I, Pencil

I picked this up through a post by blogger, Bob Krumm at bobkrumm.com. (Warning, he blogs on political issues so if you don't want to read about politics, avoid the link.) His pithy comment is "Conceivably millions of people have a hand in the making of a pencil. And yet, without any central control whatsoever, somehow, that old reliable #2 is always available wherever I choose to shop."

In a manner similar to Adam Smith's classic take-apart of the production of matches, I, Pencil is a great rendition of how the invisible hand works in economics. The "I, Pencil" article is here.