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Energy : a human history / Richard Rhodes.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2018Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: xiv, 464 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 1501105353
  • 9781501105357
Subject(s):
Contents:
Part 1. Power. No wood, no kingdom ; Raising water by fire ; A giant with one idea ; To make for all the world ; Catch me who can ; Unconquered steam! -- Part 2. Light. Rushlight to gaslight ; Pursuing Leviathan ; Burning fluids ; Wild animals ; Great forces of nature ; A cadence of water ; An enormous yellow cheese ; Pillars of black cloud -- Part 3. New fires. A gift of God ; One-armed men doing welding ; Full power in fifty-seven ; Affection from the smog ; The dark age to come ; All aboard.
Summary: "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. [...] 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." -- Amazon.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 333.7909 R477 Staining on bottom of pages near spine. 3/16/19 Available 33111009204633
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-397) and index.

Part 1. Power. No wood, no kingdom ; Raising water by fire ; A giant with one idea ; To make for all the world ; Catch me who can ; Unconquered steam! -- Part 2. Light. Rushlight to gaslight ; Pursuing Leviathan ; Burning fluids ; Wild animals ; Great forces of nature ; A cadence of water ; An enormous yellow cheese ; Pillars of black cloud -- Part 3. New fires. A gift of God ; One-armed men doing welding ; Full power in fifty-seven ; Affection from the smog ; The dark age to come ; All aboard.

"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. [...] 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." -- Amazon.

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