How the world really works

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

Vaclac Smil

What it’s about

Vaclav Smil is a remarkable thinker and writer, having published dozens of books and academic papers in his career as a Professor of Geography and the Environment at the University of Manitoba. This book is relatively short (~300 pages), packed with stats and calculations, and written in clear (if occasionally blunt/sardonic) prose. It's often recommended as an antidote to both climate denial and overly rosy green-transition narratives.

Why I like it

I like data-driven, evidence-based work on the important environmental issues of our day. This is typical Smil with his grounded, quantitative thinking about energy, food, materials, and sustainability. I really like Vaclav’s evidence-based style, skepticism toward hype (in renewables, AI, or rapid decarbonization), and insistence on understanding scale, inertia, and historical context.