Energy History

Written in 1900 by Nikola Tesla, this book gives great ideas on automation, agriculture, energy, and increasing human output to improve the human condition.

In "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy," Nikola Tesla embarks on an intellectual voyage that explores the avenues through which human society could augment its collective energy resources for the betterment of mankind. First published in Century Magazine in 1900, this work showcases Tesla's profound ingenuity and his visionary approach to not only scientific and technological advancements but also to addressing broader existential challenges.

The Energy Caper, or Nixon in the Sky with Diamonds takes you on a merry romp with a band of twenty-something idealists looking for love and hoping to change the world in an alternate universe in which the Kennedys were not assassinated and the Vietnam War ended before it began. Joining in the fun are President Richard Nixon and Dr. Timothy Leary, the escaped convict Nixon calls "the most dangerous man in the world" for turning America's youth into no-good hippies.

“They’re still trying to hide the weenie,” thought Sherron Watkins as she read a newspaper clipping about Enron two weeks before Christmas, 2001. . . It quoted [CFO] Jeff McMahon addressing the company’s creditors and cautioning them against a rash judgment. “Don’t assume that there...

For readers of Dopesick and Drug Use for Grown-Ups--a celebrated cannabis attorney's insider look at the War on Drugs and what comes next for the drug legalization movement. Spoiler: everyone uses drugs. Whether you’re popping an aspirin for a headache, pushing through the day with an extra...

By the world-renowned seismologist, a riveting history of natural disasters, their impact on our culture, and new ways of thinking about the ones to come Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes--they stem from the same forces that give our planet life. Earthquakes give us natural...

Nuclear power once promised to be the solution to the world's energy crisis, but that all changed in the late twentieth century after multiple high-profile accidents and meltdowns. Power plant workers, finding themselves the subject of public opposition, became leery of reporters. But one plant in Zion, Illinois, allowed unrestricted access to one journalist: the Chicago Tribune's Casey Bukro. Bukro spent two years inside the Zion nuclear plant, interviewing employees, witnessing high-risk maintenance procedures, and watching the radiation exposure counter on his own dosimeter tick up and up.

The Great Recession that began in 2007 is now more than four years old—and counting. Some 24 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed, and at recent rates of job creation we won’t be back to normal levels of employment until late this decade. This is a tragedy. Do we have to accept...