Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization

By Vaclav Smil

Book Overview

Accurate, balanced AND imaginative. Energy is the only universal currency. One of its many forms must be transformed into another in order for stars to shine, planets to rotate, living things to grow, and civilizations to evolve. Recognition of this universality was one of the great achievements of nineteenth-century science, yet even today there is little literature that tries to view the world broadly through the prism of energy.In this highly original book, ecologist Vaclav Smil takes the principle of universality seriously, presenting a comprehensive and integrated survey of all the forms of energy that shape our world, from the sun to the human body, from bread to microchips. Written in a scientifically sophisticated yet accessible style, Energies consists of eighty-two short essays organized under six headings: Sun and Earth, Plants and Animals, People and Food, Preindustrial Societies, Fossil-Fueled Civilization, and Motion and Information. Each essay explains the science of the energy form as well as its implications for the functioning of the universe, life, or human society. Cross-links and summary diagrams allow easy comparisons among the various levels and flows of energy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262194104
• ISBN13: 9780262194105
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.4" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent -- a joule of a book

This is an incredibly easy book to read and understand, amply illustrated by clear graphics. This is not a simple book. It is an encyclopedia of energy, from sunlight, to the biology produced by sunlight, to the energy we gain from using our environment as fuel. Reading through each section (they are clear and cogent) is an exercise in connecting simple inputs with complex outputs. The section on transportation takes you from walking to running to riding the bicycle, all the way to trains, planes, and rocket boosters, all of which developed differently and use energy very differently. The book is packed with wonderful essays that are well written, ideas that jump off the page, and graphic illustrations that make sense. It's one of those books you can actually flop open at random and get engrossed in all over again. If there's a criticism to this book, it is that it is only a sampler. It could easily have been twice as long.

A reference book for energy

This is a fascinating book. It provides a comprehensive and integrated survey of the energies shaping our world. It is filled with diagrams, graphs, maps, drawings and photographs to support the text.This book can't be described. It has to be experienced: energy production of the sun, global patterns of latent heat flux, a horse's suspensory and check ligaments that allow it to use hardly any additional energy for standing, preindustrial societies, cars and computers and much more.Use this book for reference and for browsing. Spend an afternoon with a calculator and the figures listed in the tables in this book. You will begin to appreciate the complex relationships involving the energies that shape our world.