发表于2025-04-22
Energy and Civilization pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载
Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses and Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing, both published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that "there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil."
A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization.
"I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years.
―Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year
Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows―ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity―for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization.
Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts―from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.
##现代世界是一个高能消耗的文明,这是显然的。每个个体的经验都可以极为丰富地扩充这个概念:食物是身体每天所需的能量来源,所关心的石油价格是汽车的能量来源,生活中一切大大小小的机器——冰箱、冷气、炉灶、电脑、手机等,电力是他们的能量来源。 身兼科学家与历史学家的瓦...
评分##“能量是唯一的通用货币:它有诸多形式,但需要在不同形式之间进行转化才能达到特定的目的……人类依靠这种能量转化来生存,且依靠更多能量流动来发展文明。” 瓦茨拉夫·斯米尔是加拿大曼尼托巴大学的一名学者,他的职业生涯以专门研究和能源有关的课题为主,并且知道如何以有...
评分能量既不会凭空产生,也不会凭空消失,它只会从一种形式转化为另一种形式,或者从一个物体转移到其它物体,而能量的总量保持不变。 ——热力学第一定律:能量守恒定律 迄今为止,人类文明经历了四个阶段:渔猎文明(原始文明)、农业文明、工业文明,以及如今的生态文明或信息...
评分##比尔·盖茨每年都会在自己的网站上分享自己的书单。在2017年的年度推荐里,有本书名叫Energy and Civilization: A History,中译版即《能量与文明》。 比尔·盖茨认为:“斯米尔(作者)深入而广泛地解释了人类将能量转化为热、光和运动的能力方面的创新,是如何在过去一万年中...
评分 评分##“能量”一词,国人肯定不陌生,因为“正能量”和“负能量”这样的说法充斥着社交媒体,而且具有导向性:要弘扬正能量,消除负能量,维护社会和谐稳定。显然,这里的“能量”已经不取其本义了,反而是在表示对社会的意义和价值,是一个价值概念,而非客观描述。比起探究这种语...
评分 评分 评分Energy and Civilization pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载