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Energy: A Human History
Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes reveals the fascinating history behind energy transitions over time—wood to coal to oil to electricity and beyond.
People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and declined, all over energy challenges. Ultimately, the history of these challenges tells the story of humanity itself.
Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford.
In Energy , Rhodes highlights the successes and failures that led to each breakthrough in energy production; from animal and waterpower to the steam engine, from internal-combustion to the electric motor. He addresses how we learned from such challenges, mastered their transitions, and capitalized on their opportunities. Rhodes also looks at the current energy landscape, with a focus on how wind energy is competing for dominance with cast supplies of coal and natural gas. He also addresses the specter of global warming, and a population hurtling towards ten billion by 2100.
Human beings have confronted the problem of how to draw life from raw material since the beginning of time. Each invention, each discovery, each adaptation brought further challenges, and through such transformations, we arrived at where we are today. In Rhodes’s singular style, Energy details how this knowledge of our history can inform our way tomorrow.
People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and declined, all over energy challenges. Ultimately, the history of these challenges tells the story of humanity itself.
Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford.
In Energy , Rhodes highlights the successes and failures that led to each breakthrough in energy production; from animal and waterpower to the steam engine, from internal-combustion to the electric motor. He addresses how we learned from such challenges, mastered their transitions, and capitalized on their opportunities. Rhodes also looks at the current energy landscape, with a focus on how wind energy is competing for dominance with cast supplies of coal and natural gas. He also addresses the specter of global warming, and a population hurtling towards ten billion by 2100.
Human beings have confronted the problem of how to draw life from raw material since the beginning of time. Each invention, each discovery, each adaptation brought further challenges, and through such transformations, we arrived at where we are today. In Rhodes’s singular style, Energy details how this knowledge of our history can inform our way tomorrow.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published May 29, 2018
About the author
Richard Rhodes
111 books535 followersRichard Lee Rhodes is an American journalist, historian, and author of both fiction and non-fiction (which he prefers to call "verity"), including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986), and most recently, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race (2007). He has been awarded grants from the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation among others.
He is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He also frequently gives lectures and talks on a broad range of subjects to various audiences, including testifying before the U.S. Senate on nuclear energy.
He is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He also frequently gives lectures and talks on a broad range of subjects to various audiences, including testifying before the U.S. Senate on nuclear energy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 230 reviews
October 11, 2019
I couldn't put this down. A fantastic account of our transition from organic energy sources (horses, mules, oxes, ..) to fossil fuels to electricity. Taking detours at each level into lighting (which takes you into whaling, and the Canadian invention of kerocene), a deep account on the steam engine (and the insidious effects of patents), why we ended up with combustion engines when steam and electrical engines seemed just as likely at the time (it's hard to imagine that the technologies weren't far from each other at the time, because after 100-years of innovation, of course the combustion engine is far ahead). The last few chapters on the energy crisis we have today as a function of climate change. A book that appealed to me with the right mix of biographical content of innovators, inventions, science, and using history as context to talk about the present and future.
July 17, 2018
A little bit of a dry read at times, but very informative. Rhodes devotes a chapter or two to each of the major sources of energy humans have used over the last several hundred years. Wood, steam, coal, hydrocarbons, nuclear fission, renewables; all are covered in detail. Rhodes also discusses the history of several environmental movements which is much more interesting than it sounds.Part III, which covers hydrocarbons, nuclear power, renewables, and our path forward is the most noteworthy for our current situation.
Very good stuff, but I can't call it excellent. A high three stars.
Very good stuff, but I can't call it excellent. A high three stars.
October 31, 2018
2 stars might be a little harsh, but this was a disappointing book. The early chapters rehashed stuff I already know, the nuclear energy chapter, well, rehashed old stuff too. The windup was a little better, and it's all well-written. But not much substance, if you know a bit about the topic. Better to read Daniel Yergin's great "The Prize."
WSJ featured review, which led me to read it:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/energy-r...
"Splendid .... A riveting account .... Humanity’s bottomless ingenuity is on full display in a fine history of the harnessing of the natural world’s potential, from charcoal to ‘rock oil’ to nuclear, wind and solar sources."
WSJ featured review, which led me to read it:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/energy-r...
"Splendid .... A riveting account .... Humanity’s bottomless ingenuity is on full display in a fine history of the harnessing of the natural world’s potential, from charcoal to ‘rock oil’ to nuclear, wind and solar sources."
March 25, 2018
Rhodes applies his talent for explaining science and technology to a popular audience to the modern history of energy--the deforestation of Europe and the coming of coal of increasing efficiency and quality, rushlight, steam engines, whale oil, kerosene and turpentine, oil, nuclear and wind. Along the way, there are vivid portraits of the people who made the technological leaps, often at high cost to themselves and their families, and the political and cultural oddities (the attempt to lure Nantucket's whaling families to live in the UK, for one) which shape the implementation. I was also surprised to learn the connection between the brewing industry, which needed kilns to dry the malt, and blast furnaces.
August 9, 2022
This book should have been called Energy: A Northern Atlantic Anglophone History starting in the 16th Century. In no way does it even try to encompass the human experience of extracting energy from the world. It concentrates 90%+ of its attention on England and America, with a sprinkling of other European people of note. Nothing of consequence for Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, or South America. It was also extremely indulgent in what sort of rabbit holes the author went down, especially in regards to all the many twists and turns of steam engine development in 18th century England. This was a very narrow perspective on such a grand topic and would likely have been better served with a more accurate title. I went in expecting a grand historical narrative and instead got heaps of minutia from one corner of the globe.
But the real cherry on top was the end, where the book turns into a full on Nuclear apologia. How it is the only way to save the world and we should be building more nuclear reactors right now. He spends something like a page or two on renewable energy, which, news flash, is growing at a stupendous rate globally and has gotten super cheap. Meanwhile a current nuclear plant expansion (not a new plant mind you, an expansion on an existing project site) is running at double the estimated cost and a decade behind schedule. Oh yeah, and Nuclear plants are also facing pressure from droughts, curtailing their power generation when it is needed most. Oh, and nuclear plants can also be laid low by jellyfish. Jellyfish! I could go on and on about the folly of investing in new nuclear generation, but this is not the time or venue for it.
These are not difficult facts to discover (though it helps that I work in the energy field and follow this stuff closely) and I am honestly shocked that such an esteemed writer would be so blinded to the current state of the electric generation field.
It was this last part of the book that really left a sour taste in my mouth and pushed this book down to two stars. There is some good research in here and, I am sure, for a specific subset of readers they will love the path Rhodes ambles down, but it wasn't for me and I would not recommend it for a person looking to get a good introduction to energy.
But the real cherry on top was the end, where the book turns into a full on Nuclear apologia. How it is the only way to save the world and we should be building more nuclear reactors right now. He spends something like a page or two on renewable energy, which, news flash, is growing at a stupendous rate globally and has gotten super cheap. Meanwhile a current nuclear plant expansion (not a new plant mind you, an expansion on an existing project site) is running at double the estimated cost and a decade behind schedule. Oh yeah, and Nuclear plants are also facing pressure from droughts, curtailing their power generation when it is needed most. Oh, and nuclear plants can also be laid low by jellyfish. Jellyfish! I could go on and on about the folly of investing in new nuclear generation, but this is not the time or venue for it.
These are not difficult facts to discover (though it helps that I work in the energy field and follow this stuff closely) and I am honestly shocked that such an esteemed writer would be so blinded to the current state of the electric generation field.
It was this last part of the book that really left a sour taste in my mouth and pushed this book down to two stars. There is some good research in here and, I am sure, for a specific subset of readers they will love the path Rhodes ambles down, but it wasn't for me and I would not recommend it for a person looking to get a good introduction to energy.
August 27, 2018
Very informative, but too dry for my taste and my mind was wandering off. Still, plenty of interesting facts.
July 27, 2018
I read this book at the same time as Smil's Energy and Civilization. It proved to be a good compliment to Smil's book but left me feeling pretty disappointed at the same time. I wanted more from this book than it had to offer. Maybe I would have favored it more if I had not read at the same time as Smil's masterpiece.
This book started out more interesting than it ended. Rhodes asked thought provoking questions, such as how did humans figure out how to best harvest energy from nature. For example, should they use a plot of land as a crop for food? Should they use their horsepower to cultivate the land to grow oak trees? Planting oak trees was extremely important for the building of civilization. Great warships relied on the old, tall trees to construct the many masts required for these ships to defend their own land and conquer other lands. Warships were extremely valuable to national security back then, like aircraft are now. It took 2500 large oak trees to build a warship. However, it took 80-120 years for these oak trees to grow, a very long term investment. A farmer could make more money immediately growing food. So how many farmers would make the choice to grow the trees that paved the way not only for their country's victory in war but that built the railroads that allowed for easier trade, when they could make more money in a shorter time period for growing crops? It was a really great problem to think about.
When Rhodes asked, and attempted to answer, questions such as the one above, the book felt exciting. I wanted to think about the complexities of harvesting energy from wood, mining iron, and the other ways humans found to extract energy to build their civilizations. As the book traveled through time, to the industrial revolution, I felt bored and was not too disappointed when the book was done.
This book started out more interesting than it ended. Rhodes asked thought provoking questions, such as how did humans figure out how to best harvest energy from nature. For example, should they use a plot of land as a crop for food? Should they use their horsepower to cultivate the land to grow oak trees? Planting oak trees was extremely important for the building of civilization. Great warships relied on the old, tall trees to construct the many masts required for these ships to defend their own land and conquer other lands. Warships were extremely valuable to national security back then, like aircraft are now. It took 2500 large oak trees to build a warship. However, it took 80-120 years for these oak trees to grow, a very long term investment. A farmer could make more money immediately growing food. So how many farmers would make the choice to grow the trees that paved the way not only for their country's victory in war but that built the railroads that allowed for easier trade, when they could make more money in a shorter time period for growing crops? It was a really great problem to think about.
When Rhodes asked, and attempted to answer, questions such as the one above, the book felt exciting. I wanted to think about the complexities of harvesting energy from wood, mining iron, and the other ways humans found to extract energy to build their civilizations. As the book traveled through time, to the industrial revolution, I felt bored and was not too disappointed when the book was done.
May 27, 2018
A good overview of the changes in human energy use from the Elizabethan period through to the present. Rhodes surveys the rise and fall of muscle, water, steam and electricity, of wood, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, wind and solar in turn. Each gets capsule histories of varying lengths, summarizing the circumstances of their rise and the major figures and events involved in the major inventions.
I enjoyed the first half of the book, focused on pre-20th Century energy, more than the second half, which felt briefer and more polemic. At the end, Rhodes makes his aim clear: he is a champion of human ingenuity when it comes to energy, contra the neo-Malthusians who want to cut back. I'm sympathetic to this view, and get how the book's treatment of how humans invented new energy sources to overcome the drawbacks of the older sources (over and over again, but always ending up a little better off) supports this argument. But I feel the book would have been stronger if it had been less polemical, letting readers draw their own conclusion from Rhodes' presentation of the facts. Perhaps this freed-up space could have been used to go into more detail about more modern energy sources, of which only nuclear gets a full treatment, or to make it a true history of energy and cover the pre-modern energy sources (human and animal muscle, mechanical channeling of wind and water) with the same rigor. His anti-Malthusian conclusion only made me want to read Charles Mann's book-length take of that debate, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World .
Still, Energy was an enjoyable and fairly brisk read. His histories of the rise of steam engines, oil drilling and electrical power were all thoroughly enlightening; his other chapters all had interesting nuggets. I just feel the book could have been more.
I enjoyed the first half of the book, focused on pre-20th Century energy, more than the second half, which felt briefer and more polemic. At the end, Rhodes makes his aim clear: he is a champion of human ingenuity when it comes to energy, contra the neo-Malthusians who want to cut back. I'm sympathetic to this view, and get how the book's treatment of how humans invented new energy sources to overcome the drawbacks of the older sources (over and over again, but always ending up a little better off) supports this argument. But I feel the book would have been stronger if it had been less polemical, letting readers draw their own conclusion from Rhodes' presentation of the facts. Perhaps this freed-up space could have been used to go into more detail about more modern energy sources, of which only nuclear gets a full treatment, or to make it a true history of energy and cover the pre-modern energy sources (human and animal muscle, mechanical channeling of wind and water) with the same rigor. His anti-Malthusian conclusion only made me want to read Charles Mann's book-length take of that debate, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World .
Still, Energy was an enjoyable and fairly brisk read. His histories of the rise of steam engines, oil drilling and electrical power were all thoroughly enlightening; his other chapters all had interesting nuggets. I just feel the book could have been more.
December 7, 2019
Dry overview of energy discovery and use through western history. Touches on wood, coal, oils, gasses, and newer sources without getting technical; names the principal inventors without going into much of their biography.
The early chapters do a good job of showing the various fuels burned to provide light, comparing costs and effectiveness. Over time, the market pressures changed due to various influences, and that story was pretty interesting.
Later in the book, that format is dropped for a much drier survey of electricity generation, which ultimately carries us to the present day. I wonder if the WSJ reviewer who described this book as "A riveting account" failed to read past the first few chapters.
The early chapters do a good job of showing the various fuels burned to provide light, comparing costs and effectiveness. Over time, the market pressures changed due to various influences, and that story was pretty interesting.
Later in the book, that format is dropped for a much drier survey of electricity generation, which ultimately carries us to the present day. I wonder if the WSJ reviewer who described this book as "A riveting account" failed to read past the first few chapters.
August 26, 2018
It’s hard to imagine a more light-weight read. From the same author who who wrote the awe-inspiring “Making of the Atomic Bomb”. If you want to understand the industry and ideas, stick with Daniel Yeargin.
Most of the book is nothing new. Only at the end does Rhodes provide some useful stats. Such as nuclear power has caused the least number of deaths of any energy production technology. And in 1996, half of Americans were alive only because of technological improvements.
But, there’s no energy in “Energy”.
Most of the book is nothing new. Only at the end does Rhodes provide some useful stats. Such as nuclear power has caused the least number of deaths of any energy production technology. And in 1996, half of Americans were alive only because of technological improvements.
But, there’s no energy in “Energy”.
July 15, 2020
The book was excellent, well researched and well explained. It may not be for everyone, but I loved it.
August 1, 2020
I want to note 1st that this book includes an extensive bibliography at the end of the Kindle edition. I also wanted to note that this author is a promoter of nuclear power which is in contrast to my personal anti-nuclear position.
I thought several times as I was listening to this audible book that it would be a delight for a person who wants to learn about inventors and engineers over the last several hundred years. I found it less interesting until it moved into the current time.
I thought several times as I was listening to this audible book that it would be a delight for a person who wants to learn about inventors and engineers over the last several hundred years. I found it less interesting until it moved into the current time.
April 2, 2024
Misleading title. Wtf was the point of that dawg
September 1, 2022
What we know about life in the period prior to video cameras is tainted and tinted by sanitized depictions in modern movies and shows. The book presents an entirely different picture. It was a dark, smelly, smoggy, dirty, and spartan existence, bared through numerous data points and factoids. Consider this: the US population at various times in the nineteenth century was less than today's Singapore, or an average American had a life expectancy (at 46) at the beginning of the twentieth century less than the last-placed country in the world today. The book has plenty to offer for history buffs who care more about information than narratives.
And still, the book is a narrative on the evolution of our harnessing of various forms of energy. The focus is more on small technical innovations in all types of fields that cumulatively transformed the world from the swamp it was to what we have today. Details of innovations sometimes turn strenuous, particularly in the early chapters that read more like an account of the industrial revolution rather than a backstory of energy (even when they both are highly related).
Notwithstanding the occasional discussions on current issues and what the future may hold - mostly connected to pollution and the climate - this is a history book. The author will not discuss the most obvious topics - like why innovations exploded in a particular part of the world or the factors that led to their accumulative pace. To a degree, the absence of opinions and value judgments makes for a relatively drab and detail-heavy account.
Despite all flaws, a great read backed by extensive, objective material.
And still, the book is a narrative on the evolution of our harnessing of various forms of energy. The focus is more on small technical innovations in all types of fields that cumulatively transformed the world from the swamp it was to what we have today. Details of innovations sometimes turn strenuous, particularly in the early chapters that read more like an account of the industrial revolution rather than a backstory of energy (even when they both are highly related).
Notwithstanding the occasional discussions on current issues and what the future may hold - mostly connected to pollution and the climate - this is a history book. The author will not discuss the most obvious topics - like why innovations exploded in a particular part of the world or the factors that led to their accumulative pace. To a degree, the absence of opinions and value judgments makes for a relatively drab and detail-heavy account.
Despite all flaws, a great read backed by extensive, objective material.
September 28, 2018
Audiobook. I cannot say enough about this. It is completely outstanding. When I saw that it was by Richard Rhodes, I couldn’t wait to read it. This is a comprehensive, well thought out and researched book on the history of energy conversion across the last 400 years and its overwhelming and undeniable benefit to the quality of human life and longevity.
It is full of interesting anecdotes and asides that add enormous flavour to the stories. It is written in a manner that would be entertaining to a layperson as well as an engineer or scientist. I am familiar with the principles through my professional life, but still I learned so much. I had to keep “rewinding” it to hear the numerous gems again.
The final chapter contains a stunningly accurate picture of where energy conversion should be headed, and it deserves to be read by all thinking people who care about both the environment and humanity - which are one and the same.
Credit must be given to the narrator Jacques Guy, who has a wonderful voice and an astounding ability to relate the direct quotes with convincing accents to represent the original speaker’s voices. (He even captures the nuances between different English and Scots speakers.)
An absolutely recommended read...you won’t be disappointed.
It is full of interesting anecdotes and asides that add enormous flavour to the stories. It is written in a manner that would be entertaining to a layperson as well as an engineer or scientist. I am familiar with the principles through my professional life, but still I learned so much. I had to keep “rewinding” it to hear the numerous gems again.
The final chapter contains a stunningly accurate picture of where energy conversion should be headed, and it deserves to be read by all thinking people who care about both the environment and humanity - which are one and the same.
Credit must be given to the narrator Jacques Guy, who has a wonderful voice and an astounding ability to relate the direct quotes with convincing accents to represent the original speaker’s voices. (He even captures the nuances between different English and Scots speakers.)
An absolutely recommended read...you won’t be disappointed.
March 12, 2023
Rhodes’ relatively brief and entertaining popular history of energy and energy systems makes a balanced argument for the need of multiple sources of energy, particularly nuclear, if the world is going to progress and thrive rather than rotate in the retrograde direction towards a more limited and poverty stricken existence.
The author also makes the reasonable point that when catastrophes have occurred (3-Mile Island, Fukushima) the perception of disaster and the collateral damage caused by the desperate response to it is often more damaging to society than the disaster itself.
The technology does not create mayhem. It is not science turning the devil to his work. The poison administered is usually through the agency of human error, self-serving political manipulation and just plain, old fashioned ignorance.
The author also makes the reasonable point that when catastrophes have occurred (3-Mile Island, Fukushima) the perception of disaster and the collateral damage caused by the desperate response to it is often more damaging to society than the disaster itself.
The technology does not create mayhem. It is not science turning the devil to his work. The poison administered is usually through the agency of human error, self-serving political manipulation and just plain, old fashioned ignorance.
April 3, 2022
我認為這本書適和給對近代人類使用的能源有「相當」興趣的人閱讀，之所以會強調「相當」是因為這並不是本輕鬆易讀的書，編排採類似流水帳、編年史般的方式依序介紹各種能源，其中夾雜了不少人名地名，但即使如此仍推薦的原因在於閱讀完這本書之後，便能推能源的演進有很全面的圖像。
在最後一章作者透過Cesare Marchetti提出的能源取代模型（energy substitution model）以及Luis de Sousa對該模型的觀察收束了全書相當分散的章節，讓讀者可以很清楚的看到各種能源科技的變化，而這一切演進最早的源頭來自於英國的木材不足，就我而言是閱後思考起來相當直覺，但在閱讀之前渾然不覺的有趣收穫。
近年的能源書籍都免不了對能源問題解方的思考，以這本書來說，是站在相對擁護核能的角度出發的，所以我認為蠻適合反核的人看看兼聽則明，但我覺得可惜的是，以2018年出版的年代來看，太陽能和大型風力以及儲能系統等各種相對新穎的在未來電網中的潛力似乎被低估了，在全書二十個章節中僅占了最後一章節的1/3左右，或許作者還沒看到再生能源足以擔當重要角色的潛力，但我認為該比例仍舊是意外地低，也就限制了這本書的全面性。
總的來說，我認為讀完這本書可以讓人了解「過去」能源科技的此消彼長，但能不能因此而一窺「未來」的能源圖像，我是有些懷疑的。
在最後一章作者透過Cesare Marchetti提出的能源取代模型（energy substitution model）以及Luis de Sousa對該模型的觀察收束了全書相當分散的章節，讓讀者可以很清楚的看到各種能源科技的變化，而這一切演進最早的源頭來自於英國的木材不足，就我而言是閱後思考起來相當直覺，但在閱讀之前渾然不覺的有趣收穫。
近年的能源書籍都免不了對能源問題解方的思考，以這本書來說，是站在相對擁護核能的角度出發的，所以我認為蠻適合反核的人看看兼聽則明，但我覺得可惜的是，以2018年出版的年代來看，太陽能和大型風力以及儲能系統等各種相對新穎的在未來電網中的潛力似乎被低估了，在全書二十個章節中僅占了最後一章節的1/3左右，或許作者還沒看到再生能源足以擔當重要角色的潛力，但我認為該比例仍舊是意外地低，也就限制了這本書的全面性。
總的來說，我認為讀完這本書可以讓人了解「過去」能源科技的此消彼長，但能不能因此而一窺「未來」的能源圖像，我是有些懷疑的。
June 16, 2018
If you love books that cover epic transformations in history this is your next non fiction read about the evolution of energy from wood to nuclear - four centuries of change and all the implications - an in-depth good read.
February 9, 2021
I’m a total sucker for how current technology came to be and the steps it took to get here. This one falls right in that basket
January 22, 2023
2.4/5
On the basis of the first 300 pages, I would’ve given this book 5 stars. It’s an accessible, engaging tour of a few hundred years of scientific and economic history told through the lens of energy and our search for more of it.
Unfortunately - and other reviews have addressed this - the last two chapters read like so much shilling for the nuclear industry. I don’t have an issue with this per se; nuclear has an essential role to play in the energy transition (at least in some markets). But it is also true that nuclear is the “most religious” form of energy, inspiring both fantastic devotion and vicious scepticism, and its evangelists can be *a lot.* So it is with Rhodes.
That the rest of the book is so enjoyable makes the final chapters feel even more disingenuous and disappointing, like the promise of a new friend who you discover has only invited you over for tea in order to sell Amway. A more fulsome and honest chapter on the promise and development of renewables, a less breathless chapter on nuclear, and less sneering at anybody who dares question the doctrine of sustained population growth would’ve made “Energy” a lot more satisfying.
On the basis of the first 300 pages, I would’ve given this book 5 stars. It’s an accessible, engaging tour of a few hundred years of scientific and economic history told through the lens of energy and our search for more of it.
Unfortunately - and other reviews have addressed this - the last two chapters read like so much shilling for the nuclear industry. I don’t have an issue with this per se; nuclear has an essential role to play in the energy transition (at least in some markets). But it is also true that nuclear is the “most religious” form of energy, inspiring both fantastic devotion and vicious scepticism, and its evangelists can be *a lot.* So it is with Rhodes.
That the rest of the book is so enjoyable makes the final chapters feel even more disingenuous and disappointing, like the promise of a new friend who you discover has only invited you over for tea in order to sell Amway. A more fulsome and honest chapter on the promise and development of renewables, a less breathless chapter on nuclear, and less sneering at anybody who dares question the doctrine of sustained population growth would’ve made “Energy” a lot more satisfying.
April 2, 2024
A fairly interesting if less than comprehensive view of energy than promised until the final chapters, when the author starts railing against the antinuclear movement while failing to meaningfully discuss renewables.
July 25, 2018
A good history of the progression of the history of the development of energy sources and machines to use them. My only issues were: 1) that is was bit America/Western Europe-centric. I understand that this is where the invention took place, but it would have been interesting to know how quickly ideas / adoption spread to other parts of the world. 2) the discussion on wind / solar renewables was a bit brief.
September 27, 2018
Resolvi ler este livro por conta de outra obra do Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic bomb. Mas não chega perto do detalhamento e da ciência explicadas no Atomic Bomb. Li o livro em junho, estou escrevendo este resumo em Setembro e sinceramente não lembro de nada sobre o que li. Não me marcou por nenhuma parte. Por coincidência, escrevo depois de ouvir o Energy and Civilization: A History, do Vaclac Smil, e curti mais.
June 23, 2020
So.....zzzzzz....booooooring......soooo....zzzz.....random...zzzz...
I'm surprised this is a book by a Pulitzer Prize winner - the writing is so uninteresting, the narrative so random. The "book" feels more like a compendium of essays poorly stitched together. The chapters make no coherent sense because one minute there author will be talking about oil drilling, then pipes, then steel-making, then war, then back to oil markets, pipes, women, all in the course of one "chapter".. Stick to a storyline, man!
Also, the author has attempted to describe the energy history of only the modern Anglo-American world. Don't call the book "A Human History" then.
I'm surprised this is a book by a Pulitzer Prize winner - the writing is so uninteresting, the narrative so random. The "book" feels more like a compendium of essays poorly stitched together. The chapters make no coherent sense because one minute there author will be talking about oil drilling, then pipes, then steel-making, then war, then back to oil markets, pipes, women, all in the course of one "chapter".. Stick to a storyline, man!
Also, the author has attempted to describe the energy history of only the modern Anglo-American world. Don't call the book "A Human History" then.
November 17, 2018
Review title: Energy to burn
Rhodes, best known for his histories of the atomic bomb, here turns his attention to the history of energy sources and how humans have developed and transitioned between them. Beginning with wood, Rhodes documents the development and transition to coal, steam, whale oil and other "burning fluids", electricity, oil, nuclear energy, and renewable sources.
While he outlines the technology behind the energy sources, he focuses on the social, commercial, and political responses to the development, maturation, and adoption of each new energy source as it first is resisted by, augments, and then takes its place alongside or displaces the previous accepted sources. Rhodes looks for the spark of the unique and interesting characters and events that make the history engaging and enlightening. For example, the wood economy in England was threatened by the depletion of forests, the costs of transportation from increasingly distant forests, and the loss of timber needed to build and maintain the tall ship naval fleet that guarded fortress Britain. Adoption or displacement owed at least as much to these human issues than to the technical advantages or limitations of each energy source.
He also documents the unintended consequences of each source that drove innovation on the alternatives. Whale oil harvesting depleted the whale population worldwide, driving up costs as fleets had to range further in search of diminishing returns. Coal fouled the air and cost lives as mines were extended deeper underground. Petroleum refining, shipping, and usage released dangerous chemical pollutants into the atmosphere. Clean burning and seemingly limitless nuclear power was in fact limited by the political costs of three very high profile accidents: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the 2017 Japanese typhoon disaster.
In discussing the modern preoccupation with clean and renewable energy sources, particularly in response to environmental impacts in the developed nations, Rhodes is pessimistic about the ability of these sources to augment and supplant existing dependency on coal, oil, and natural gas. Perhaps due to his past research and writing on atomic weaponry and its civilian application, he believes political and environmentalist objections to nuclear power are either honestly misguided or intentionally dishonest.
As Rhodes writes for a layman audience, he does a good job of simplifying the scientific and technical reasoning behind these strong words, as he does throughout the book. He provides footnotes and bibliographic citations for followup for those who want to dig deeper. Because he writes to the unique and interesting characters and events, even as it keeps the reader interested, the result is more episodic than comprehensive. But that's a minor knock; this is enjoyable and educational reading.
Rhodes, best known for his histories of the atomic bomb, here turns his attention to the history of energy sources and how humans have developed and transitioned between them. Beginning with wood, Rhodes documents the development and transition to coal, steam, whale oil and other "burning fluids", electricity, oil, nuclear energy, and renewable sources.
While he outlines the technology behind the energy sources, he focuses on the social, commercial, and political responses to the development, maturation, and adoption of each new energy source as it first is resisted by, augments, and then takes its place alongside or displaces the previous accepted sources. Rhodes looks for the spark of the unique and interesting characters and events that make the history engaging and enlightening. For example, the wood economy in England was threatened by the depletion of forests, the costs of transportation from increasingly distant forests, and the loss of timber needed to build and maintain the tall ship naval fleet that guarded fortress Britain. Adoption or displacement owed at least as much to these human issues than to the technical advantages or limitations of each energy source.
He also documents the unintended consequences of each source that drove innovation on the alternatives. Whale oil harvesting depleted the whale population worldwide, driving up costs as fleets had to range further in search of diminishing returns. Coal fouled the air and cost lives as mines were extended deeper underground. Petroleum refining, shipping, and usage released dangerous chemical pollutants into the atmosphere. Clean burning and seemingly limitless nuclear power was in fact limited by the political costs of three very high profile accidents: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the 2017 Japanese typhoon disaster.
In discussing the modern preoccupation with clean and renewable energy sources, particularly in response to environmental impacts in the developed nations, Rhodes is pessimistic about the ability of these sources to augment and supplant existing dependency on coal, oil, and natural gas. Perhaps due to his past research and writing on atomic weaponry and its civilian application, he believes political and environmentalist objections to nuclear power are either honestly misguided or intentionally dishonest.
Nuclear power's public health record more than compensates for its few occupational accidents. Its limited air pollution combined with its extremely low greenhouse emissions and its 24/7 availability more than 90 percent of the time make it easily the most promising single energy source available to cope with twenty-first-century energy challenges.
Antinuclear activists, whose agendas originated in a misinformed neo-Malthusian foreboding of overpopulation (and a willingness at the margin to condemn millions of their fellow human beings to death from disease and starvation), may fairly be accused of disingenuousness in their successive against the safest, least polluting, least warming, and most reliable energy source humanity has yet devised. (p. 336)
As Rhodes writes for a layman audience, he does a good job of simplifying the scientific and technical reasoning behind these strong words, as he does throughout the book. He provides footnotes and bibliographic citations for followup for those who want to dig deeper. Because he writes to the unique and interesting characters and events, even as it keeps the reader interested, the result is more episodic than comprehensive. But that's a minor knock; this is enjoyable and educational reading.
December 21, 2021
Also reviewing Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
by James Suzman. It was a stroke of blind luck that I happened to come across & to read in close succession "Work" & "Energy". These are two of the best written, most informative, critically relevant, & pleasurable books of recent years, not only of this year but I'm inclined to think that these are among the 10 "must reads" of our new millennium! & they go together like hand & glove while simultaneously covering mostly differing territory despite the physical & conceptual similarities of the terms "work" & "energy". While covering different territory, both directly address our current critical dilemmas of inequality, resource depletion, & global climate disruption.
"Work" is first rate social science in the new style of ranging over our full stock of relevant facts & theories no matter which academic branch would claim ownership, from zoology, evolutionary paleontology, economics, politics, anthropology & thermodynamics. The focus is - as you would expect - on why work is performed in the animal kingdom, how humankind has adapted the activity to meet special needs, the disconnect between work performed & work required for survival, the split between competing survival strategies, & consequently how the evolved, dominant strategy which has persisted over recorded millennia has lead humankind to what appears to be an unsustainable dead end in the present & foreseeable future.
"Energy" combines a technological approach with anecdotal asides & examples of significant side issues. The subject matter is the various sources of energy mankind has utilized to assist in the work which has been considered necessary or desirable with particular emphasis on the science, invention, conceptual maturation, engineering, & development of whatever infrastructure was required for general proliferation of the specific energy. The economics, availability & residues of required inputs is discussed along with descriptions of "dead ends" & side tracks along the way. Forgotten significant contributors are brought back to light.
At least in terms of existential crisis of global warming, both approaches arrive in overall agreement at the same present situation. Rhodes, in my estimation, has more to offer in terms of possible futures from this point forward.
These two books provided the reader with tremendous levels of learning, appreciation & pleasure. They ought to be studied. They ought to be required reading.
by James Suzman. It was a stroke of blind luck that I happened to come across & to read in close succession "Work" & "Energy". These are two of the best written, most informative, critically relevant, & pleasurable books of recent years, not only of this year but I'm inclined to think that these are among the 10 "must reads" of our new millennium! & they go together like hand & glove while simultaneously covering mostly differing territory despite the physical & conceptual similarities of the terms "work" & "energy". While covering different territory, both directly address our current critical dilemmas of inequality, resource depletion, & global climate disruption.
"Work" is first rate social science in the new style of ranging over our full stock of relevant facts & theories no matter which academic branch would claim ownership, from zoology, evolutionary paleontology, economics, politics, anthropology & thermodynamics. The focus is - as you would expect - on why work is performed in the animal kingdom, how humankind has adapted the activity to meet special needs, the disconnect between work performed & work required for survival, the split between competing survival strategies, & consequently how the evolved, dominant strategy which has persisted over recorded millennia has lead humankind to what appears to be an unsustainable dead end in the present & foreseeable future.
"Energy" combines a technological approach with anecdotal asides & examples of significant side issues. The subject matter is the various sources of energy mankind has utilized to assist in the work which has been considered necessary or desirable with particular emphasis on the science, invention, conceptual maturation, engineering, & development of whatever infrastructure was required for general proliferation of the specific energy. The economics, availability & residues of required inputs is discussed along with descriptions of "dead ends" & side tracks along the way. Forgotten significant contributors are brought back to light.
At least in terms of existential crisis of global warming, both approaches arrive in overall agreement at the same present situation. Rhodes, in my estimation, has more to offer in terms of possible futures from this point forward.
These two books provided the reader with tremendous levels of learning, appreciation & pleasure. They ought to be studied. They ought to be required reading.
July 12, 2018
Energy is incredibly informative, although it didn't necessarily grab my attention as much as I had hoped. Still I learned an incredibly amount, but I was, perhaps naively, surprised by the end of the book. The final section quickly became almost exclusively devoted to nuclear energy apologetics. While I am not particularly committed to an anti-nuclear position like some of my fellow environmentalists, the book ended with a rhetorical flourish propping up the Promethean spirit of human innovation as we attenuate our suffering. Little consideration is given to the impacts of energy besides 1. Human health (a thing of the past) and 2. Climate change (don't worry its effects will be limited due to human innovation). Of course, I also don't want to read an anti-energy, damn those humans of the past screed. I just don't think Rhodes gives environmentalists and those concerned about limits, environmental impact, etc a fair shake.
Rhodes seems to willfully misrepresent the UN projection on population to fit his political purpose, repeatedly citing 10 billion people at 2100. The 2017 revision's median projection , which he claims to reference, projects 9.8 billion people by 2050 (hitting 10 around 2055) and 11.2 billion people by 2100. 10 billion people in 2100 is outside of the 80% two-tailed confidence interval (thus their prediction presents a less than 10% chance of 10 billion people, the number Rhodes bandies about ad nauseum. Of course, I'm not claiming we should approach population from a Malthusian perspective; indeed, the ecological concerns that I care deeply about are better dealt with by adjusting for environmental footprint rather than raw population data. But we cannot pretend that population is immaterial or that an increasingly developed world will not increase environmental degradation. Setting aside the climate impacts of energy use, energy drives our human prerogatives which are overwhelmingly not ecologically benign. Of course energy development and technological innovation will continue full steam ahead by charcoal, sea coal, gasoline, or fission, but I don't think we can come to terms with the history of energy ensconced in Rhodes' anthropocentric lens, bereft of an understanding of the non-human actors we have impressed into the service of progress over the centuries.
Rhodes seems to willfully misrepresent the UN projection on population to fit his political purpose, repeatedly citing 10 billion people at 2100. The 2017 revision's median projection , which he claims to reference, projects 9.8 billion people by 2050 (hitting 10 around 2055) and 11.2 billion people by 2100. 10 billion people in 2100 is outside of the 80% two-tailed confidence interval (thus their prediction presents a less than 10% chance of 10 billion people, the number Rhodes bandies about ad nauseum. Of course, I'm not claiming we should approach population from a Malthusian perspective; indeed, the ecological concerns that I care deeply about are better dealt with by adjusting for environmental footprint rather than raw population data. But we cannot pretend that population is immaterial or that an increasingly developed world will not increase environmental degradation. Setting aside the climate impacts of energy use, energy drives our human prerogatives which are overwhelmingly not ecologically benign. Of course energy development and technological innovation will continue full steam ahead by charcoal, sea coal, gasoline, or fission, but I don't think we can come to terms with the history of energy ensconced in Rhodes' anthropocentric lens, bereft of an understanding of the non-human actors we have impressed into the service of progress over the centuries.
August 8, 2021
Energy A Human History cuenta la historia de las transiciones energéticas en el mundo durante los últimos 400 años desde una perspectiva de los inventores de tecnologías y de las circunstancias que los rodeaban.
La historia esta muy bien contada, la narración esta llena de detalles interesantes pero para mi un poco decepcionante pues esperaba un enfoque más social sobre la adaptación de la tecnología. Los últimos capítulos sobre las transiciones que hoy vivimos son muy buenos, el enfoque de Marchetti sobre la evolución histórica del uso de energía primaria y como se substituyen entre si los tipos de energía deja una lección muy importante para nuestro tiempo, las transiciones toman mucho tiempo.
La historia esta muy bien contada, la narración esta llena de detalles interesantes pero para mi un poco decepcionante pues esperaba un enfoque más social sobre la adaptación de la tecnología. Los últimos capítulos sobre las transiciones que hoy vivimos son muy buenos, el enfoque de Marchetti sobre la evolución histórica del uso de energía primaria y como se substituyen entre si los tipos de energía deja una lección muy importante para nuestro tiempo, las transiciones toman mucho tiempo.
January 7, 2022
Great information in here related to many different concepts (with energy as the central theme). The history of cars, electricity, trains, steam power, whaling, and nuclear weapons are all covered. This is a worthwhile and informative journey.
February 26, 2020
This is a terrific book, my first read of Richard Rhodes, and I am going to carry-on. He starts with vacuum powered steam engines and closes with a surprising and credible pitch for nuclear power. He writes like a dream. For the science-curious, it is a great read.
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