A comprehensive, systematic, analytically unified, and
interdisciplinary treatment of energy in nature and society, from
solar radiation and photosynthesis to our fossil fueled
civilization and its environmental consequences.
Energy in Nature and Society is a systematic and exhaustive
analysis of all the major energy sources, storages, flows, and
conversions that have shaped the evolution of the biosphere and
civilization. Vaclav Smil uses fundamental unifying metrics (most
notably for power density and energy intensity) to provide an
integrated framework for analyzing all segments of energetics (the
study of energy flows and their transformations). The book explores
not only planetary energetics (such as solar radiation and
geomorphic processes) and bioenergetics (photosynthesis, for
example) but also human energetics (such as metabolism and
thermoregulation), tracing them from hunter-gatherer and
agricultural societies through modern-day industrial civilization.
Included are chapters on heterotrophic conversions, traditional
agriculture, preindustrial complexification, fossil fuels,
fossil-fueled civilization, the energetics of food, and the
implications of energetics for the environment. The book concludes
with an examination of general patterns, trends, and socioeconomic
considerations of energy use today, looking at correlations between
energy and value, energy and the economy, energy and quality of
life, and energy futures.
Throughout the book, Smil chooses to emphasize the complexities and
peculiarities of the real world, and the counterintuitive outcomes
of many of its processes, over abstract models. Energy in Nature
and Society provides a unique, comprehensive, single-volume
analysis and reference source on all important energy matters, from
natural to industrial energy flows, from fuels to food, from the
Earth's formation to possible energy futures, and can serve as
a text for courses in energy studies, global ecology, earth systems
science, biology, and chemistry.
Review text:
'This is the book for the curious of any stripe who wants to
dig in quantitatively and improve his or her ability to think about
whole energy systems and their complex parts. In a sense, Smil has
created a geography of biospheric energies, the most complete sweep
of the subject. The world needs the wisdom in this book now more
than ever.'
--John Katzenberger, Aspen Global Change Institute
'Vaclav Smil's appreciation of energy systems combines
Thomas Edison and Franz Kafka. He celebrates innovation and
progress but also vividly shows the strange fates and fall-out of
what appear to be some of humanity's best machines.'
--Jesse H. Ausubel, Director, Program for the Human Environment,
The Rockefeller University
" Energy in Nature and Society is filled with facts, measurements, and brief but accurate descriptions of dozens of techniques, which when combined, force facts to make sense." Alfred W. Crosby BioScience " Energy in Nature and Society is unique in its value and its comprehensive coverage of all energy matters; it should be on the bookshelves of all professionals in science, social science, economics, and history." T.L.T. Grose CHOICE
Vaclav Smil is the author of more than thirty books on energy, environment, food, and history of technical advances, including Prime Movers of Globalization: The History and Impact of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines and Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature, both published by the MIT Press. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.
