Category Archives: Books

How the grid works, why a distributed grid won’t work

Posted on September 23, 2022 by

Preface. This is a book review of Angwin’s 2020 “Shorting the Grid. The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid”. It is a good primer on how the grid works, especially why Volt-Ampere Reactives (VARs) are important and why renewables don’t … Continue reading →

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After the Reich. The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation

Posted on September 16, 2022 by

Preface. This is a book review of: Giles MacDonogh (2007) After the Reich. The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation.   In trying to understand what life might be like as energy declines, I’ve read a lot of books about … Continue reading →

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Book review of “Agrarian Dreams”

Posted on September 9, 2022 by

Preface. This is a book review of Guthman’s “Agrarian Dreams.  The Paradox of Organic Farming in California”.  Since world oil production likely peaked in 2018, and renewables can’t replace fossil fuels (read my books), there’s no choice but to go … Continue reading →

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Book Review of “War: How Conflict Shaped Us”

Posted on September 2, 2022 by

Preface.  This is a very profound and wide-ranging book about many aspects of war, the reasons for fighting, what it’s like to be a soldier, women’s roles during wars, the history and future of war, and more, a really outstanding … Continue reading →

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Why mining to make renewables will destroy the planet

Posted on August 26, 2022 by

Figure 1 Landscape of earth after 37% is mined to build renewables Preface. As I wrote in Life After fossil fuels: “Mining spews out acid rain, wastewater, and heavy metals onto land, water, and air (PEBI 2016). One-fifth of China’s arable … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Batteries, Climate Change, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electric Grid, Energy Books, Peak Critical Elements, Peak Platinum Group Elements, Peak Precious Elements, Peak Rare Earth Elements, Recycle, Recycling | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Booklist: Pollution, Resource Depletion, Infrastructure, Transportation, Peak Minerals, Life after Fossil Fuels

Posted on August 14, 2022 by

More booklists Pollution G Pitron. The Rare Metals War: the dark side of clean energy and digital technologies T Colborn. Our Stolen Future: Are we threatening our fertility, survival? J McCormick. Acid Earth: The Global Threat of Acid Pollution. J … Continue reading →

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The Vory. Russia’s Super Mafia

Posted on June 9, 2022 by

Preface. After reading this book about the history of organized crime in Russia, I thought surely Russia must be the most corrupt nation in the world.  But amazingly there are 47 countries that are ranked even lower of the 180 … Continue reading →

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An extremist Republican gun industry will lead to a dark future in the U.S.

Posted on May 27, 2022 by

Preface. This is a book review of Busse’s 2021 “Gunfight. My battle against the industry that radicalized America”. I have always wondered why stricter gun laws haven’t been passed after horrifying mass shootings at schools and workplaces. This book explains … Continue reading →

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States do not evolve from Bands to Tribes to Chiefdoms to States

Posted on May 15, 2022 by

Preface.  The bulk of this book is dedicated to showing why the idea of the evolution from tribes to states is false. If the authors are correct, then the flexibility of societies to invent ways of living with more freedom … Continue reading →

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Neighborhood councils to cope with energy decline

Posted on April 18, 2022 by

I’m reading “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity” which is one of the best books I’ve read in years, and a very hopeful one – this 700 page book is full of evidence that agriculture, capitalism, slavery, … Continue reading →

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