Энергия. История человечества

Richard Rhodes traces 400 years of change in power and travel. He follows the shift from animal and water power to steam. He charts the move from internal combustion engines to electric motors. He asks how people made these changes and used them.

This history is for readers who care about human harm to nature. It is also for those concerned about the world's future. It links past shifts in power to today's energy choices. These include sources that renew themselves, as well as nuclear power. It looks at risks from global warming and growth in human numbers. It considers a world with ten billion people by 2100.

Rhodes won a Pulitzer Prize. He puts people at the heart of this history. He looks at the ideas and methods behind new tools and machines. He shows what worked and what failed. He aims to bring this human story into climate debates. He draws on the past to make today's energy problems clearer. He also seeks to shed light on ways we might solve them.