Very weak final chapter ( )

A good overview of the changes in human energy use from the Elizabethan period through to the present. Rhodes surveys the rise and fall of muscle, water, steam and electricity, of wood, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, wind and solar in turn. Each gets capsule histories of varying lengths, summarizing the circumstances of their rise and the major figures and events involved in the major inventions.

I enjoyed the first half of the book, focused on pre-20th Century energy, more than the second half, which felt briefer and more polemic. At the end, Rhodes makes his aim clear: he is a champion of human ingenuity when it comes to energy, contra the neo-Malthusians who want to cut back. I'm sympathetic to this view, and get how the book's treatment of how humans invented new energy sources to overcome the drawbacks of the older sources (over and over again, but always ending up a little better off) supports this argument. But I feel the book would have been stronger if it had been less polemical, letting readers draw their own conclusion from Rhodes' presentation of the facts. Perhaps this freed-up space could have been used to go into more detail about more modern energy sources, of which only nuclear gets a full treatment, or to make it a true history of energy and cover the pre-modern energy sources (human and animal muscle, mechanical channeling of wind and water) with the same rigor. His anti-Malthusian conclusion only made me want to read Charles Mann's book-length take of that debate, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World.

Still, Energy was an enjoyable and fairly brisk read. His histories of the rise of steam engines, oil drilling and electrical power were all thoroughly enlightening; his other chapters all had interesting nuggets. I just feel the book could have been more. ( )

This book is 3/4 anthology of initial discovery and meaningful events regarding the major energy fuels used by humanity. Mainly wood, coal, gas, oil, electricity, nuclear and renewables.

I was looking for something that can give me a broader view at exactly this, so I know what to focus more in my future reads. The last 1/4 is the best part, with the author shining light on the biggest issues we currently face for the future and how we're trying and failing to tackle them.

The book is informative, but you have to be really invested in the topic to not get a bit bored at times by the minutae of the historical recollections. If Rhodes would've found a way to make the first half of the book flow easier and maybe even dropped some of the details he gets into, this would have earned a top spot in my science reads this year.

I'm recommending it for people who want to have a better perspective on what has powered our society's boom and what's largely causing the global warming crisis we're going to be hearing more about in the coming decade. ( )

I immediately bought this book when I saw the name of the author, since I had thoroughly enjoyed his Making of the Atomic Bomb a few years ago. He writes about the history of sources and uses of energy, from wood to nuclear power. He points out the great damage to forests that using wood for fuel in England wrought, and how economics forced a search for alternatives. Much of the first section then describes the intertwined development of coal mines, steam engines to drain coal mines, and steam trains to haul coal. In a next section, entitled "Light" he starts with rushlight, describes the drive to harvest and use whale oil, then the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania (with a surprising note that New Haven bankers bankrolled Edwin Drake). Oil was refined into kerosene and the inexpensive fuel put whalers out of business, then electric light from hydro and steam power. The final section is on "New Fires", describing battles to fight smog, wind and solar, and a very excellent chapter on nuclear power and radiation fears. Rhodes tells interesting stories while reviewing all this history, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, even when reading for a few minutes at odd times. ( )

Energy by Richard Rhodes chronicles the relationships between men and resources. From the Age of Sail where everything was constructed of wood to our modern day of Nuclear Power. Human beings have constantly been looking for things to provide energy. From the clear-cutting of ancient Oak forests to make the Royal Navy to mining for coal and pumping oil, our relationships to the Earth are defined by such struggles. The book contains little images to demonstrate what it is talking about. Mostly about things the reader might not be familiar with.

The book as a whole is chronological in nature. As I mentioned, it begins with wood and goes on to discuss coal. Now coal has one or two advantages over wood. It is more compact and energy dense. From locomotives, it goes to other categories entirely, such as light-producing appliances and other things. From candles powered by whale juice to electric light bulbs, Rhodes covers it all.

He discusses the development of the technologies required for the whole product in question. So for instance, with Electricity, it talks about the experiments done with Leyden Jars and Benjamin Franklin’s lightning experiment. The book is ridiculously fascinating and contains a lot of accounts from people of the era; from either memoirs or letters. It is meticulously crafted, with images from the period. So they might have an image from a patent or a photograph from the era assuming that photography was invented at the time.

I really enjoyed this book and can recommend it to people who are interested in our technological history. ( )