Cover of How the World Really Works
Book Summary · 23 min

How the World Really Works

By Vaclav Smil

Vaclav Smil reveals the immense, often invisible physical systems of energy, materials, and food that truly underpin our modern world, challenging our assumptions about progress and sustainability.

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23 min
What it is about

Global Systems, Energy, Resources, Civilization

Who it is for

If you often feel a disconnect between technological hype and the physical realities that underpin our world a grounded, essential perspective, and this will help you see what to do next.

The author

Vaclav Smil is a polymath scientist whose rigorous, data-driven analysis of energy, food, and material systems consistently cuts through wishful thinking to reveal the fundamental physical realities shaping our civilization.

About the author

Vaclav Smil

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