Energy: A Human History Hardcover – May 29, 2018

I was pleasantly surprised at the balanced emphasis on the view of energy through the centuries. Rhodes has a realistic view for the requirements of different energy sources in the present and future world.Anyone with an interest in the evolution of energy in the past and future should read this well written book.

I enjoyed this book and found it interesting. I believe it should really have been called "Fuel" instead of energy. The difference is subtle but the author really is talking about what and where we derive energy from (sources). I found the book inconsistent at times and this effected its flow. But over all well researched and educational and a worthwhile read.One MAJOR problem with this book, the Kindle version, and NOT the author's fault was how Amazon digitized it. Most of the diagrams where improperly digitized and as a result they were tiny. Way too small to be seen on a Kindle. And you were not able to enlarge them as in other Amazon Kindle books where yo have the ability to enlarge pictures. Some were properly coded and could be enlarged. But most were not.

Well written and copiously annotated. It is an interesting read from ancient times to the current problems of the day.

The book is excellent. It explains our energy past to elucidate our energy present and future. And it’s quite well written.However, don’t buy this or any other book with graphs, photos, or illustrations on the Kindle app. This book has many such features which I’m sure would aid in comprehending the material, if only they were rendered at a size larger than my little fingernail. As it stands, it is impossible to even see what most of the diagrams and photos are meant to convey. And yes, I tried to no avail to enlarge them.Amazon really needs to fix this. For now, though, I’d advise folks to avoid trying to read even marginally technical books on the Kindle app.

This book took me a very long time to read. The information was interesting but as a whole it wasn’t gripping. I learned about the different forms of energy, wood, coal and nuclear along with the internal combustion engine and the gasoline that powered it. He spent very little time on renewables, partly because in 2017 they made up such a small part of global energy use. I’m glad to finally finish this book, it was a slog.

I've read several Rhodes books and this one is as good as any. Rhodes writes at a different level than most authors. He makes complex subjects understandable. I read this book in five days and couldn't put it down.

Excellent book. I enjoy the way Rhodes brings historical characters to life. I do recommend it. I have two issues, both having to do with the Kindle version. First, the illustrations are hard enough to view when you CAN expand them. I'd say half the illustrations in this book could not be expanded so were essentially worthless little blobs on my screen. Second, I was immersed in reading with about 4 hrs and 45% remaining to read when the narrative suddenly ended. Huh? Turns out that last 45% is acknowledgments, bibliography, notes and index. Kudos to Rhodes for being so thorough but I was pretty let down by my perceived loss of material. I wasn't really interested in spending 4hrs perusing the extras. I think this Kindle quirk needs to change.

Richard puts together a thorough and fascinating account of modern society's various forms of fuel, from issues with wood scarcity to the rhyme and reason behind railroads and their genesis as tools for coal transport, to the nascent Saudi Arabian oil industry, steam and electric and internal combustion cars all the way to Nuclear fission-based energy.A discussion on the history of timelines and energy transitions, with an eye on predicting the future, is presented in the last chapter.Beware: a huge chunk at the end of the book is acknowledgements and bibliography. The actual story isn't as long as it seems from the thickness of the book.