Energy History

Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford.

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 and offers listeners a magisterial overview of humanity's energy eras.

In this updated and expanded edition of her alternative-health classic, Donna Eden shows listeners how to work with the body's energy systems to boost vitality and stamina, strengthen the immune system, relieve pain and common complaints such as colds and tension headaches, sharpen mind and memory, and enhance overall health with an invigorating five-minute daily routine.

Today's view of history cannot account for ancient anomalies, such as the Pyramids and advanced knowledge contained in India's Vedas. But in 1894, an Indian sage gave us an explanation not only for our hidden past but for the trends of today and for our future enlightenment - the 24,000-year yuga cycle.

Atoms and Ashes recounts the dramatic history of nuclear accidents that have dogged the industry in its military and civil incarnations since the 1950s. Through the stories of six terrifying major incidents—Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima—Cold War expert Serhii Plokhy explores the risks of nuclear power, both for military and peaceful purposes, while offering a vivid account of how individuals and governments make decisions under extraordinary circumstances.

In Regenesis, George Church and science writer Ed Regis explore the possibilities of the emerging field of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology, in which living organisms are selectively altered by modifying substantial portions of their genomes, allows for the creation of entirely new species of organisms. These technologies - far from the out-of-control nightmare depicted in science fiction - have the power to improve human and animal health, increase our intelligence, enhance our memory, and even extend our life span.

What if everything you thought you knew about history was wrong—or worse, deliberately rewritten? The Lost Civilization of Tartaria explores the mysteries of a forgotten empire that once spanned the globe. From buried architecture and impossible feats of engineering to orphan trains and suspiciously timed “natural disasters,” this book uncovers the patterns pointing to a massive global reset—and the systematic erasure of an advanced civilization from our collective memory. Through compelling evidence and provocative questions, you'll journey into the world of Tartaria, where star ...

Energy is humanity's single most important resource. In fact, as energy expert Michael E. Webber argues in Power Trip, the story of how societies rise can be told largely as the story of how they manage energy sources through time. In 2019, as we face down growing demand for and accumulating environmental impacts from energy, we are at a crossroads and the stakes are high. But history shows us that energy's great value is that it allows societies to reinvent themselves.

Are you curious about the unseen forces that shape your health and vitality? The Energy Medicine Book is your gateway into the fascinating world of healing energy, biofields, chakras, meridians, and the mind-body connection—woven together through science, spirituality, and global healing traditions. This groundbreaking and accessible guide explores how ancient energy systems such as qi, prana, and chakras align with cutting-edge research in physics, neuroscience, and biology. Whether you’re a practitioner of alternative medicine, a yoga or Reiki enthusiast, or simply exploring holistic ...

Step into your power and create a life filled with purpose and fulfillment by harnessing the magic of Hoodoo and Witchcraft Are you ready to harness the ancient power of Hoodoo magic and transform your life? If you're curious about the mystical world of witchcraft and spellcasting, or long to tap into your ancestral wisdom and reclaim your spiritual heritage, then Beginner's Guide to Hoodoo and Witchcraft Mastery is your gateway to a world of empowerment and transformation. Imagine yourself harnessing the power of Hoodoo to manifest your dreams, protect your loved ones, and create a life ...

The Energy Teachings of The Three was dictated to the author in Peru in 2012 where he had been in training in the Andean shamanic healing traditions. The teachings are based on the principles and practices of energy healing combining different chakra patterns so you can live in the world with the energy of love and presence as the focus of your life.

Uranium is a common element in the earth's crust and the only naturally occurring mineral with the power to end all life on the planet. After World War II, it reshaped the global order---whoever could master uranium could master the world. Marie Curie gave us hope that uranium would be a miracle panacea, but the Manhattan Project gave us reason to believe that civilization would end with apocalypse.

In this Very Short Introduction, Nick Jenkins explores our historic investment in the exploitation of fossil energy resources and their current importance, and discusses the implications of our increasing rate of energy use. He considers the widespread acceptance by scientists and policy makers that our energy systems must reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, and looks forward to the radical changes in fuel technology that will be necessary to continue to provide energy supplies in a sustainable manner, and extend access across the developing world.

The Lost Superpowers of Humanity Forgotten Abilities and How to Reclaim Them By Zeamie Emanuel What if the abilities we now call "superpowers" were once real—and accessible to everyone? From telepathy and photographic memory to breath mastery, lucid dreaming, and energy healing, ancient civilizations believed that humans were capable of extraordinary things. Today, most of these abilities are dismissed as myths or miracles—but what if they're simply forgotten skills, waiting to be reclaimed? The Lost Superpowers of Humanity is a captivating journey into the world of ancient wisdom, ...

On the morning of April 26, 1986, Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill. In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy draws on new sources to tell the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry....

The grid is an accident of history and of culture, in no way intrinsic to how we produce, deliver and consume electrical power. Yet this is the system the United States ended up with, a jerry-built structure now so rickety and near collapse that a strong wind or a hot day can bring it to a grinding halt. The grid is now under threat from a new source: renewable and variable energy, which puts stress on its logics as much as its components.

In 1999, Texas passed a landmark clean energy law, beginning a groundswell of new policies that promised to make the US a world leader in renewable energy. As Leah Stokes shows in Short Circuiting Policy, however, that policy did not lead to momentum in Texas, which failed to implement its solar laws or clean up its electricity system. Examining clean energy laws in Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Ohio over 30 years Stokes argues that organized combat between advocate and opponent interest groups is central to explaining why states are not on track to address the climate crisis.

Let It Shine is a fully revised and expanded edition of A Golden Thread, Perlin's classic history of solar technology, detailing the past forty years of technological developments driving today's solar renaissance. This unique and compelling compendium of humankind's solar ideas tells the fascinating story of how our predecessors throughout time, again and again, have applied the sun to better their lives-and how we can too.

After 1991, international organizations from the Red Cross to Greenpeace sought to help the victims, yet found themselves stymied by post-Soviet political circumstances they did not understand. International diplomats and scientists allied to the nuclear industry evaded or denied the fact of a wide-scale public health disaster caused by radiation exposure. Efforts to spin the story about Chernobyl were largely successful; the official death toll ranges between 31 and 54 people. In reality, radiation exposure from the disaster caused between 35,000 and 150,000 deaths in Ukraine alone.

We have long been taught that humanity’s relationship with energy is one of progress, with wood superseded by coal, coal by oil, oil by nuclear—until at some future point everything will be replaced by “green” energy. But the long-held belief in transition and sustainability is completely untrue, Jean-Baptiste Fressoz argues. More and More and More demolishes this disastrous fallacy, showing how our industrial age and beyond has in fact been powered by an ever-greater accumulation of each major energy source feeding off the others.