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Reading List for 01/31/2026
Welcome to the Reading List, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology.
 • Brian Potter
On Technologies vs. Commodities
A theory that has gained traction in the renewable energy space is that renewable energy sources like wind and solar are based on manufactured…
 • Brian Potter
Reading List 01/24/26
Welcome to the reading list, a weekly list of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology.
 • Brian Potter
Do Commodities Get Cheaper Over Time?
This American Enterprise Institute chart, which breaks down how price changes for different types of goods and services in the consumer price index, has…
 • Brian Potter
Reading List 01/17/2026
ALARA, OLED screens, bus stop frequency, Ozempic and airlines, and more.
 • Brian Potter
The Surprisingly Long Life of the Vacuum Tube
The last several decades of technological progress have, in large part, been about finding more and more things we can do with semiconductors and the…
 • Brian Potter
Reading List 1/10/2026
Waymos as kid shuttles, naval reactors for data centers, welder’s anthrax, flood buyouts, and more.
 • Brian Potter
How Did TVs Get So Cheap?
You’ve probably seen this famous graph that breaks out various categories of inflation, showing labor-intensive services getting more expensive during…
 • Brian Potter
Reading List 01/03/2026
Automated code checkers, meranti wood, shifting snowfall patterns, launching spacecraft with bullwhips, and more.
 • Brian Potter
Should US homebuilders emulate Sweden?
A common sentiment I see with folks interested in improving US homebuilding is that we should try and emulate Sweden.
 • Brian Potter

December 2025

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