Items related to Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasabl...

Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite for Energy - Hardcover

 
9780393059359: Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite for Energy
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

A master historian's spirited survey of humanity's strategies for tapping sun energy, past and future.

We don't often recognize the humble activity of cooking for the revolutionary cultural adaptation that it is. But when the hearth fires started burning in the Paleolithic, humankind broadened the exploitation of food and initiated an avalanche of change. And we don't often associate cooking with drilling for oil, but both are innovations that allow us to tap the sun energy accumulated in organic matter. Alfred W. Crosby, a founder of the field of global history, reveals how humanity's successes hinge directly on effective uses of sun energy. But dwindling natural resources, global warming, and environmental pollution all testify to the limits of our fossil-fuel civilization. Although we haven't yet adopted a feasible alternative―just look at the embarrassment of "cold fusion" or the 2003 blackout that humbled North America―our ingenuity and adaptability as a species give us hope. 10 illustrations, map.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:
Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the groundbreaking work The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 and many other acclaimed works in global and environmental history. He is professor emeritus of history, geography, and American studies at the University of Texas in Austin. He and his family live in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
From Publishers Weekly:
Ever since cultivating fire, the human species has depended on tapping new sources of energy for survival, writes global historian Crosby (Germs, Seeds, and Animals: Studies in Ecological History). This enjoyable, humorously anecdotal study provides a succinct overview of our voracious "appetite for energy," most particularly the inventive (and indiscriminate) exploitation of sunshine in its fossilized forms—peat, coal, oil and natural gas. The hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic era depended on muscle power to move through their world, and not much changed, Crosby notes, until the advent of the Industrial Revolution, when the first steam-powered engine was invented in 1712 by ironmonger Thomas Newcomen (James Watt, Crosby says, merely improved on Newcomen's design). Advances in harnessing energy trapped in organic matter followed quickly: whale oil used for lighting was supplanted by coal gas, kerosene distilled from petroleum and finally Thomas Edison's light bulb—itself powered by the electricity generated from coal and oil. This history explores how an ingenious and adaptable humankind found ever more efficient ways to harness "concentrated sun energy." Crosby is optimistic about the Earth's future—with the caveat that that future could be bleak without another energy breakthrough. B&w illus. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
  • Publication date2006
  • ISBN 10 0393059359
  • ISBN 13 9780393059359
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages208
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780393931532: Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite For Energy

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780393931532
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0393059359

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 39.12
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0393059359

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 39.21
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
LibraryMercantile
(Humble, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # newMercantile_0393059359

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 40.60
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0393059359

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 39.71
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0393059359

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 56.08
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0393059359-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 67.62
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0393059359-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 67.63
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Crosby, Alfred W.
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (2006)
ISBN 10: 0393059359 ISBN 13: 9780393059359
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.6. Seller Inventory # Q-0393059359

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 63.53
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds