Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

by Alex J. Epstein

4.17 · Rating details · 729 Ratings · 134 Reviews

A sure-to-be-controversial defense of the fossil fuel industry

Conventional wisdom says fossil fuels are an unsustainable form of energy that is destroying our planet. But Alex Epstein shows that if we look at the big picture, the much-hated fossil fuel industry is dramatically improving our planet by making it a far safer and richer place.
The key difference between a h ...more

Get A Copy

Or buy for

Hardcover, 248 pages

Published November 13th 2014 by Portfolio

More Details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Lists with This Book

The Constitution of the United States of America by Founding Fathers

The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the U... by Founding Fathers

Best Conservative Books

353 books — 213 voters

The Ecological Rift by John Bellamy Foster

None of Us Were Like This Before by Joshua E.S. Phillips

Disturbing Truths

352 books — 362 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30)

filter | sort: default (?) | Rating Details

May 13, 2015 L.A. Starks rated it it was amazing

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, if you only read one non-fiction book in the next five years, this should be the one.

Epstein, an outsider with a background in philosophy, reframes the energy debate in terms of standards of value: the "non-impact" group (traditionally called environmentalists) vs. the group whose highest value is human life, and thus improving human life for all 7+ billion of us on the planet. So, pick your side.

He backs his arguments with a wealth of detailed facts, sound lo ...more

flag 27 likes · Like · see review

Dec 27, 2014 Matthew Ciarvella rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2014

I really like reading books that express viewpoints opposed to my own. My hope is that they will contain valuable insight that will cause me to revise my thoughts to form a better opinion.

Here's what I learned from this book:

Solar and wind are stupid and unreliable and are a waste of time.

Using fossil fuels is wonderful!

Environmentalists are bad.

Catastrophic climate change is a myth.

Using fossil fuels is FREEDOM and VERY AMERICAN.

Alex Epstein likes Brazilian jujitsu a lot and mentions it on two ...more

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2017 Douglas Wilson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: politics, science

What an outstanding book. I really enjoyed this inversion of all the bromides that the chattering classes think they are supposed to teach the rest of us. First rate book.

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2016 Greg rated it did not like it

I'm going to do this review a bit differently. I just started and am in chapter 2, but I'm going to write my impressions along the way because there is a lot of stuff happening. I'll update my star rating as well as I go on.

I need to start by saying that Epstein and I actually agree on a few things so far. I do, like he does, believe that the promise of solar and wind are being dramatically overstated and the downsides basically ignored, such as the frightening pollution going on in China in the ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2015 Thomas rated it liked it

Shelves: climate

If George Orwell's 1984 and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged could produce offspring, the result would be this book, "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels." There's lots to criticize about this book, but before I do, I should mention that is does contain some good points, which makes it worth reading. In particular, he describes the positive attributes of coal, oil, and natural gas.

What makes coal so attractive? It is plentiful, widely distributed, easy to extract, requires little processing, and easy to tr If George Orwell's 1984 and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged could produce offspring, the result would be this book, "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels." There's lots to criticize about this book, but before I do, I should mention that is does contain some good points, which makes it worth reading. In particular, he describes the positive attributes of coal, oil, and natural gas.

What makes coal so attractive? It is plentiful, widely distributed, easy to extract, requires little processing, and easy to transport. The downside? It's bonded to high quantities of sulfur and nitrogen, and it has the highest percentage of carbon among fossil fuels.

What makes natural gas attractive? It is ideal as a peak load energy provider. Clean-burning, which makes it good for home heating. It also serves as a raw material for the petro-chemical industry. The downside? Gases are harder to transport than liquids or solids due to their large volume. Natural gas is a mostly local market.

What makes oil attractive? It is a highly concentrated form of energy, easy to transport. It is deal for powering transportation.

Here's a good insight by the author: Only through human ingenuity did petroleum become a valuable resource. Otherwise, it would just be a raw material (like sand). First it was distilled into 50% kerosense, but then industry found uses for the rest of it (led by Rockefeller).

Another good point: the fossil fuel industry revolutionized agriculture to the benefit of billions-- and gotten no credit. It revolutionized farm machinery, fertilizers, irrigation, and transportation to market. On the other hand, the author consistently fails to mention the unanticipated consequences of fossil fuels: omnipresent fast food, epidemic levels of obesity, and the surburban hell of strip malls, parking lots, and traffic gridlock.

The positive conclusion that I drew from this book is that fossil fuels are not inherently immoral. When used judiciously and put to good use, they can produce plentiful, cheap, reliable energy that can greatly improve the human condition and even mitigate the damage that we've done to our environment. On the other hand, we can also use them for profligate self-indulgence and exploitation. How we use fossil fuels ultimately reflects our values as individuals and as a society.

Where this book really falls short is on the critique of climate change. It fixates on uncertainties and minimizes risk. Ultimately the author believes that if humans can adapt to a changing climate (that's a big if), then it's really not a big problem. The author places absolutely no value in anything other than humans-- everything else is just a potential resource for humans. For instance, consider these two quotes:

"The planet we live on is 100 percent matter and energy, 100 percent potential resource for energy and anything else we would want."

"Look at the parts of the world where the 'rain forest' (jungle) gets mowed down in seemingly shortsighted ways. Are they rich places? No, they are poor places with primitive agriculture and industry."

The author's entire argument is based on Enlightenment philosophy developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly that of Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. While these men were great philosophers, they had very little knowledge of how the natural world works. I don't blame them for that: modern biology, anthropology, ecology, and other scientific disciplines arose much more recently, and indeed trace their intellectual heritage back to these great thinkers. However, as knowledge has progressed over time, free market capitalists like Alex Epstein and his great hero Ayn Rand remain trapped in the 18th century and turned Enlightenment speculative philosophy into a narrow ideology that worships hyper-individualism, wealth creation, and industrial progress at the expense of all other values. With this measuring stick, all other worldviews are "irrational", including those that embrace renewable energy, biodiversity, and sustainability.

I will conclude with this sparkling quote from the author: "The key question will always be whether we have the adaptability to handle [climate change], or better yet, master it." Some people call this optimism, while others might call it megalomania.

...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Mar 21, 2015 Donald Plugge rated it really liked it

It is too bad the topic of energy has been hi-jacked by the black and white when life is actually lived in the silvers, slates and pearly grays. I start my Goodreads quest by looking at the 5 star and 1 star reviewers. For Epstein's book it was interesting to see only one 1-star review and that person appears to have missed the entire point of the book. From the 5-star side I see a trove of reviewers with phrases like "fact based", "risks and benefits", "mankind", "clarity" and even "parts per m
It is too bad the topic of energy has been hi-jacked by the black and white when life is actually lived in the silvers, slates and pearly grays. I start my Goodreads quest by looking at the 5 star and 1 star reviewers. For Epstein's book it was interesting to see only one 1-star review and that person appears to have missed the entire point of the book. From the 5-star side I see a trove of reviewers with phrases like "fact based", "risks and benefits", "mankind", "clarity" and even "parts per million". My guess is that people inclined to hate fossil fuel are not inclined to give this book their time.

The lack of humble discussion is a sad thing. It would appear that all interested parties reside on the same planet. Epstein sprinkles the entire book with interesting and relevant facts. Yet, like the old saying goes, "lies, damn lies and statistics", so you must do your own due diligence. One of the most poignant facts mentioned was "the greenhouse effect of CO2 is an extreme diminishing effect - a logarithmically decreasing effect". I did not know that. The fact is there are very few resources out there which provided basic information on carbon output without a slant toward the negative.

The book in general is very positive and encouraging. Now you may say that that is about as reassuring as Wallace Hartley and his band playing "Nearer My Heart to Thy" while the Titanic sank. Yet I believe the main take away from the information in this book is to understand the emergent nature of progress. We must work with the natural flow of progress and not against it.

"Many of the greatest things man has achieved are not the result of consciously directed thought, and still less the product of a deliberately coordinated effort of many individuals, but of a process in which the individual plays a part which he can never fully understand." -- F.A. Hayek

I was torn between giving this book my customary 3-star rating for politically involved books or my 4-star rating for books I plan to reread. I went with the latter.

dgp
...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Jan 24, 2015 Brian rated it really liked it

Shelves: fossil-fuels, environmental-issues

"The popular climate discussion has the issue backward. It looks at man as a destructive force for climate livability, one who makes the climate dangerous because we use fossil fuels. In fact, the truth is the exact opposite; we don’t take a safe climate and make it dangerous; we take a dangerous climate and make it safe." kindle location 1814

"There were no computer problems before computers. And just as we use computers to help solve computer problems, so we can use fossil fuels to help solve f ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 18, 2015 Zachary Slayback rated it it was amazing

"Here, in a sentence, is the moral case for fossil fuels, the single thought that can empower us to empower the world: Mankind's use of fossil fuels is supremely virtuous--because human life is the standard of value, and because using fossil fuels transforms our environment to make it wonderful for human life." pg. 209, emphasis added

If you have ever felt that you wanted to become more informed on the issue of fossil fuels but have been unable to sift through all the (hyperbolic) white noise in "Here, in a sentence, is the moral case for fossil fuels, the single thought that can empower us to empower the world: Mankind's use of fossil fuels is supremely virtuous--because human life is the standard of value, and because using fossil fuels transforms our environment to make it wonderful for human life." pg. 209, emphasis added

If you have ever felt that you wanted to become more informed on the issue of fossil fuels but have been unable to sift through all the (hyperbolic) white noise in the public discussion, Epstein's book is for you. What makes Epstein's work so different than other discussions on climate change, global warming/cooling, energy policy, and fossil fuels is that his case gets to the core of the discussion -- it is a moral argument.

By making a clear, concise, and effective argument with human life as his moral standard of value, Epstein is able to set the terms of the debate clearly and point out the tradeoffs involved in using fossil fuels and switching over to non-plentiful, non-reliable, expensive alternatives. (Epstein does favor nuclear energy, but notes that it is currently not a cheap source because it is so highly politicized.

Ultimately, his case makes clear that if we care about human life (especially human life in the non-industrialized world) we should not only not reduce our use of fossil fuels, but we should use them at an increasing rate. Switching over to non-fossil fuels would spell economic and progressive slowdown (which means premature deaths, suffering, and a lower quality of life for billions) and the environmental side-effects of using fossil fuels are easily outweighed by the positive effects of industrial progress.

This is not a book that will convince a professional environmentalist. Epstein recognizes this. In the final chapter, he notes that what the debate comes down to is not a misunderstanding of facts, but a moral disagreement. Champions of humanity, human life, and progress measure arguments based off whether or not it positively effects human life. Environmentalists like McKibben, Gore, et. al. are not arguing on the same plane. They are not measuring their arguments against whether or not they promote human flourishing. They measure it by environmental non-impact.

At the end of the day, those who don't measure their decisions on whether or not they benefit human flourishing are unlikely to be swayed. The public-at-large, who does balance human flourishing against other values, will find this book enlightening and enjoyable. ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2014 Beth Haynes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, economics, environmentalism

Excellent explanation of why fossil fuels are indispensable to human flourishing.

Literately billions of people are fed, housed, and healed because of the cheap, reliable energy provided by fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are the means by which we improve our lives and our environment. For the foreseeable future, alternatives like solar and wind, will only provide a small fraction of the world's energy needs. To deprive ourselves of fossil fuels is to condemn billions to poverty, suffering and even de ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2015 Amy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, free-market, business, made-me-think, mind-blown

Why didn't I rate this after I first read it? I can't remember. Maybe I was too busy freaking out at how AWESOME it was! I heard Alex Epstein speak and it really restructured everything I'd heard about fossil fuel. I devoured his book in one sitting, then went back to re-read passages. I like how he focuses on the moral case, bringing philosophy in to weigh the cost of climate change.
Worth reading, even if you disagree.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2015 Brian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I rarely gush about a book, but this one is an exception. I, like the author, was raised in an orthodox "green" environment where everything I've ever been taught and every person I've ever known has been unequivocal: climate change is dangerous, humans are causing it, and anything but immediate action against the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions will damage the future of humanity. I never fully bought the mania around climate change, out of a gut feeling that we weren't being told the c I rarely gush about a book, but this one is an exception. I, like the author, was raised in an orthodox "green" environment where everything I've ever been taught and every person I've ever known has been unequivocal: climate change is dangerous, humans are causing it, and anything but immediate action against the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions will damage the future of humanity. I never fully bought the mania around climate change, out of a gut feeling that we weren't being told the complete story, but didn't take the time to sit down and figure out why, until I picked up this book.

Epstein's book makes the exact opposite case, and it's worth listening to: that to stop the productive harnessing of fossil fuel energy would be devastating to today's and future humans, and moreover, if we want healthier lives, cleaner air, and a safer environment now and in the future, we should be encouraging more fossil fuel use and supporting the industry that develops these resources.

(In case you were wondering, Epstein adamantly denies taking any money from the fossil fuel industry).

The book starts by focusing on reframing the cultural debate around climate change. The author emphasizes using a human standard of value instead of an environmental standard of value, and he provides plenty of support for why, to humans, the benefits of cheap, plentiful and reliable energy in the form of fossil fuels far outweigh the risks.

In short, humans mostly benefit from impacting our environment: nature and climate are inherently dangerous to our species and we make it safer. The mechanism by which we make our environment safer and more productive for human life is cheap, plentiful and reliable energy, that right now only exists in fossil fuels. Epstein looks at supposedly renewable alternatives like wind and solar and how uneconomical they are, not to mention unreliable. He addresses arguments about the costs of fossil fuel consumption, from pollution to ecosystem impact to climate change, essentially in the same way: that cheap energy makes our lives safer, our environment cleaner, and allows us to control out climate for our own flourishing and comfort. He takes us to remote parts of the world where electricity is not commonplace, where premature babies die from lack of incubation, where labs can't use microscopes to study disease and create cures, where farms can't get irrigated and crops can't get to market, all because of a lack of cheap, plentiful and reliable energy.

Far from being the global warming-denying screed I expected, he actually spends very little time talking about climate change at all. He does address the fact that there is little consensus among scientists about how much climate change humanity should expect to see in the next couple centuries, and looks at the dubious historical record of such predictive models (including that of Paul Ehrlich, about whom I recently read in The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth's Future). He acknowledges that carbon emissions probably do have a minor impact on global temperatures--but that in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter compared to the immense wealth to be gained by humanity because of it. The ability of humans to innovate and adapt to their changing environments is made possible by fossil fuels, and our continuing progress as a civilization--including the rise out of poverty for billions around the globe--requires cheap, plentiful and reliable fossil fuel energy. Plus--and this is a case he made plenty of times--fossil fuel usage is linked to cleaner and healthier environments as technology and innovation advances (made possible again by you guessed it, fossil fuels).

One thing I wish he had addressed was the issue of energy export. One of the reasons America's air and water has gotten so much cleaner, despite using more and more fossil fuels over the last half century, is because we have exported so much of our energy-intensive activities to China and elsewhere, where fossil fuel pollution is a serious problem. I have no doubt that the Chinese, like us, can develop technologies to limit pollution as well, and in any event, it wouldn't be a reason not to burn fossil fuels as much as a reason to regulate their emissions, but it would have been a good point to make as the third world industrializes and starts to reap the benefits of fossil fuel energy.

He does make a good case against pollution (for the strict purpose of preventing negative externalities, not dissuading fossil fuel use). However, he doesn't reconcile his support for antipollution regulation with his general support of carbon-burning industries. He could say, without hurting his argument, that there's nothing wrong with risk managing (potentially) catastrophic global warming by taxing or capping CO2 emissions as a matter of policy. Though regressive, that would be a fair tax priced into everything as the cost of civilization, and would have little impact on encouraging new energy development. I think this oversight is due only to the fact that that's not really the point of his book. He wrote this book not to lobby for individual policy, but to fight back against cultural anti-fossil fuel prejudice advocated by environmentalists and progressives who prioritize nature over human life. At this task he did an laudable and astounding job. I would not be surprised to see Epstein quickly emerge as a leading spokesperson for an alternative environmental discourse in the future. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 12, 2016 Malin Friess rated it really liked it

Environmental thought leaders like Paul Ehrlich, Al Gore, and Bill McKibben have tremendous influence but they come to the wrong conclusions with fossil fuels; they exaggerate the negatives and ignore the remarkable advantages. Fossil Fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are reliable, cheap, and abundant. Wind and Solar are intermittent and unreliable. A gallon of gasoline has 31,000 calories packed inside!

Epstein seeks to prove a moral case can be made for using even more fossil fuels. His book Environmental thought leaders like Paul Ehrlich, Al Gore, and Bill McKibben have tremendous influence but they come to the wrong conclusions with fossil fuels; they exaggerate the negatives and ignore the remarkable advantages. Fossil Fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are reliable, cheap, and abundant. Wind and Solar are intermittent and unreliable. A gallon of gasoline has 31,000 calories packed inside!

Epstein seeks to prove a moral case can be made for using even more fossil fuels. His book provides abundant graphs that show a developing country such as China or India that as their use of fossil fuels increases.... life expectancy increases, infant mortality decreases, GDP increases, access to clean water increases, and climate related deaths decrease. In the end Fossil fuels allow the 7 billion people of the world to live longer more full filling lives.

1.3 billion people in the world have no electricity . Fossil fuels provide electricity for an incubator to keep a neonate alive in Gambia, fossil fuels provide heat for a home so an open fire with toxic smoke does not have to be burned daily, fossil fuels keep a vaccine cold in a community health clinic in Sudan.

So what about climate change? The predictive models have failed. As CO2 emissions have increased, climate related deaths have decreased. Epstein contends that the scale relating CO2 emissions and temperature is logarithmic--such that even severe CO2 emissions increased will create negligible temperature increases.

Epstein has great faith in our ability to adapt to temperature changes and ocean levels. Amsterdam is below sea level and exists and thrives. Epstein is also strongly pro nuclear energy. It can be done cleanly and immensely powerful. He is pro hydroelectricity--and on this point I think we disagree as I disapprove of the damming of natural rivers. Epstein is pro fracking.

4 stars. Epstein is unapologetic (and he thinks the Oil companies should be as well) for how fossil fuels have improved the quality of life for humanity. Read and make your own judgment.

...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2014 Jacob O'connor rated it really liked it

It's easy to talk about our beliefs. Living them is a whole other matter. Al Gore whipped the world into a frenzy with An Inconvenient Truth. He then took his private jet back to his 16 room mansion, switched on all the lights, and then set all the oilfields in Kuwait on fire. (I might be mixing him up with someone else on that last one). I'd call that an inconsistent truth.

The point is this. How many self-professed environmentalists have taken the steps they've asked the world to take? They pu ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 29, 2015 Don Weidinger rated it it was amazing

benefits outweigh, 87% use, more use more human progress less deaths, 70’s predictions catastrophic fear of risks no rewards, no temp trend in 100 years, climate deaths fell 98% in 80 years, fear from not thought leaders, better place for human beings, controls may cause early deaths, special metals and resources for solar, most scalable nuclear, 5M deaths 32 to 30K, limiting power death risk for 1.3B, rape earth elements for wind and solar, false attrition fracking backward thinking prejudiced ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 08, 2015 Jeff Yoak rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-recommended-to-everyone, audio-collection, read-in-2015

This book is utterly fantastic... even better than I had hoped for. Epstein manages to integrate what holding man's life as a standard of value means with respect to evaluating the risks and benefits of fossil fuel consumption. He makes even more concession of risks than I would have been inclined to do, being less informed. That many of the claims of the environmental movement are motivated by a hatred of human action for its own sake doesn't mean that absolutely none of their claims are true. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2016 ATJG marked it as to-read

Shelves: el-chupa-naw-brah

Want to get good and pissed off? Take a deep breath and maunder through the prickly garden of 5-star reviews of this book.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2017 Ben De Bono added it

Shelves: politics, read-in-2017, new-authors-read-in-2017

I'm not going to give this book a star rating. I suspect that people will begin to take sides based on the title alone and proceed to endorse or dismiss reviews based on how well the star rating lines up with that initial preconception. It's really a shame that this issue is that knee-jerk for so many. It's vital that we get it right. If someone like Epstein is wrong and we're truly facing catastrophic climate change then we have to take immediate action no matter the ancillary political issues. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2015 Marco den Ouden rated it it was amazing

Despite claims from some climate change activists, Alex Epstein is not a climate change denier. He readily acknowledges that the climate has changed in the last century. But the change, he avers, is insignificant and manageable when you look at the big picture. From 1910 to 2010, the average global temperature has increased less than one degree Celsius. The carbon dioxide emissions over this same period increased from around 285 parts per million to 385 parts per million, an increase of 35%. Mos ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2015 Ron Housley rated it really liked it

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
by AlexEpstein
A short book report by Ron Housley

Tag Line: Healthy Moral Choice or Dangerous Addiction

Alex Epstein has led a campaign to bring calm and levelheaded inquiry to the energy/climate activism of the last 2 decades.

We have seen from both sides of the “global warming” controversy an unacceptable excess in propagandizing, and precious little in the way of expository science. All of the panels and debates that I have listened to are one-sided and front loade ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2017 Terrence Daugherty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was an incredible read. Epstein does a fantastic job exposing the misanthropy of the green movement while using airtight logic to make a moral argument for mankind's use of fossil fuels.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2014 David Webber rated it really liked it

As an engineer I can appreciate this book's fresh approach to the issues, particularly looking at the risks versus benefits of energy decisions. It has seemed to me for sometime that many people touting 'climate science' do not make any attempt to speak of the benefits/economics of continuing to use fossil fuels as a energy source while developing other methods, and that they have also underestimated our ability to adapt to climate. I feel that most complex problems have a multi-faceted solution ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2014 Nikki rated it really liked it

Overall this book is highly unique and impactful. It delivers a landmark, integrated perspective on energy production and consumption, and is easy and enjoyable to read.

I can't give this book 5 stars because it doesn't touch on one major aspect of current climate debate: "ocean acidity". I think given the current energy-environment debate landscape, where ocean acidity publications and predictions garner a great deal of concern, that address of the topic was warranted. I can't help but feel, as ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2015 Bpw White rated it it was ok

Either this is a frustratingly misleading book, or it reveals frustrating levels of sensationalism among the media, politicians, and pretty much everyone else. Either way, the experience is frustrating.

Assuming his data is correct, his direct and relatively unemotional treatment of the numbers is admirable.

That said, trying to get by dismissing solar and wind with the intermittent argument is lazy at best. I mean, batteries?

His morality argument boils down to, "let's not waste energy on non f ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2014 Evan rated it it was amazing

Essential clarity. An indispensable guide to thinking about the issues which stand to affect humanity today and for generations to come. An unapologetic defense of industrial civilization and the means by which it is maintained and continually improved upon.

There are reasons why we depend upon oil, coal, natural gas, and not solar and wind. It is because oil, coal and natural gas are dependable sources of energy on the scale required for the best life possible to man today and for the foreseeabl ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 16, 2015 Chuck Slack rated it it was amazing

It is ironic to be reading this book on the day my provincial government released their climate change plan which calls for the eventual phase out of coal-generated electricity. The cheapest electricity in Alberta.

This book puts forth some interesting points. I particularly appreciated the premise of how much energy a typical American uses which is 186,000 calories per day which is equivalent to the calories to sustain 93 people! Without affordable energy where would our society be? The goal to ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 01, 2015 Abhilash Nambiar rated it it was amazing

I never thought there was a moral case to be made for fossil fuels. But here it is and it is well done. Who would have thought fossil fuel can facilitate of all things the greening of the earth! What the so called environmental activists want is to freeze things the way they are instead of improving the earth for the sake of mankind. Alex makes the case that Fossil fuels are ethical precisely because it puts mankind first. Highly recommended.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2016 Robert rated it it was amazing

This book lays out the philosophic and moral case for Fossil Fuels and why the ideology of "No Human Impact" is anti-human. anti-progress, and anti-life. Unfortunately too few will care to have their opinions challenged.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2016 Jack Jacobson rated it really liked it

Believe it or not, there is one!

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2017 Garrick Anderson rated it really liked it

A highly educational and highly recommended read, especially if you don't agree with the basic premise. Out of all the directly confrontational texts I've encountered (which isn't many, but I like the idea), this book does the best job I've seen of overcoming initial friction and moving forward to persuade.

The philosophical content is unparalleled. The missing star comes in at the scientifically-oriented sections of the book, which invoke a lot of the same fallacies used to critique the argument ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 24, 2016 Abdelhamid Abdou rated it it was amazing

Alex Epstein is making the moral case for the use of fossil fuels in this book. The usual debate about climate change and renewable energy always focuses on the environmental impact of fossil fuel and the fact the solar/wind power don't have this impact. Alex Epstein is doing something different, he is first establishing the standard of value for comparison. He is adopting human life and well being as the standard of value so he is evaluating the different sources of energy as they impact this s Alex Epstein is making the moral case for the use of fossil fuels in this book. The usual debate about climate change and renewable energy always focuses on the environmental impact of fossil fuel and the fact the solar/wind power don't have this impact. Alex Epstein is doing something different, he is first establishing the standard of value for comparison. He is adopting human life and well being as the standard of value so he is evaluating the different sources of energy as they impact this standard of value. The modern environmentalists are adopting a standard of none impact on nature.

In adopting which standard to choose it is important to realize that nature is not hospitable for human life by default and that the history of human civilization is mostly about building the technology to change and conquer the different forces of nature such as cold, heat, famine, disease and storms. All of the success of the human civilization to achieve these goals depends on Energy. Energy is the foundation of our modern life that allowed us the extend the life expectancy, defeat diseases and adapt to the harsh and adversary Nature. A reliable and abundant energy is essential to our way of life and to lift the billions of people who are still stuck in pre-industrial economy to the modern industrial economy. Any discussion about the morality of the use of any source of energy should take this big picture into consideration.

This leads us to adopt human life as the standard of value and as the book successfully demonstrates fossil fuel energy made a positive impact on all areas of human life and all of their negative impacts could be solved by technology and this makes the moral case for the continued use of fossil fuels to support the progress of the human civilization.

The book also covers the other sources of energy such as solar, wind, nuclear and hydropower and shows the deficiencies of solar and wind and how the political campaigns of the environmentalists blocked nuclear and hydropower.

For years the opponents of fossil fuels have portrayed the use of fossil fuels as a moral crime against the environment and this book successfully transforms the discussion to the moral value of continued use of fossil fuel to make future progress possible for us and coming generations.

Every citizen would benefit from reading this book and learn the facts to hold the political leaders who opposed fossil fuels accountable to the damage they are inflicting. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers Also Enjoyed

Genres

Nonfiction

35 users

Economics

26 users

Politics

26 users

Science

21 users

Philosophy

18 users

Environment

9 users

See top shelves…

Books by Alex J. Epstein

More…

Share This Book

+ Share on your website

Trivia About The Moral Case fo...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Moral Case fo...

“There are two lessons here: First, weather, climate, and climate change matter—but not nearly as much as they used to, thanks to technology. Climate livability is not just a matter of the state of the global climate system, but also of the technology (or lack thereof) that we have available to deal with any given climate. Second, having that technology is useless unless we have the energy to run it.” — 2 likes

“We don’t want to “save the planet” from human beings; we want to improve the planet for human beings.” — 2 likes

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
avg rating	preview: The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels Goodreads rating: 4.17 (729 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821049-the-moral-case-for-fossil-fuels?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408932697l/20821049.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821049-the-moral-case-for-fossil-fuels?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex J. Epstein[/url]

See a Problem?

Preview — The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex J. Epstein

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers Also Enjoyed

Genres

Books by Alex J. Epstein

Share This Book

Share on your website

Trivia About The Moral Case fo...

Quotes from The Moral Case fo...

See a Problem?

Preview — The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex J. Epstein

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers Also Enjoyed

Genres

Books by Alex J. Epstein

Share This Book

Share on your website

Trivia About The Moral Case fo...

Quotes from The Moral Case fo...

new topic
Discuss This Book