How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going

Smil (Numbers Don’t Lie), an environmental studies professor at the University of Manitoba, quantifies the modern world in this arcane survey. To break down “how the world really works, and... use that understanding in order to make us better realize our future limits and opportunities,” Smil examines stats about energy and food production, globalization, and environmental challenges: readers will learn that it takes at least 21 gigajoules to synthesize a ton of ammonia; that worldwide steel production in 2019 used about 34 exajoules of energy; and that in ancient Egypt, 1.3 people could be fed per hectare of land. Smil spends a lot of time on environmental issues, arguing that moving away from carbon-based sources of energy is all but impossible in the short or medium-term, and criticizing many researchers’ environmental models as “flights of fancy unencumbered by real-world considerations.” While there’s no shortage of fascinating material, Smil neglects to suggest ways for dealing with the global issues he sums up—fossil-fuel dependence, global warming—leaving this feeling incomplete. The numbers are there, but they don’t add up to much. (May)