How the World Really Works

A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future

Paperback, 336 pages

Published Jan. 22, 2022 by VIKIN.

ISBN:
978-0-241-45440-4
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4 stars (8 reviews)

We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don't know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check - because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts.

In this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn't inevitable - the perils of allowing 70 per cent of the world's rubber gloves to be made in just one factory became glaringly obvious in 2020 - and that our societies have been steadily increasing their dependence on fossil fuels, making their complete and rapid elimination unlikely. For example, each greenhouse-grown supermarket-bought tomato requires the equivalent of five tablespoons …

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Review of 'How the World Really Works' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

 I got a lot out of [a:Vaclav Smil|5003|Vaclav Smil|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1619861469p2/5003.jpg]'s [b:How the World Really Works: A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future|56587388|How the World Really Works A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future|Vaclav Smil|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641444915l/56587388.SY75.jpg|88381378] despite lacking the background to understand fairly large chunks of it. I probably fully understood about 80 percent of it, at best. (That's not a slam on the book but on me. I had to go to summer school one year because I flunked math and squeaked by other years. A large factor in deciding which college to attend was whether or not they required a year of math, as many did when I was applying.)
 This book will shatter any notions you might have about getting off fossil fuels in the time frame many hope for and consider feasible. It did for me, and I'm the starry-eyed optimistic type who's …

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