A departure for this book club, a factual book which was extremely dense with information. Most of us have taken more than the month to read it, finding it easier to read in small digestible chunks rather than all in one go. Vaclav Smil, has written a book distilling so much information your head reels. The book opens 'with the centrality of (fossil-based) energy to modern civilisation, turning to the production of food, plastics, steel, ammonia and cement as the drivers of globalisation and to a broad landscape of risks (viruses, diets, global warming and the ‘singularity’ of artificial intelligence).' He outlines how intertwined our current lifestyle and economy are with fossil fuels and the difficulty we will have uncoupling ourselves. There are criticisms that some reviewers have made that Mr Smil does not give the new net zero push enough credence. But if you would like to read an interesting book dense with information about the push towards a fossil fuel future this should be added to your book stand.
Next Book
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
No comments:
Post a Comment