Vaclav Smil

A data-driven, scientific account of our need for speed—exploring a wide range of topics including evolution, transportation, and technology In a world obsessed with efficiency, perhaps nothing is valued as highly as being fast. Some of our greatest achievements include building planes that...

Brought to you by Penguin. Explore how speed influences every aspect of life on Earth, from the slow grind of geological processes and the fleeting lifespans of organisms to the astonishing speed of light and the remarkable adaptations of creatures like the swift antelope and the soaring...

Un sincero y revelador análisis de las posibilidades energéticas de nuestro futuro.

In this ambitious, myth-busting book, leading scientist and internationally bestselling author Vaclav Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today.

"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author."—Bill Gates An indispensable analysis of how the world really produces and consumes its food—and a scientist's exploration of how we can successfully feed a growing population without killing the planet We have never had to feed as many people as we do...

Este libro sobre lo grande, lo pequeño y la relación entre ambos nos entrega una innovadora respuesta a las grandes preguntas sobre la existencia humana. El tamaño no es solo una propiedad más de lo que nos rodea, sino que puede cambiar nuestra forma de verlo absolutamente todo.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A new masterpiece from one of my favorite authors… [How The World Really Works] is a compelling and highly readable book that leaves readers with the fundamental grounding needed to help solve the world’s toughest challenges.”—Bill Gates ...

Urgent and essential, Numbers Don't Lie inspires listeners to interrogate what they take to be true in these significant times....

In this user-friendly and informative audiobook, prolific author and academic Vaclav Smil provides an introduction to this far-reaching term....

"There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil."--Bill Gates An essential guide to understanding how numbers reveal the true state of our world--exploring a wide range of topics including energy, the environment, technology, transportation, and food production. Vaclav...

From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a new volume on the history of human ingenuity—and its attendant breakthroughs and busts....

Brought to you by Penguin.

We have never had so much information at our fingertips, and yet most of us simply don't understand how our world really works. Professor Vaclav Smil is not a pessimist or an optimist, he is a scientist, and this book is a much-needed reality check on...

In Made in the USA, Vaclav Smil powerfully rebuts the notion that manufacturing is a relic of predigital history and that the loss of American manufacturing is a desirable evolutionary step toward a pure service economy....

What makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four "grand transitions" of civilization - in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics - that have transformed the way we live....

In this book, Vaclav Smil argues that power density is a key determinant of the nature and dynamics of energy systems....

In this magisterial book, Vaclav Smil offers systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the trajectories of empires and civilizations....

In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel-driven civilization and offers listeners a magisterial overview of humanity's energy eras....

En esta monumental historia, Vaclav Smil ofrece una impresionante panorámica de cómo la energía ha impulsado el progreso cultural y económico de las sociedades humanas durante los últimos diez mil años....

Grounded in history and drawing on the latest science, with much recourse to art and classic literature, Size explains the regularities—and peculiarities—of the key processes shaping life, the Earth, technical advances and societies and economies....