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- In a world without people, how long would NYC last?
- Network States to replace democratic governments with billionaire Silicon Valley CEO dictators & Republicans
- Why the kerogen in oil shale will never fill up your tank
- ‘The oil we eat’. Following the food chain back to iraq
- Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America
- Admiral Rickover 1957: Energy Resources & Our Future
- The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
- A transition from fossil fuels to renewables could take a century – if it ever happens
- Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
- Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels
- Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
- Why fusion power is Forever Away
- Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries
- Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
- Homes & Buildings
Category Archives: Books
Network States to replace democratic governments with billionaire Silicon Valley CEO dictators & Republicans
Introduction This is a book review of part of Gil Duran’s “Network States and the Rise of Cryptocurrency to end democratic governments.” Which is mainly about Peter Thiel, who has had the greatest effect, more even than Elon Musk, in … Continue reading
Posted in Political Books, Where are the rich going
Tagged Balaji Srinivasan, bunker, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel
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Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
Preface. This is an excerpt from Philippe Le Billon’s (editor) anthology “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars.” The coming energy crisis and climate change are likely to trigger resource wars as nations sink into starvation and poverty. Indeed, this is already … Continue reading
Posted in War Books, Where to Be or Not to Be
Tagged resource war, war
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Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina
Preface. This is a book review of Urbina’s “The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier.” So many fishermen are enslaved for years, yet another reason to pay more for local fish at higher prices. Globally, so many fish … Continue reading
Posted in Fisheries, Fishery destruction, Natural History, Peak Food
Tagged fishery, peak fish, peak food, piracy, slavery
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“More and More and More” one of the best books on energy ever written
Preface. This is about Jean-Baptiste Fressoz’s book “More and More and More”, an amazing history of energy and explanation of why there never has been an energy transition or will be. We just keep burning more and more and more … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books, Interdependencies
Tagged coal, Fressoz, history of energy, More and More and more, natural gas, oil, wood
1 Comment
The staggering destruction of knowledge by Christians in the Roman Empire
Preface. Ever since reading Gibbons “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” I’ve been fascinated by the complexity of reasons for why the Roman Empire fell. But so many books and writings were lost that much remains unknown. Mainly … Continue reading
Posted in Preservation of Knowledge, Roman Empire
Tagged book burning, Christianity, collapse, preservation of knowledge, roman empire
1 Comment
Catton on Collapse “Bottleneck: Humanity’s Impending Impasse”
Preface. Below is a very short summary of a book written by the founding father of human ecology, William R Catton Jr called Bottleneck: Humanity’s impending Impass written in 2009. His first book in 1980, Overshoot, introduced basic concepts of … Continue reading
Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Energy Books
Tagged bottleneck, catton, collapse, overshoot
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What would happen if trucks stopped running?
Preface. In “Why You Should Love Trucks” I showed that essential supply chains depend on trucks nearly completely. Because of little inventory and dependence on just-in-time deliveries, our civilization would almost immediately feel the repercussions of trucks stopping. In fact, … Continue reading
Posted in Cascading Failure, Dependence on Oil, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Oil Shocks, Transportation Infrastructure, Transportation Supply chain, Trucks, When Trucks Stop Running
Tagged civilization, electric trucks, life without lorries, trucks, trucks stop running
2 Comments
The war on drugs. A book review of “Chasing the scream”
Preface. The founder of the War on Drugs in the U.S., Harry Anslinger, wanted to build as large a bureaucracy as possible. But a war on narcotics alone—cocaine and heroin, outlawed in 1914—wasn’t enough. They were used only by a … Continue reading
Posted in Corruption, Drug wars and the prison system
Tagged anslinger, cocaine, corruption, drug wars, heroin, marijuana, prison system, prohibition
4 Comments
Book review “They poisoned the world: Life & death in the age of Forever Chemicals”
Preface. This is a book review of Blake’s 2025 They Poisoned the World: Life & Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals. This is a history of how the existential threat of PFAs and other forever chemicals came to be. … Continue reading
Posted in Chemical Pollution, Extinction Books, Health, Planetary Boundaries, Pollution
Tagged 3M, cancer, DuPont, forever chemical, PFAS, planetary boundary, TFA, Trump
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Part 6 Raven Rock: Alarming quotes from leaders
Preface. This is the 6th part of my book review of: Graff, G.M. 2018. Raven Rock. The Story of the U.S. Governments Secret Plan to Save Itself–While the Rest of Us Die. What follows are some of the things presidents, generals, … Continue reading
Posted in Nuclear Books, Nuclear War
Tagged eisenhower, johnson, kennedy, nuclear war, truman
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