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  • How the World Really Works

  • The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
  • Written by: Vaclav Smil
  • Narrated by: Stephen Perring
  • Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (140 ratings)

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How the World Really Works

Written by: Vaclav Smil
Narrated by: Stephen Perring
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Publisher's Summary

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

“Provocative but perceptive . . . You can agree or disagree with Smil—accept or doubt his ‘just the facts’ posture—but you probably shouldn’t ignore him.”—The Washington Post

An essential analysis of the modern science and technology that makes our twenty-first century lives possible—a scientist's investigation into what science really does, and does not, accomplish.

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 foolishness 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, such that any promises of decarbonization by 2050 are a fairy tale. For example, each greenhouse-grown supermarket-bought tomato has the equivalent of five tablespoons of diesel embedded in its production, and we have no way of producing steel, cement or plastics at required scales without huge carbon emissions.

Ultimately, Smil answers the most profound question of our age: are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead? Compelling, data-rich and revisionist, this wonderfully broad, interdisciplinary guide finds faults with both extremes. Looking at the world through this quantitative lens reveals hidden truths that change the way we see our past, present and uncertain future.

©2022 Vaclav Smil (P)2022 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

"A scientific panorama of our well-being and how it can be sustained in our current tumultuous times and beyond. [Smil] aims to combat the widespread “comprehension deficit” about basic scientific facts, and he seeks to “explain some of the most fundamental ruling realities governing our survival and our prosperity.” That aim is marvelously achieved…[this is] an exceptionally lucid, evenhanded study of the scientific basis of our current and future lives.”Kirkus, STARRED review 

What listeners say about How the World Really Works

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Balanced perspective on the whole transition story

There is more to what is going on that the sensational that we read about in the press or hear on the news. He provides some context which helps form informed conclusions. It is always good to hear both sides.

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Great read.

Loved the down to earth approach and the well justified arguments. Great perspective. Highly recommended.

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The world according to Smil

I enjoyed the first third of this book. Smil does a great job of explaining the world’s dependency on fossil fuels. That last two thirds of the book do not hold up.

Smil lists an array of impressive numbers, many of which are not properly explained. Atmospheric carbon for example. He states that we’re at roughly 400ppm and that we’re on track to rise to 500ppm. To the lay person this might seem shocking. He never actually explains how marginal the jump is.
Smile’s personal takes on things seem to suggest to me that he’s very susceptible to the propaganda machine and perhaps helps contribute to some of those narratives. Given his friendship with Bill Gates, it’s no surprise.

The world needs to move away from fossil fuels, no question. We need to move away from destroying our soil, poisoning our food and allowing robber barons to create our problems and then offer us solutions for them.

Real solutions exist but Smil has chosen to list our massive problems, according to him, without proposing solutions.

If you’re impressed by this book, you need to read deeper into these topics to get a broad perspective, as we all should do.

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Amazing

Great book full of facts about the world that most people don’t realize. Very educational.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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too much

way too many numbers, not suitable for audiobooks. gets lost in unimportant details. narration was too monotone

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

The cost of everything, the value of nothing

Smil can't / doesn't bother to measure the impact of massive biodiversity loss, economic inequality, the rise of fascism / corporate capture of state governance, the loss of living topsoil, depletion of vital aquifers, loss of glaciers, incidence/duration of drought.

He doesn't in any way acknowledge the plain fact that our progress has come at these costs, that we have literally burned through most of our ecological trust fund in the last 200 years. No mention of feedback loops and ecological tipping points. He presents the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.

On the plus side, he does provide ample evidence about the extent of our addiction to fossil fuels, and how we have precisely zero hope of limiting global mean temperature rise to 1.5 C. Best case is something more like 2.5 C, which translates into 7.5 C in extreme northern and southern latitudes. Goodbye sea ice, permafrost, glaciers and ice sheets..

While he decries the naivety of techno utopians, he -- in the same paragraph -- suggests that we'll be just fine / there's no looming crisis, because of humanity's ability to innovate.

He suggests that, because early humans evolved their big brains through eating animal protein and fat, a modern vegan diet can't possibly supply us with our nutritional needs.

This book is a treasure trove for anyone looking to rationalize why we shouldn't bother doing anything differently. Lovely.

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Great Facts, Stats & Insights

This is great book to help find a great wealth of information in understanding fossil fuels, climate change and how the world works in general.

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moral of the story -

worth a read no matter what your thoughts on climate change are. It boils down to be a similar pragmatic theme to other books, but provides a lot more and better backup data.

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  • Sam
  • 2022-08-20

Rubbish

Reads like it was written by a self absorbed a****le. Jumps to irrational conclusions in the way a character from Monty Python would.

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Scientific overview of how the world works

The author provides a solid background about all fundamental things in the first chapters. Once the scientific foundation is built, he explains why predicting the future is impossible and what actions we should take today.

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