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"[It is] reassuring to read an author so impervious to rhetorical fashion and so eager to champion uncertainty. . . Smil’s book is at its essence a plea for agnosticism, and, believe it or not, humility ? the rarest earth metal of all. His most valuable declarations concern the impossibility of acting with perfect foresight. Living with uncertainty, after all, “remains the essence of the human condition.” Even under the most optimistic scenario, the future will not resemble the past. "?The New York Times

"How the World Really Works represents the highly readable distillation of this lifetime of scholarship… Mr. Smil looks over the horizon of the future with humility and calmness, foreseeing 'a mixture of progress and setbacks, of seemingly insurmountable difficulties and near-miraculous advances.'”?Wall Street Journal

“The renowned energy scientist … aims to [recenter] materials rather than electronic flows of data as the bedrock of modern life ? largely through examining what he calls the four pillars of modern civilization: cement, steel, plastics and ammonia.” ?The New York Times Magazine

"A scientific panorama of our well-being and how it can be sustained in our current tumultuous times and beyond. [Smil] aims to combat the widespread “comprehension deficit” about basic scientific facts, and he seeks to “explain some of the most fundamental ruling realities governing our survival and our prosperity.” That aim is marvelously achieved…[this is] an exceptionally lucid, evenhanded study of the scientific basis of our current and future lives.”?Kirkus, STARRED review

Chapter Page
Introduction: Why Do We Need This Book? 1
1. Understanding Energy: Fuels and Electricity 13
2. Understanding Food Production: Eating Fossil Fuels 44
3. Understanding Our Material World: The Four Pillars of Modern Civilization 76
4. Understanding Globalization: Engines, Microchips, and Beyond 103
5. Understanding Risks: From Viruses to Diets to Solar Flares 134
6. Understanding the Environment: The Only Biosphere We Have 168
7. Understanding the Future: Between Apocalypse and Singularity 205
Appendix: Understanding Numbers: Orders of Magnitude 230
References and Notes 235
Acknowledgments 307
Index 309

"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author."?Bill Gates

"How the World Really Works represents the highly readable distillation of this lifetime of scholarship… Mr. Smil looks over the horizon of the future with humility and calmness, foreseeing 'a mixture of progress and setbacks, of seemingly insurmountable difficulties and near-miraculous advances.'”?Wall Street Journal

An essential analysis of the modern science and technology that makes our twenty-first century lives possible?a scientist's investigation into what science really does, and does not, accomplish.

We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don’t know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check?because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts.

In this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn’t inevitable?the foolishness of allowing 70 per cent of the world’s rubber gloves to be made in just one factory became glaringly obvious in 2020?and that our societies have been steadily increasing their dependence on fossil fuels, such that any promises of decarbonization by 2050 are a fairy tale. For example, each greenhouse-grown supermarket-bought tomato has the equivalent of five tablespoons of diesel embedded in its production, and we have no way of producing steel, cement or plastics at required scales without huge carbon emissions.

Ultimately, Smil answers the most profound question of our age: are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead? Compelling, data-rich and revisionist, this wonderfully broad, interdisciplinary guide finds faults with both extremes. Looking at the world through this quantitative lens reveals hidden truths that change the way we see our past, present and uncertain future.