The stat that really got my attention early on in the book was the fact that, though an Intel chip in the 1990s was built with only 15 elements, today Intel chips are manufactured with nearly 60 different elements. The supply chain is not secure; in fact, most companies don't really know where this stuff is coming from. Our own military has only recently realized that the security of this supply chain is a new vulnerability and set out to study it. As a 21st-century nation, we don't really train people in mining anymore. Colorado School of Mines is pretty much the only institution doing it, and they're rather isolated and short on funds.
Abraham calls for some action as well as awareness. These rare elements are already major international policy players. We should be organizing to ensure that we can influence how they are harvested, how much is supplied and how they are used. Before I read the book, that would have been a yawner for me. Not so anymore, which means that Abraham has a good chance of accomplishing what he set out to do. Now we just need to get enough folks to read it.
I got a free copy of this from Net Galley.