Customer Reviews

Reaping the Wind: How Mechanical Wizards, Visionaries, and Profiteers Helped Shape Our Energy Future

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Peter Asmus is a sensitive, and involved, observer of the 20-year struggle to make wind energy a valuable energy resource. This book describes the soaring victories and crashing defeats, with the personalities of the people adding more than enough color and life. Here are the words of one wind industry promoter who made the transition from dreamer to bank-financed developer without losing his pony-tail: "Kudos, and more kudos. You cut through all of our industry's bulls--t with wit and candor, and injected living, breathing humanity into a story of technology. Injecting your own personality, as well. Despite the obvious that no one can ever tell the true story as it happened, you have done a remarkable job in bringing the wind industry's evolution to life, and the future of American, no, global, society, rests in your readers' understanding of the lessons from your brilliant history of our industry." Wind energy is now harnessed with modern machines in 23 states of the US. As we teeter on the edge of another energy crisis, this books describes what some people are doing about to improve the health and security of all people. The beauty of this book is its invitation for everyone to choose the direction for the future.

You've got to really want to know about the history of wind power to take on this book. The author does an exceptional job of chronicalling all the characters and woodsy folklore of the wind power industry for the last three decades or so. It's a narrow subject, but for anyone interested in how we got where we are in the field of renewable energy, this is it. (Why do they call it "renewable"? Forest products are renewable, but wind?). A couple of pictures would have been fun. By and large a very unique book.

Absolutely fascinating, recommended by a friend in the business to get some background on windfarming. Reads like a novel. A little out of date but the history never is.

This is a comprehensive history of wind development, especially focused on 1980 to 2000. If you are interested in ancient windmills or recent history (2000 to today), then this is NOT the book for you. But if you want to read about the turbulent times of California in the 1980s and the aftermath of that chapter, this is a well-written account, with lots of juicy anecdotes that most people don't remember or have never heard of. Very solid research, and a nice "personal" feel to the stories.

The author did a good job of explaining how the wind energy industry in America got it's start in California, the start-up troubles, and the key issues important to making wind energy a viable alternative energy source. On the downside, I thought the book included too much information, and sometimes left the reader wondering how certain sideline stories fit in with the rest of the book. There were so many people mentioned & referenced, that I couldn't keep up with who did what when.

I have read this book, because I am interested in the history of modern windmills, however I find it to be very disappointing for many reason. First of all, this book lacks structure and coherence. It is a collection of notes on 'windmills' that are not coherently structured. The book does not follow a chronological order, and there is no logical transition betwen the different sections of a chapter, or the various chapters. Secondly, several chapters of the book are off topic. For example, in one chapter Asmus describres the social atmosphere of a biker's gathering, with details about the origins of the biker movement... that is fine, except for the fact that the only reference to windmill the chapter makes, is to mention that the famous biker's bar where bikers in south california have met for decades is located near a wind farm. Thirdly, the book is not very informative about windmills. Peter Asmus has a few facts about windmills scattedred throughtout the numerous chapters of the book. After having completed the book I acquired lots of factual information on a variety of topics BUT windmills. Overall this book is poor and I do not recommend it.