
Distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba; writes quantitative histories of energy, food, materials and technical change.
Each book counts the physical inputs an economy consumes - joules, tonnes of steel, ammonia, cement - and establishes the historical rates at which past energy transitions actually moved. Those numbers let an investor size decarbonisation timelines and test claims about how fast an energy system can be rebuilt.
Chosen by shared topics, the entries that hold them, and the people who recommended both.
How Haber and Bosch's ammonia synthesis transformed world food production.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Bill Gates
A short primer on energy: its forms, units and role in nature and economies.
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg
History told through energy, from muscle and fire to coal, oil and electricity.
Recommended by: Balaji S. Srinivasan, Bill Gates and 1 other
Each shift from wood to coal to oil took 50 to 70 years; new ones will be slow too.
Recommended by: Bill Gates
The physical basics of modern life: energy, food, materials and globalisation.
Recommended by: Bill Gates
A short technical primer on oil: geology, extraction, refining, uses and reserves.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
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