{"title":"Vaclav Smil","description":"Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that \"there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.\"","products":[{"product_id":"energy-and-civilization-a-history-paperback","title":"Energy and Civilization: A History - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel-driven civilization.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, \u003ci\u003eEnergy and Civilization: A History\u003c\/i\u003e, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Bill Gates, \u003ci\u003eGates Notes\u003c\/i\u003e, Best Books of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEnergy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows--ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity--for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel-driven civilization. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHumans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts--from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's \u003ci\u003eEnergy in World History\u003c\/i\u003e (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365703188703,"sku":"9780262536165","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/PTwJK1-X5g9780262536165.webp?v=1789070139"},{"product_id":"grand-transitions-how-the-modern-world-was-made-paperback","title":"Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom one of the world's leading experts on the history of energy, a rigorous examination of the transitions that structure our modern world--and the environmental reckoning that will mark its success or failure.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four \"grand transitions\" of civilization--in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics--which have transformed the way we live. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSocieties that have undergone all four transitions emerge into an era of radically different population dynamics, food surpluses (and waste), abundant energy use, and expanding economic opportunities. Simultaneously, in other parts of the world, hundreds of millions remain largely untouched by these developments. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough erudite storytelling, Vaclav Smil investigates the fascinating and complex interactions of these transitions. He argues that the moral imperative to share modernity's benefits has become more acute with increasing economic inequality, but addressing this imbalance would make it exceedingly difficult to implement the changes necessary for the long-term preservation of the environment. Thus, managing the fifth transition--environmental changes from natural-resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and global warming--will determine the success or eventual failure of the grand transitions that have made the world we live in today.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369759965407,"sku":"9780197696750","price":27.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/lEzLpeenLC9780197696750.webp?v=1789146114"},{"product_id":"numbers-dont-lie-71-stories-to-help-us-understand-the-modern-world-paperback","title":"Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author... \u003ci\u003eNumbers Don't Lie \u003c\/i\u003etakes everything that makes his writing great and boils it down into an easy-to-read format. I unabashedly recommend this book to anyone who loves learning.\"--Bill Gates, \u003ci\u003eGatesNotes\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the author of \u003ci\u003eHow the World Really Works\u003c\/i\u003e, an essential guide to understanding how numbers reveal the true state of our world--exploring a wide range of topics including energy, the environment, technology, transportation, and food production. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In\u003ci\u003e Numbers Don't Lie\u003c\/i\u003e, Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment--your car or your phone? How much do the world's cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom data about our societies and populations, through measures of the fuels and foods that energize them, to the impact of transportation and inventions of our modern world--and how all of this affects the planet itself--in \u003ci\u003eNumbers Don't Lie\u003c\/i\u003e, Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge conventional thinking. Packed with fascinating information and memorable examples, \u003ci\u003e Numbers Don't Lie\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how the US is leading a rising worldwide trend in chicken consumption, that vaccination yields the best return on investment, and why electric cars aren't as great as we think (yet). Urgent and essential, with a mix of science, history, and wit--all in bite-sized chapters on a broad range of topics--\u003ci\u003eNumbers Don't Lie\u003c\/i\u003e inspires readers to interrogate what they take to be true.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376764616927,"sku":"9780143136224","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/zOzqnG2TSG9780143136224.webp?v=1789225278"},{"product_id":"speed-how-it-explains-the-world-paperback","title":"Speed: How It Explains the World - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA data-driven, scientific account of our need for speed--exploring a wide range of topics including evolution, transportation, and technology\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a world obsessed with efficiency, perhaps nothing is valued as highly as being fast. Some of our greatest achievements include building planes that break the sound barrier and creating computers that process data at the touch of a button. With signature clarity, Smil offers accessible explanations of every major speed category, from wind erosion to hunting cheetahs, from Boeing 747s to America's war time industrial mobilization to the speed of global energy decarbonization. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut as Smil argues in this paradigm-shifting book, speed isn't just a metric to optimize. In \u003ci\u003eSpeed\u003c\/i\u003e, Smil expands on our traditional, human-centric understanding of speed to explore phenomena of space and time, evolution, and human achievement. What was the speed of planet formation? Of the development of different life forms? What happened in the collision of humans and the limits of natural speed, and what has emerged from our incessant desire to push those boundaries? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLauded for his\"compelling, fascinating, realistic\" (Steven Pinker) portraits of the modern world, Smil knows that we can't, won't, and shouldn't abandon our collective need for speed. But as good devotees of speed's eminence\u003cb\u003e, \u003c\/b\u003ewe must understand it, its value, and its cost. Rich in historical and contemporary data, the latest work by Smil is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary guidebook for science readers living in the fast lane.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376772350175,"sku":"9780593834541","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/b2Bup0s1Ri9780593834541.webp?v=1789225297"},{"product_id":"how-the-world-really-works-the-science-behind-how-we-got-here-and-where-were-going-paperback","title":"How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eINSTANT \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Provocative but perceptive . . . You can agree or disagree with Smil--accept or doubt his 'just the facts' posture--but you probably shouldn't ignore him.\"\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e--The Washington Post\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn essential analysis of the modern science and technology that makes our twenty-first century lives possible--a scientist's investigation into what science really does, and does not, accomplish. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWe have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don't know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, \u003ci\u003eHow the World Really Works\u003c\/i\u003e offers a much-needed reality check--because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn't inevitable--the foolishness of allowing 70 per cent of the world's rubber gloves to be made in just one factory became glaringly obvious in 2020--and that our societies have been steadily \u003ci\u003eincreasing\u003c\/i\u003e their dependence on fossil fuels, such that any promises of decarbonization by 2050 are a fairy tale. For example, each greenhouse-grown supermarket-bought tomato has the equivalent of five tablespoons of diesel embedded in its production, and we have no way of producing steel, cement or plastics at required scales without huge carbon emissions. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUltimately, Smil answers the most profound question of our age: are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead? Compelling, data-rich and revisionist, this wonderfully broad, interdisciplinary guide finds faults with both extremes. Looking at the world through this quantitative lens reveals hidden truths that change the way we see our past, present and uncertain future.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376800202975,"sku":"9780593297087","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Yr_NhvKD_R9780593297087.webp?v=1789225370"},{"product_id":"size-how-it-explains-the-world-paperback","title":"Size: How It Explains the World - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHow the World Really Works, \u003c\/i\u003ea wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the most fundamental governing principle of our world: \u003ci\u003esize\u003c\/i\u003e, whose laws, limits, and peculiarities offer the key to understanding health, wealth, and even happiness\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"No one writes about the great issues of our time with more rigor or erudition than Vaclav Smil.\" -- Elizabeth Kolbert\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo answer the most important questions of our age, we must understand size. Neither bacteria nor empires are immune to its laws. Measuring it is challenging, especially where complex systems like economies are concerned, yet mastering it offers rich rewards: the rise of the West, for example, was a direct result of ever more accurate and standardized measurements.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsing the interdisciplinary approach that has won him a wide readership, Smil draws upon history, earth science, psychology, art, and more to offer fresh insight into some of our biggest challenges, including income inequality, the spread of infectious disease, and the uneven impacts of climate change. \u003ci\u003eSize \u003c\/i\u003eexplains the scaling laws, regularities--and peculiarities--of the key processes shaping life (from microbes to whales), the Earth (from asteroids to volcanic eruptions), technical advances like ergonomics (from architecture to transportation), and societies and economies (from cities to wages). A fascinating work of popular science, this book about the big and the small, and the relationship between them, answers the big and small questions of human existence: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat makes a human society too big? What about a human being?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhich alternative energy sources have the best chance of scaling and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy do tall people make more money?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat makes a face beautiful? How about a cathedral?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow can changing the size of your plates help you lose weight?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe latest masterwork of \"an ambitious and astonishing polymath who swings for fences\" (\u003ci\u003eWired)\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eSize\u003c\/i\u003e is a mind-bending journey that turns the modern world on its head. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51379423215839,"sku":"9780063324107","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/M6aULEZY3S9780063324107.webp?v=1789272491"},{"product_id":"how-to-feed-the-world-the-history-and-future-of-food-hardcover","title":"How to Feed the World: The History and Future of Food - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn indispensable analysis of how the world really produces and consumes its food\u003ci\u003e--\u003c\/i\u003eand a scientist's exploration of how we can successfully feed a growing population without killing the planet\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWe have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: why are some of the world's biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why do we waste so much food and how can we solve that? Could the whole planet go vegan and be healthy? Should it? He explores the global history of food production to understand why we farm some animals and not others, why most of the world's calories come from just a few foodstuffs, and how this might change in the future. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eHow to Feed the World \u003c\/i\u003eis the data-based, rigorously researched guide that offers solutions to our broken global food system.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51379476168927,"sku":"9780593834510","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/wGHY5Ggk8M9780593834510.webp?v=1789272560"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/vaclav-smil.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}