American steel
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Narrative account of how Nucor built a minimill steel business that outpaced the big integrated producers. Valued for its market insight, the risky engineering bet, and the people behind it
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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The book American Steel by Richard Preston is an engaging read about the rise of Nucor.
on “The Rise of Steel Part II” ↗American Steel by Richard Preston is under-appreciated. A market opportunity is identified, and a so-crazy-that-it-just-might-work design for a new type of steel mill is pursued by crazy maverick cowboys. The true…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗…http://www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=iron-carbon_pha... The eutectic of iron and carbon (mixture with the minimum melting point) is 4.3% carbon by mass. There's a chapter from Richard Preston's "American Steel" (a 1992 book that I highly recommend about the Nucor minimill in Crawfordsville, Indiana) where they find at one point during the startup of the then-cutting-edge continuous casting line that the steel…
on “Green steel without green hydrogen – can it work?” ↗For a fascinating read about Nucor, the competitor that surpassed US Steel, I'd recommend Richard Preston's American Steel.
on “US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel” ↗For an overview of how Nucor became #1 in the US steel industry, see "American Steel" (1992) by Richard Preston. The author was present for the building and startup of Nucor's first continuous thin sheet casting mini-mill. Nucor bought a new experimental continuous caster from a German…
on “"No inventions; no innovations" A History of US Steel” ↗…Coram 92. Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton 93. How to Make a Spaceship by Julian Guthrie 94. West with the Night by Beryl Markham 95. The Age of Uncertainty by Tobias Hürter 96. American Steel by Richard Preston 97. Showstopper by G. Pascal Zachary 98. Eccentric Orbits by John Bloom 99. The Great Bridge by David McCullough 100. Loonshots by Safi Bahcall 101. The Art of Doing Science and…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗