Book review: How the World Really Works, by Vaclav Smil

Whilst anyone who's read Vaclav Smil's previous titles would be surprised to find his latest title on the Popular Science shelves, his latest title is simply that. Smil's professional title is Distinguished Emeritus Professor, and he's an environmental scientist. His previous works comprise a tall pile of the most in-depth books on energy and climate science available, plus hundreds of peer-reviewed papers in top-flight academic journals. Though this belies the fact that he's evidently very capable of writing a book that's assessible to anyone with a university education - and probably many without.

Front cover of book How The World Really Works
The subtitle of this book - A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future - sums up nicely why I recommend it to you, whether or not you consider yourself scientifically knowledgeable. 

I have a healthy scepticism for the quotes chosen to adorn book jackets, though having read it cover to cover, a couple on this title's cover ring very true to me:

"An author who does not allow facts to be obscured or overshadowed by politics" (New York Review of Books)

...and the more to-the-point:

"A slayer of bullshit" (Professor David Keith, Harvard).

Smil really doesn't mince his words, and is fearless of how many Christmas card lists he is excised from. Smil's most vocal fan is Bill Gates, and even he isn't safe from a thinly-veiled excoriation, with Smil laying into the energy techno-optimism for which Gates is these days most famous.

Smil has run the numbers over many decades of hardcore academia, and summarises the facts on seven realities governing our survival and prosperity. With the main text weighing in at 229 pages, it's accessible in length and forces Smil to land his messages fairly swiftly. 

I won't list the seven realities that Smil has carefully chosen to focus on, though I will finish by perhaps his weightiest summary: the Four Pillars of Modern Society. These are the ones with which, if we fail to rapidly decarbonise, we seal the fate of life on Earth. Simple as that. Unfortunately, they're the toughest nuts to crack through their sheer ubiquity and current lack of substitutes. Here they are:

Steel - sometimes we can substitute for cross-laminated timber or aluminium (though the latter is also very energy intensive), and clever design to reduce the quantity required. Though often we can't and the current methods of manufacturing at volume is filthy.

Cement - the main ingredient in concrete, something that dominates construction, over two millennia since its invention by the Romans.

Ammonia - the main ingredient of the artificial fertiliser on which we have become utterly dependent. 

Plastic - most people focus on disposable drinks bottles, but Smil points out the more vital use in medicine and sectors such as aerospace. Most is made from fossil fuel and most people don't realise that most modern rubber is artificial and comprised of plastic.

So forget the politicians, the other famous folks, and the lobbyists that lurk in the shadows. Instead focus on the world that's been shaped by all humanity. This book really does explain it.

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