Name: How the World Really Works
ISBN: 9780241454404

Vaclav Smil

Why We're Wrong and How Science Can Set Us Straight

How the World Really Works

everouje

existential question—can humanity realize its aspirations within the safe boundaries of our biosphere?—has no easy answers. but it is imperative that we understand the facts of the matter. only then can we tackle the problem effectively.

apocalyptic visions of the future with assorted hells offered by major religions—have been strongly revived by modern promoters of doom, who have been pointing ti rapid population growth, environmental pollution, pr now, increasingly, to global as the sins that will transform us to the netherworld.

this book left me with so many thoughts I don’t even know where to begin — but I do know I want to talk about it with everyone I know. 

the book itself felt like having a brutally honest conversation with a wise but slightly grumpy professor who doesn’t sugarcoat anything—and honestly, I appreciated that.

the book dismantled a lot of my assumptions about sustainability and how fast we can realistically “change the world.”

this book challenged my worldview in the best way. if you care about the future—truly, deeply care—you need to understand the present first. and that starts here.

this book left me with so many thoughts I don’t even know where to begin — but I do know I want to talk about it with everyone I know. 

the book itself felt like having a brutally honest conversation with a wise but slightly grumpy professor who doesn’t sugarcoat anything—and honestly, I appreciated that.

the book dismantled a lot of my assumptions about sustainability and how fast we can realistically “change the world.”

this book challenged my worldview in the best way. if you care about the future—truly, deeply care—you need to understand the present first. and that starts here.

Heiki Riesenkampf

It's a very dense book full of numbers. I tried to listen to it as an audiobook, but I would highly recommend reading it on paper in order to be able to take easier notes. The book gives a great overview of all major challenges we need to solve and also potential solutions to them. I am glad to have a much better understanding of the scope of problems and solutions to the climate problems we are facing.

Strong start and completely new perspectives and insights into how the world works. However, it gets a bit too much after 2/3 of the book and I don't agree with his conclusional thoughts.

Lena Köninger

Fan 

This world needs more books like this to cure the dystopia of mass public. Hats off to the author.

Keven Wang

a great read! gives a rather sobering outlook to the challenges ahead for mankind.

the topics covered in this book are quite diverse, I liked the ones focused on resources and production most - couldn't relate too much with the small part about nutrition & risk, but it was nevertheless very insightful.

all in all, the book could be improved by some infographics, as very often lots of numbers are referred to or presented to in plain text, which makes it sometimes a bit harder to grasp.

Johannes Ecker

a great read! gives a rather sobering outlook to the challenges ahead for mankind.

the topics covered in this book are quite diverse, I liked the ones focused on resources and production most - couldn't relate too much with the small part about nutrition & risk, but it was nevertheless very insightful.

all in all, the book could be improved by some infographics, as very often lots of numbers are referred to or presented to in plain text, which makes it sometimes a bit harder to grasp.

How the World Really Works Why We're Wrong and How Science Can Set Us Straight