Vaclav Smil

Complete Annotated BOOK List (order info)

Smil, V. 2008. Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, xi + 307 pp.

Fundamental change occurs most often in one of two ways: as a "fatal discontinuity," a sudden catastrophic event that is potentially world changing, or as a persistent, gradual trend. Global catastrophes include volcanic eruptions, viral pandemics, wars, and large-scale terrorist attacks; trends are demographic, environmental, economic, and political shifts that unfold over time. This book takes a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the catastrophes and trends the next fifty years may bring. This is not a book of forecasts or scenarios but one that reminds us to pay attention to, and plan for, the consequences of apparently unpredictable events and the ultimate direction of long-term trends.

The book considers first the rare but cataclysmic events, both natural and human-produced, then at trends of global importance: the transition from fossil fuels to other energy sources; demographic and political shifts in Europe, Japan, Russia, China, the United States, and Islamic nations; the battle for global primacy; and growing economic and social inequality. It also considers environmental change—in some ways an amalgam of sudden discontinuities and gradual change—and assesses the often misunderstood complexities of global warming.

"At home alike in both the natural and human sciences, the author gives an incisive analysis of the way change occurs both in terms of unpredictable discontinuities and gradually unfolding trends. His treatment of trends over the next fifty years is especially interesting, and his pages on America's 'retreat' informed and convincing. Smil offers not predictions but a balanced, holistic treatment of what may be ahead for humanity. Anyone interested in history, demography, economics, environmentalism, or risk analysis, along with globalization, will find this a 'must-read' book. "
Bruce Mazlish, Professor of History Emeritus, MIT

"This book is the best antidote I have found to the universal tendency to be overconfident in predicting the future. Smil leads the reader through a wide assortment of natural, biomedical, technological, and geopolitical developments that could shape the next fifty years. While analysts, corporations, and governments will continue to make confident fifty- or hundred-year predictions of GDP, energy consumption, greenhouse gases, and similar quantities, Smil shows readers why such predictions should not be believed."
M. Granger Morgan, Head, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

Smil, V. 2008. Energy at the Crossroads Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. (Eunnyeong Heo, Tai-Yoo Kim, & Soogab Lee, Trans.). Seoul: Changbi Publishers, 543 pp.

Unabridged Korean translantion of Energy at the Crossroads.

Smil, V. 2008. Oil: A Beginner's Guide. Oneworld Publishers, Oxford, xiii + 202 pp.

Smil, V. 2008. Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, xi + 480 pp.

Energy in Nature and Society is a systematic and exhaustive analysis of all the major energy sources, storages, flows, and conversions that have shaped the evolution of the biosphere and civilization. Vaclav Smil uses fundamental unifying metrics (most notably for power density and energy intensity) to provide an integrated framework for analyzing all segments of energetics (the study of energy flows and their transformations). The book explores not only planetary energetics (such as solar radiation and geomorphic processes) and bioenergetics (photosynthesis, for example) but also human energetics (such as metabolism and thermoregulation), tracing them from hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies through modern-day industrial civilization. Included are chapters on heterotrophic conversions, traditional agriculture, preindustrial complexification, fossil fuels, fossil-fueled civilization, the energetics of food, and the implications of energetics for the environment. The book concludes with an examination of general patterns, trends, and socioeconomic considerations of energy use today, looking at correlations between energy and value, energy and the economy, energy and quality of life, and energy futures.

"I wish millions of people would read Energy in Nature and Society"
Alfred Crosby, BioScience

"This is the book for the curious of any stripe who wants to dig in quantitatively and improve his or her ability to think about whole energy systems and their complex parts. In a sense, Smil has created a geography of biospheric energies, the most complete sweep of the subject. The world needs the wisdom in this book now more than ever."
John Katzenberger, Aspen Global Change Institute

"Vaclav Smil's appreciation of energy systems combines Thomas Edison and Franz Kafka. He celebrates innovation and progress but also vividly shows the strange fates and fall-out of what appear to be some of humanity's best machines."
Jesse H. Ausubel, Director, Program for the Human Environment, The Rockefeller University

2006

Smil, V. 2006. Energy: A Beginner's Guide. Oneworld Publishers, Oxford, x + 181 pp.

A concise yet comprehensive, scientifically rigorous yet a readable introduction to sources, flows, conversions and uses of energies ranging from solar radiation and photosynthesis to draft animals, engines, nuclear reactors and energy in households.

Smil,V. 2006. Transforming the Twentieth Century
Technical Innovations and Their Consequences. Oxford University Press, New York, x + 358 pp.

Post-WWI inventions and innovations transformed the fundamental technical advances that created the modern world between 1867 and 1914 and added new capabilities ranging from both commercial and military uses of nuclear energy to the universal diffusion of microprocessors. This book, the companion volume of Creating the 20th Century, examines all of these technical transformations and appraises their economic, social, strategic and environmental impacts.

"The amount of pure learning and erudition that Smil brings to these 700 pages [Creating and Transforming the Twentieth Century] has to be experienced to be believed. In telling the story of modern technology since 1870 in a coherent way these 700 pages totally eclipse the competition.
These volumes, in this reviewer’s judgment, establish Vaclav Smil as another entry in a list of illustrious and erudite scholars whose main competence is in the History of Technology, yet who were able to lift themselves out of the quagmire of old gears and cogs to see a bigger picture, a picture of humanity struggling with the harshness of the environment and the niggardliness of nature, the deviousness of germs, and the sheer violence of natural disasters. Other masters in this genre, familiar to every trained economic historian are A.P. Usher, David Landes, Donald Cardwell, Nathan Rosenberg, and Arnold Pacey."
Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University

“This book is as fascinating as Professor Smil’s eloquent, bold and incisive talks on global issues. With his encyclopaedic knowledge about technical innovation, he leads us into an exciting, but disquieting journey back into the last century."
Kiyo Akasaka, Deputy Secretary-General, OECD

"Vaclav Smil has produced a book of breathtaking scope, depth, and wise judgment. This volume, and its companion Creating the Twentieth Century, describe with astonishing erudition the technologies of the 19th and 20th centuries that have created today’s world. Smil’s knowledge is famously and fabulously encyclopedic."
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

“If you want to know what has driven the world over the past 150 years as well as what the future might hold for us all, this is the book to read. Like no one else, Vaclav Smil outlines the rise of major technologies that have helped create our modern environment."
Fred Spier, Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Amsterdam

2005

Smil,V. 2005. Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact. Oxford University Press, New York, xv+350 pp.

This book is a systematic interdisciplinary account of the history of this outpouring of European and American intellect and of its truly epochal consequences. It takes a close look at four fundamental classes of these epoch-making innovations: formation, diffusion, and standardization of electric systems; invention and rapid adoption of internal combustion engines; the unprecedented pace of new chemical syntheses and material substitutions; and the birth of a new information age. These chapters are followed by an evaluation of the lasting impact these advances had on the 20th century, that is, the creation of high-energy societies engaged in mass production aimed at improving standards of living.

"The amount of pure learning and erudition that Smil brings to these 700 pages [Creating and Transforming the Twentieth Century] has to be experienced to be believed. In telling the story of modern technology since 1870 in a coherent way these 700 pages totally eclipse the competition."
Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University

Smil, V. 2005. Energy at the Crossroads Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, xiv + 427 pp. Revised and updated paperback edition.

". . . the most sober, thorough and thoughtful integrated text on energy available. . . This book should change the map by which we navigate the new energy century. In its intellectual content it is a great book, standing head and shoulders above most integrated writings on energy and environment. . ."
Michael Grubb, Nature

"Energy at the Cossroads is a tour de force, executed with accuracy, novelty, and consistently clear and informative graphics."
Jeffrey Sachs, OnEarth

Smil, V. 2004. China’s Past, China’s Future. RoutledgeCurzon, New York and London, xvi+232 pp.

A wideranging analysis of three complex systems that are critical in China's quest for modernity.

"This is an admirable discussion of China’s past and current approaches to
this vital set of issues."
Elizabeth van Wie Davis, China Information

Smil, V. 2004. Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch and the Transformation of World Food Production. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. xvii + 411 pp. Paperback edition.

A comprehensive survey and analysis of nitrogen's use in agriculture focusing on the invention of ammonia synthesis, diffusion of inorganic nitrogenous fetilizers and their socio-economic and environmental consequences.

Smil, V. 2003. Energy at the Crossroads Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, xiv + 427 pp.

". . . the most sober, thorough and thoughtful integrated text on energy available. . . This book should change the map by which we navigate the new energy century. In its intellectual content it is a great book, standing head and shoulders above most integrated writings on energy and environment. . ."
Michael Grubb, Nature

"Energy at the Cossroads is a tour de force, executed with accuracy, novelty, and consistently clear and informative graphics."
Jeffrey Sachs, OnEarth

Smil, V. 2003. Sekai o yashinau Kankyo to ryoritsushita nogyo to kenkouna shokuji o motomete. FAPRC, Tokyo, xxxiv + 389 pp.

Unabridged Japanese translation of Feeding the World.

Smil, V. 2003. Alimentar al mundo Un reto del siglo XXI. Siglo Vientiuno,Madrid, xxi + 411 pp.

Unabridged Spanish translation of Feeding the World.

Smil, V. 2002. The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics and Change. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, xxviii + 360 pp.

A comprehensive guide to the evolution, dynamics, resilience, diversity and organization of the biosphere ranging from Vernadsky's pioneering ideas to a new science of global environmental change.

Smil, V. 2001. Energias: Una Guia Ilustrada de la Bioesfera y la Civilizacion. Editorial Crítica, Barcelona, 408 pp.

Unabridged Spanish translation of Energies.

Smil, V. 2001. Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch and the Transformation of World Food Production. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. xvii + 411 pp.

A comprehensive survey and analysis of nitrogen's use in agriculture focusing on the invention of ammonia synthesis, diffusion of inorganic nitrogenous fetilizers and their socio-economic and environmental consequences.

Smil, V. 2000  Cycles of Life: Civilization and the Biosphere. Scientific American Library, New York, x + 221 pp.  Revised paperback edition.

An interdisciplinary look at the complexity of biogeochemical cycles and at human interference in biospheric flows of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur.

Smil, V. 2000. Feeding the World: A Challenge for the 21st Century. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, xxviii + 360 pp.

An appraisal of biophysical foundations needed to feed the global population, food production trends and nutritional supplies and requirements.

Smil, V. 2000. Storia dell’energia. Bologna: Società editrice il Mulino, 420 pp.

Italian translation of Energy in World History.

Smil, V. 1999. Elementaire kringlopen: Wisselwerking tussen biosfeer en beschaving. Natuur & Techniek, Beek, 216 pp.

Unabridged Dutch translation of Cycles of Life.

Smil, V. 1998. Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, xi + 217 pp.

A quasi-encyclopedic survey of energies discussing all energies surrounding us and their conversions and uses.

Smil, V. 1997. Cycles of Life: Civilization and the Biosphere. Scientific American Library, New York, x + 221 pp.

An interdisciplinary look at the complexity of biogeochemical cycles and at human interference in biospheric flows of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur.

Smil, V. 1996. Energetica Generale: L'energia nella biosfera e nella civiltà. Edagricole, Bologna, xi + 397 pp.

Unabridge Italian translation of General Energetics.

Smil, V. 1996. Chugoku no kankyo kiki. Aki shobo, Tokyo, x + 270 pp.

Japanese translation of China's Environmental Crisis.

Smil, V. 1996. Mushiba mareta daichi: chugoku no kankyo mondai. Korosha, Kyoto, xix + 289 pp.

Revised and updated Japanese translation of The Bad Earth.

Smil, V. 1994. Energy in World History. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, xviii + 300 p.

A systematic, but decidedly non-deterministic, attempt at a comprehensive analysis of energy's central role in human history.

Smil, V. 1993. Global Ecology: Environmental Change and Social Flexibility. Routledge, London, xiii + 240 pp.

An eclectic, and unapologetically personal, view of critical issues in managing the global commons.

Smil, V. 1993. China's Environment: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, xix + 257 pp.

An interdisciplinary assessment of environmental limits to the economic development of the world's most populous nation. Joseph Levenson Award for the Best Book on Modern China.

Smil, V. 1991. General Energetics: Energy in the Biosphere and Civilization. John Wiley, New York, xiii + 369 pp.

An attempt to review and to analyze all critical energy flows and power densities determining the functioning of the Earth's biosphere and the evolution of human civilization.

Smil, V. 1988. Energy in China's Modernization. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, xiv + 250 pp.

A decade after publishing the first book on China's energy I used the wealth of newly available material to prepare a critical interdisciplinary appraisal of Chinese achievements and prospects.

Smil, V. 1988. Zhongguo shengtai huanjing de ehua (Degradation of China's Environment). Zhongguo zhanwang chubanshe (China's Prospect Publishing), Beijing, 18 + 219 pp.

Abridged and revised Chinese translation of The Bad Earth.

Smil, V. 1987. Energy Food Environment: Realities Myths Options. Oxford University Press, Oxford, ix + 361 pp.

This is a wide-ranging and iconoclastic meandering through the complexities and interplays of this fascinating triad.

Smil, V. 1985. Carbon Nitrogen Sulfur: Human Interference in Grand Biospheric Cycles. Plenum Press, New York, xv + 459 pp.

Complexities of biogeochemical cycles have been the subject of many edited volumes. I thought a single-author treatment may bring a greater coherence to this often disjointed research and I also wanted to put across some contrarian views.

Smil, V. 1984. The Bad Earth: Environmental Degradation in China. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, xvi + 245 pp.

After many years of uncritical adulation of Chinese experience by large segments of Western media this book, the first ever survey of China's environmental degradation, came as a great surprise to many readers.

Smil, V. 1983. Biomass Energies: Resources, Links, Constraints. Plenum Press, New York, xxi + 453 pp.

Post-1973 interest in alternative energy sources brought plenty of exaggerated expectations and misinformed writing. I wrote this book in order to expose some of these fallacies in a systematic manner.

Smil, V., P. Nachman and T.V. Long,II. 1982. Energy Analysis in Agriculture: An Application to U.S. Corn Production. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, xvi + 191 pp.

A new discipline of energy analysis was born in the early 1970s and many process analysis papers were published during the following ten years -- but this was the first detailed, book-length treatment of America's most important crop.

Smil, V. and W.E. Knowland, eds. 1980. Energy in the Developing World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 386 pp.

By the late 1970s there were many edited volumes reviewing the energy situation in the rich countries -- but no comprehensive survey of the real energy crisis affecting the poor world. We tried to fill that void.

Smil, V. 1976. China's Energy: Achievements, Problems, Prospects. Praeger Publishers, New York, NY, xxi + 246 pp.

Written at a time when China published no systematic official statistics, this was the first attempt to present a coherent portrayal of all important aspects of Chinese energetics.

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