| Energy: A Human History Contributor(s): Rhodes, Richard (Author), Roy, Jacques (Read by) |
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ISBN: 1508258465 ISBN-13: 9781508258469 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio OUR PRICE: $53.99 Product Type: Compact Disc - Other Formats Published: May 2018 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Modern - General - Technology & Engineering | Power Resources - General - Science | Energy |
| Dewey: 333.790 |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Modern |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes reveals the fascinating history behind energy transitions over time-wood to coal to oil to electricity and beyond. People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and declined, all over energy challenges. Ultimately, the history of these challenges tells the story of humanity itself. 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. 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 Energy, Rhodes highlights the successes and failures that led to each breakthrough in energy production; from animal and waterpower to the steam engine, from internal-combustion to the electric motor. He addresses how we learned from such challenges, mastered their transitions, and capitalized on their opportunities. Rhodes also 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 life 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. In Rhodes's singular style, Energy details how this knowledge of our history can inform our way tomorrow. |
Contributor Bio(s): Rhodes, Richard: - Richard Rhodes is the author of numerous books and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and National Book Critics Circle Award. He graduated from Yale and received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Roy, Jacques: -Jacques Roy is a narrator and actor, known for The Lower Angels and Room and Board. |