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How the World Really Works

By: Vaclav Smil - Read: Feb 17, 2023 - Rating: 6/10

More like how fossil fuels underlie core systems that the world depends on. A climate book on how technologists overestimate how easy it is for technology to displace current fossil fuel dependence.

It shows why the energy, materials, and food production systems will likely depend on fossil fuels for longer than we expect.

Vaclav Smil has a purist writing approach. He believes in only writing facts without injecting opinion or his own thoughts.

It makes the book unbiased but also lacking in narrative or insight, making it hard to get through. I appreciated (but didn't fully agree with) his opposition toward techno-optimism since it's a less common perspective in my environments.