
Pulitzer Prize- & National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes reveals the fascinating history behind energy transitions over time--wood to coal to oil to electricity & beyond. People have lived & died, businesses have prospered & failed, & nations have risen to world power & declined, all over energy challenges. Ultimately, the history of these challenges tells the story of humanity itself. Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal & coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, & renewable energy. Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, & Henry Ford. In Energy, Rhodes highlights the successes & failures that led to each breakthrough in energy production; from animal & waterpower to the steam engine, from internal-combustion to the electric motor. He addresses how we learned from such challenges, mastered their transitions, & capitalized on their opportunities. Rhodes also looks at the current energy landscape, with a focus on how wind energy is competing for dominance with cast supplies of coal & natural gas. He also addresses the specter of global warming, & a population hurtling towards ten billion by 2100. Human beings have confronted the problem of how to draw life from raw material since the beginning of time. Each invention, each discovery, each adaptation brought further challenges, & through such transformations, we arrived at where we are today. In Rhodes`s singular style, Energy details how this knowledge of our history can inform our way tomorrow.