How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going

by Vасlаv Ѕmіl

Kindle Edition

Published July 11, 2022

Reviews

[Tom Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book requires you to absorb a lot of numbers. If numbers confuse you, then it might not be the book for you to read. Smil does give some perspective on the numbers that he uses in an appendix but it still might confuse some readers. Overall, I found the book interesting although I had some difficulty at times absorbing some of Smil's arguments. One thing that I took away from the book is that we don't really know what will happen in the future. Our ability to predict the future is not one that has shown a lot of success and Smil explains why that is so. Other takeaways from the book: We won't be getting away from fossil fuels any time soon, We need to focus on the things that we can do like improving the efficiency of our technologies and/or requiring the use of those already-efficient technologies. In the end, I would perhaps recommend this book if you find the confusing misinformation that we are inundated daily to be confusing and difficult to swallow. Smil puts a lot of it into perspective and may make what you hear daily easier to understand.

[Emmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting bits in here, but way too long to recommend. I definitely learned a few things but not sure it was worth the time I put into this book.