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    Energy: A Human History
    Energy: A Human History
    Energy: A Human History
    Audiobook11 hours

    Energy: A Human History

    Written by Richard Rhodes

    Narrated by Jacques Roy

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A “meticulously researched” (The New York Times Book Review) examination of energy transitions over time and an exploration of the current challenges presented by global warming, a surging world population, and renewable energy—from Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes.

    People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and declined, all over energy challenges. 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. “Entertaining and informative…a powerful look at the importance of science” (NPR.org), 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 his “magisterial history…a tour de force of popular science” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Rhodes shows how breakthroughs in energy production occurred; from animal and waterpower to the steam engine, from internal-combustion to the electric motor. He 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 energy 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. “A beautifully written, often inspiring saga of ingenuity and progress…Energy brings facts, context, and clarity to a key, often contentious subject” (Booklist, starred review).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMay 29, 2018
    ISBN9781508258452
    Author

    Richard Rhodes

    Richard Rhodes is the author of numerous books and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He graduated from Yale University and has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Appearing as host and correspondent for documentaries on public television’s Frontline and American Experience series, he has also been a visiting scholar at Harvard and MIT and is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Visit his website RichardRhodes.com.

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    Reviews for Energy

    4/5

    144 ratings11 reviews

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    • 2/5
      More an Anglo history of energy than a history of energy itself.
    • 5/5
      A well written and well narrated book about energy. However, the shear amount of data about energy had forced the author to fast pace through many events each of which would have deserved its own dedicated book. Nevertheless this passing comment should not detract from an excellent work by author. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to take a crash course on energy.
    • 4/5
      A light and easy read that goes over the high points in the transitions in energy production and use from about 1600 to the present. From energy sources like wood, coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, and photovoltaics and back to wind, along the way Rhodes describes the technologies for production, distribution and usage of each energy source. He ends with a rational argument for fighting global warming with more nuclear power.
    • 4/5
      Very interesting look at energy trends over the last 4 centuries.
    • 5/5
      An excellent set of factual stories about how we got here. Loved it!
    • 5/5
      This was interesting, easy to follow and contained a lot of great information.

      I would recommend this book
    • 4/5
      As a retired chemical engineer who has spent an entire career designing and operating natural gas production facilities, I had a natural interest in this subject of human energy needs & dependency. This book did not disappoint. It increased my awareness of the whale oil and turpentine industries that were a precursor to the first and dramatic drilling of a well by Drake & Co to discover naturally occurring petroleum. There were gripping tales about the development of the steam engine in England before the oil age when coal was the primary source of heat and power. The nuclear age is discussed with optimism. The author appears to be a moderate when it comes to discussing global warming caused by the current energy mix dominated by oil and gas. The book ends on a note of optimism based on faith in mankind’s ability to overcome suffering through science and technology, notwithstanding the downside of military technology designed to destroy property and kill people. Another audiobook on this Scribd site in this vein is on the history of precision engineering by writer Simon Winchester.
    • 3/5
      Very weak final chapter
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      I immediately bought this book when I saw the name of the author, since I had thoroughly enjoyed his Making of the Atomic Bomb a few years ago. He writes about the history of sources and uses of energy, from wood to nuclear power. He points out the great damage to forests that using wood for fuel in England wrought, and how economics forced a search for alternatives. Much of the first section then describes the intertwined development of coal mines, steam engines to drain coal mines, and steam trains to haul coal. In a next section, entitled "Light" he starts with rushlight, describes the drive to harvest and use whale oil, then the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania (with a surprising note that New Haven bankers bankrolled Edwin Drake). Oil was refined into kerosene and the inexpensive fuel put whalers out of business, then electric light from hydro and steam power. The final section is on "New Fires", describing battles to fight smog, wind and solar, and a very excellent chapter on nuclear power and radiation fears. Rhodes tells interesting stories while reviewing all this history, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, even when reading for a few minutes at odd times.
    • 4/5
      Richard Rhodes has written about the creation of the atomic and hydrogen bombs.  He now takes on the more general topic of energy, how energy has been harnessed and exploited in the last 400 years, and how the adoption of new sources of energy has changed society.Some reviewers criticized the book for concentrating on England and the United States while ignoring the rest of the world.  That criticism is unwarranted since nearly all the significant breakthroughs in energy technology, from Watt’s steam engine to the harnessing of nuclear energy, have occurred there. Other reviewers complained that the book is overly technical—for example, Rhodes explains in detail the working of a steam engine—but I think such detail is necessary for a reasonably complete understanding of the material covered.  Moreover, Rhodes spices up his narrative with interesting factoids about the principal actors or the prevailing beliefs that slowed progress.In the 16th and early 17th centuries, the main source of energy in England was wood.  But that put a tremendous strain on the country’s forests, since wood was already in demand for ship building.  Coal had been used for centuries by blacksmiths and a few other industries, but it was generally not used to heat residences because the coal available was heavily infused with sulfur.  Houses had to be redesigned to include chimneys so that coal heating could be feasible.The development of steam engines was spurred by a desire to look for a means of transporting coal to the cities from the mines.  Initially, rails for railroads were made of wood.  Not surprisingly, they didn’t last long.  Early efforts to raise capital to build iron rails were hampered by the belief that iron wheels on iron tracks would not gain traction:  Rhodes points out that the area of actual contact between a railroad engine’s wheel and the tracks is only about the size of a quarter!Entire chapters are spent describing disadvantages like smog, radiation, and toxic waste to some forms of energy, but the author remains optimistic that they can be overcome.  In particular, he is an advocate of nuclear power to generate electricity, largely because it does not contribute to global warming and problems related to disposal of nuclear waste have been greatly exaggerated.   I listened to the audio version of the book, read by Jacques Roy.  Although Mr. Roy does a good job of reading, I think I would have enjoyed seeing a few diagrams when the discussion became somewhat technical.  As was true of his earlier books, Rhodes is an excellent popularizer of thorny subjects.  I highly recommend the book.  (JAB)