The Energy Reader

The Energy Reader presents a series of readings that examine the energy problem from an anthropological perspective and look at energy holistically, including social and cultural components and long term implications for global and social environmental change.  

• Brings a unique critical approach to the problem of energy and its complexity
• Presents the topic as both a human and a technological problem, differentiating long-term perspectives from short term fixes
• Includes coverage of  the politics of energy, the protection of future generations, the avoidance of dangerous waste products, efficiency, resilience, and democratic relevance
• Features selections drawn from the work of physicists, economists, business experts, engineers, journalists, historians, and entrepreneurs

Laura Nader is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Nader's books include Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiry into Boundaries, Power and Knowledge (1996), The Life of the Law (2002), and, with Ugo Mattei, Plunder–When the Rule of Law is Illegal (Blackwell, 2008). Her films To Make the Balance and a later PBS film Little Injustices are widely disseminated.