Energy: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guides) (Paperback)

by Vaclav Smil (Author)
Key Phrases: dietary transitions, World War, North America, Latin America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
David G. Victor - Director, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University"Smil's 'Energy' is rich in thoughtful insights and written in sparkling prose, this little book offers a sweeping survey of the many ways that energy moves our economy and ecology."Sir Crispin Tickell - Former Chairman of both the Board of the Climate Institute of Washington DC and the International Institute for Environment"This admirably clear and comprehensive guide shows how we us and misuse energy, and the prospects, as ever more if us devour the Earth's diminishing capital of fossil fuels."

Product Description
In this user-friendly and informative book, prolific author and academic Vaclav Smil provides an introduction to this far-reaching term and gives the reader a greater understanding of energy's place in both past and present society. Starting with an explanation of the concept, he goes on to cover such exciting topics as the inner workings of the human body, and the race for more efficient and environmentally friendly fuels. Whether you're after insight or dinner table conversation, Energy: A Beginner's Guide will amaze and inform, uncovering the science behind one of the most important concepts in our universe.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications; Presumed 1st Edition edition (May 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851684522
• ISBN-13: 978-1851684526
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #309,666 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This item is part of The Beginner's Guide Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful for nonbeginners, December 28, 2008

By	Brian H. Fiedler (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is not truly a Beginner's Guide. The book is more like an Executive Summary of the many writings by the prolific author, up to 2005. No references are given. There is no appendix with useful tables of values. However, there are many useful tables, lists and values dispersed throughout the book. The book has a few flubs: confusing ultra-violet radiation with infrared, missing a "per year" in a sentence, and draft animals pulling with kg of force.

Some more serious problems occur on page 152, where the parenthetical definition of "net energy ratio" is actually the the definition of EROI, energy return on investment (of energy). The numbers discussed in the remainder of the paragraph are actually values of 1- 1/EROI . A true beginner would be flummoxed.

Another grievance is that the difference between installed capacity of wind power and the actual production of electrical power is not emphasized forcefully enough. A wind production number is given on page 169 (as a percent of world electrical power), but you are on your own to figure out the important capacity factor, and then to put wind power in a fair comparison with nuclear power and coal power. The summary of wind energy is otherwise excellent, as is the summary of photosynthesis and biofuels. All ethanol fans should read it.

The focus of the book in not renewable energy policy. The scope is much more grand, all done wonderfully in consistent S.I. Units, with respect for the intelligence of the reader. The author gets to the point. Energetics is the most concise way to organize knowledge of your universe. The brilliant author summarizes nearly all of it in 176 pages: your cells, your home economics, your technology, your planet. For larger scale solar and galactic - you may need to shop elsewhere. Presentation of energetics leads to implications in the sociology of jet travel, urban planning, and history of science and technology. For example, on page 93 we learn how the celebrated inventor James Watt delayed progressive development of the steam engine.

The book would be a great investment of time and money if a better book was not available: "Energy in Nature and Society", published by Smil in 2008. That book has more figures, of better quality, appendices and approximately 3 times the amount of text. The overlap in not complete, though. You won't find that tidbit about Watt in the 2008 work, or the fact that swarms of insects soiling the leading edge of wind turbine blades can cause a nearly instant drop in power production by up to 20%.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not necessarily a beginner's guide., January 3, 2007

By	Eivin Brudie (Anchorage, Alaska) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an easy to follow guide for the beginner. You don't have to know calculus to follow the math. I daresay it could be a useful review for the more sophisticated reader.