Energy and Civilization: A History

Lo acabo de recibir. Impaciente por leerlo, el autor es muy bueno.

The best text for an undergrad history of energy that I could find in 1990s was 'In the Servitude of Power: Energy through the Ages' by three French, Marxist-influenced academics -- Deleage, Debeir, Hemery. At the time, as I pursued a Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Humanities at FSU with the goal of teaching STS (Science-Tech-Society) at a American Engineering or Architecture school, the Marxist slant was (and is) a taboo point-of-view. Smil does not punctuate his narrative with Marxist critiques at each stage of energy development, concluding that an Era of Renewable energy would require Marxist transformation of society. Certainly a transition from fossil fuels-based to renewable 'Green' tech-based energy has been slow in progressing in the 25 years that have passed (also I was never able to teach history of energy in history depts. as specialized intellectual history nor as STS coursework. I sincerely hope that Smil's less ideologically-driven narrative will be accepted at engineering schools as a much-needed antidote to the conservative view that the costs of transforming fossil-fuel techs is too great to bear. So instead, govt. policy impedes this transition by subsidizing coal & oil so long as these big political donors support politicians who do as they are told. Marxist or liberal bias aside, Europe has progressed toward renewables while the U S govt policy has staggered from pro-renewable to anti-green depending on the what PAC spends most on political ads. Energy and Civiization reads more like a science text than intellectual history but this is ideal for STEM students. For those who might wish a more historical approach to history of tech, check out Boorstin's The Americans: The Democratic Experience ( last of his trilogy). The title is misleading; this is history of U S tech from post- Civil War to 1970s. Wonderfully blends tech history with entertaining narrative, i.e. , oil wild-catting, rise of a statistically-measured society and insurers, etc. With its broad sweep of energy development within world history, Smil could be specialized secondary text for a traditional World Civilization requirement. Also,for those who enjoyed this I'd recommend Diamond's Germs, Guns, and Steel from late 1990s -- it is an extraordinary synthesis of various scientific fields that explains the present-day dominance of science-based Western culture based on environmental circumstances and climate without depending upon racial biases which argue that caucasians are more intelligent than other races.

Boken borde läsas av många, beslutsfattare, politiker, alla som hoppas att vi kan undgå en klimatkollaps. Det är bra om man har en naturvetenskaplig bakgrund, men inte helt nödvändigt. Intresse att förstå viktiga samband är avgörande. Om det är ont om tid, så kan man starta med kapitel 5, som avhandlar den tekniska utvecklingen sen ungefär 1500, med början i Europa. Energi och dess omvandlingar är förbundna med ekonomin, skriver V Smil med eftertryck. Referenser upptar hela 67 sidor.

This is one f my favorite books on energy, but let me start with the negatives: several different units are used across the chapters; I would have used better and more consistent units. I also do not necessarily agree with Smil on all the topics. Also, the book does not read like a very concrete story. However, IF you are into this topic -energy demand of our species and how it has change during our history- you are going to enjoy it tremendously and go back to it many times. I have also used some of the historical cases from this book in my lectures as examples and exercises.

This is a rare book not only for the depth and clarity of the content, but also for the constant reference to the quantitative aspect of the subjects treated. A welcome blend between a treatise and a handbook is thus the result.