Energy: A Beginner's Guide

Very informative book. However I'm left wondering the actual energy cost to build and maintain and strategies to dispose of all these alternative resources. I am always looking for more information on that. I felt the book touches it but does not supply a satisfactory answer. That makes me more curious to find out more. I have read many of his books and they are all substantial and well substantiated, and complementary in many aspects. I trust Vaclav immensely and hope he can delve more into those aspects on one of his new books.

The writing was straight forward and the historical overview of energy sources was interesting. The evaluation of future energy sources is limited to current knowledge as it only can be. However what was not addressed was the impact on demand for natural resources required by developing technologies. Such as, the quantities of steel, concrete, copper, rare earths, lithium and others. I believe limits on key natural resources will be the limiting factor on any of the developing energy technologies.

I picked up Vaclav Smil's Energy because I wanted to better understand mankind's current use of energy, and to develop a better perspective on how I personally consume energy. The book was perfect for both of these purposes. At ~200 pages, I figured the book would provide a quick survey of many topics at a high level, and wouldn't read like a science textbook. This is true, but someone looking for an overview should know that this book is packed with detailed explanations of the topics that are covered. As a non-scientist, this book increased my knowledge and certainly shed light on the applications to modern life that I was looking for. I highly recommend this book.

Based on his previous book about materials, I expected a bit more detailed information about the problems (physical and chemical in addition to beaurocratictic) that are limiting solar cell production, nuclear fusion, wave-kinetic energy harnessing, etc., technologies of the potential future. But there was a M ton of information and I suppose it has "beginner 's guide" on the title, so it is what it is. My favorite part is the in depth analysis of the energy stored in materials and goods, and how they are transferred around the world and reside in everyday as objects. I personally recommend reading the previous materials book which instilled in me an understanding of the physical magnitude of these materials, then this analysis goes more into what it took to make that happen (starting with the sun most of all).

This is very interesting and a great read but not a great "beginners" book really. You either have to have some previous knowledge or have a dictionary/encyclopedia handy. Its a great book and not too advanced at all for those with basic knowledge-just don't confuse it with the "for dummies" style beginner books.

Vaclav Smile is simply the best and most cogent writer on energy today. The clarity of the analysis and implications thereof should be understood by anyone impacting policy in this arena.

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%.

This is a very interesting book, but most of all a comprehensive review of renewables. Interesting all of the hard fact information that it contains. Highly recommended, fascinating.

Libro del especialista en energía Vaclav Smil, al alcance de cualquier persona interesada. Debería ser de lectura obligatoria para muchos periodistas.

This book turned out to be much more than what I hoped for. It contains review of how plants produce energy, how living things consume energy, historical human energy consumption, modern energy generation and consumption and likely future scenario. Overall a fantastic book for a beginner. Book is full of numbers and statistics. It is not centered around western world, and contains frequent mention of Asia, China, India and Africa. Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Only criticism, book could have included more diagrams, figures and tables.

Inglese non troppo impegnativo. Il libro espone in maniera basilare le conoscenze fisiche preliminari alle tematiche energetiche; per poi affrontare da vicino ogni tipo di energia cercando di esporre i pro ed i contro di ogni tecnologia. Non mancano comparazioni anche numeriche in grado di far riflettere non poco su quale possa essere il nostro sviluppo nei prossimi anni.

Entender la energía en todas sus dimensiones no es una tarea únicamente de ingenieros. Cualquier esfuerzo humano requiere conocer los principios, las fuerzas y los elementos que implican la transformación de energía en trabajo, calor, movimiento, etc. Esta lectura es recomendada para aquellos que tienen el interés de aprender un poco más de uno de los factores que más importantes resultan para el desarrollo y progreso de las sociedades modernas.

Livro muito bom para a proposta de ser um guia para iniciantes no tema. O tema energia é abordado em perspectiva temporal (passado, presente e tendências para o futuro) em setores e atividades mais importantes. Em geral, a leitura é agradável. Apesar do conteúdo ser conciso, os capítulos trazem dados e gráficos interessantes que podem ser consultados posteriormente, mas para isso o índice remissivo poderia ser mais extenso.