterdam to Suez
to Singapore on ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls she
patrols the Indian Ocean with an anti-piracy task force she joins seafaring chaplains and
investigates the harm that ships inflict on endangered whales. Sharply informative and
entertaining Ninety Percent of Everything reveals the workings and perils of an unseen world
that holds the key to our economy our environment and our very civilization.
