Energy: A Human History

Pulitzer- and National Book Award–winner Rhodes (The Making of the Atom Bomb) offers a sweeping history of the diverse sources of energy—from wood to wind—in all its miraculous, destructive glory. Rhodes delivers brilliantly on the inner workings of steam engines and reactors, and his lively narrative takes readers on thrilling side trips. In Great Barrington, Vt., in 1886, 27-year-old inventor William Stanley Jr. discovers how to apply alternating current to long-distance transmission, bringing the miracle of light to the joyous town. In Los Angeles in the mid-20th century, no one knows what’s causing the horrific smog until a Dutch organic chemist, Arie Haagen-Smit, identifies L.A.’s real problem: a half-million cars burning 12,000 gallons of gasoline daily. Rhodes includes lesser-known footnotes to the energy saga: the gunpowder engine; wagons propelled by sails; fish heads, whose phosphorescence provided a man “light by which to read his pocket watch”; and the 1679 invention of the pressure cooker, paving the way for the steam engine. Rhodes firmly backs nuclear power as “the most promising single energy source available to cope with 21st-century energy challenges.” His fascinating tale will delight technology wonks and particularly appeal to inventors and discoverers. (May)