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mcguffin's review against another edition
3.0
A good short history of coal that goes into how and where it was first used, and then how it progressed over time to today. But, its brevity leaves out a lot of good stories that could have been expanded upon.
dannb's review against another edition
4.0
Published in 2003... so a little behind contemporary; however, covers centuries of human impact.
librarymouse's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
This isn't really interesting look at coal mining, energy production, and energy consumption. I'm from an area close to the Lehigh River, and it hadn't even occurred to me to look into my local history in that way. Barbara Freese goes into fantastic detail about the history of coal production, it's current iteration, and the different types of coal and their impacts on the environment in terms of both their extraction and their burning. It's a fascinating subject and the book is really well written. I hadn't thought that industrial history would be something that interested me, but I was curious about how the book would address my local area and had remembered a friend whose grandfather worked in coal mining when I stumbled across this book. I'm really glad that I read it and I think I may look for more books in this genre in the future.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury
alliswyattonthewesternfront's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
5.0
richardwells's review against another edition
4.0
Human beings need fuel, that means something has to burn, and pollution and side effects are a fact of life. The sun's going to be around a lot longer than humans (probably), and as skin cancer goes to show, is not without problems of its own. Wood is inefficient for industrial use, and anyway, nobody really wants to deforest the earth - well, I guess that's debatable. Oil is limited, more and more expensive, and drilling is more and more a disaster waiting to happen. Nuclear power? Oh yeah, we're going to keep that waste safe for 10,000 years, uh huh. Some folks are looking to hydrogen, but it takes more energy to separate H from whatever else it's attached to, that it's just not worth it. Coal is just plain awful: it's dangerous to get, it's got by the worst means possible - mountain topping and strip mining to name two, it causes all kinds or respiratory problems but it's the most plentiful fuel humans have, and the USA has more of it than just about anyone else.
Coal ushered in the industrial age, propelled advances in steel production, transportation, and the electrification of the world, and continues to be a driver to the world economy.
"Coal: a Human History," is the fascinating tale of the use of coal from jewelry to fuel. I was amazed to learn how coal (Old King Coal) built the British Empire, and how Britain's world colonizing fleet was built for the transport and protection of coal. I shuddered at the image of children on their hands and knees pulling coal carts out of the pits. I'll never look at a black umbrella in the same way; and I wheezed as I read about London and Pittsburg. Coal is loaded with fascinating information, and is an involving social history as well.
We're going to be debating clean energy and climate change for awhile, this book can give context to those discussions, and, sorry in advance - add fuel to the fire.
Coal ushered in the industrial age, propelled advances in steel production, transportation, and the electrification of the world, and continues to be a driver to the world economy.
"Coal: a Human History," is the fascinating tale of the use of coal from jewelry to fuel. I was amazed to learn how coal (Old King Coal) built the British Empire, and how Britain's world colonizing fleet was built for the transport and protection of coal. I shuddered at the image of children on their hands and knees pulling coal carts out of the pits. I'll never look at a black umbrella in the same way; and I wheezed as I read about London and Pittsburg. Coal is loaded with fascinating information, and is an involving social history as well.
We're going to be debating clean energy and climate change for awhile, this book can give context to those discussions, and, sorry in advance - add fuel to the fire.
cancermoononhigh's review against another edition
3.0
Quick easy read.
Coal obviously has been around for a very long time. Coal during the Middle Ages was thought to be associated with disease, death and the devil. As Europe began to experiment with coal, mining was done by the poorest and often time youngest members of the community. In Scotland families were bonded for life to a specific coal mine.
The Chinese became the first society to use coal. China was many centuries ahead of Europe when it comes to coal mining, however they are using coal more than any developed county is today. 5 million Chinese mine underground currently.
Coal can closely be linked to the technology of canal systems, steam boats and trains in both Britain and America. USA became a world leader in coal in 1900 bypassing Europe. Labor relations in America's coal fields has been a bloody one - strikes were often accompanied with beatings, shootings or at a time massacre. For nearly a century Coal enjoyed its heyday in America and Europe. Coal is still in use in both countries today, just not as heavily. Coal provides half of the energy in America - some states get virtually all their energy from coal where other states use none.
**coal and oil helped save the whales and the dwindling forests
Coal obviously has been around for a very long time. Coal during the Middle Ages was thought to be associated with disease, death and the devil. As Europe began to experiment with coal, mining was done by the poorest and often time youngest members of the community. In Scotland families were bonded for life to a specific coal mine.
The Chinese became the first society to use coal. China was many centuries ahead of Europe when it comes to coal mining, however they are using coal more than any developed county is today. 5 million Chinese mine underground currently.
Coal can closely be linked to the technology of canal systems, steam boats and trains in both Britain and America. USA became a world leader in coal in 1900 bypassing Europe. Labor relations in America's coal fields has been a bloody one - strikes were often accompanied with beatings, shootings or at a time massacre. For nearly a century Coal enjoyed its heyday in America and Europe. Coal is still in use in both countries today, just not as heavily. Coal provides half of the energy in America - some states get virtually all their energy from coal where other states use none.
**coal and oil helped save the whales and the dwindling forests
bbnut45's review
2.0
My guess is that coal was in more places than Great Britain and the United States and a little in China. Therefore felt it lacked the true history.
It did spend significant time in global warming and the negative impacts on coal which would have been a more appropriate title for the book.
It did spend significant time in global warming and the negative impacts on coal which would have been a more appropriate title for the book.
satyridae's review
3.0
This book is both interesting and heartbreaking. It's also a high-flying overview, covering thousands of years in about three hundred pages. I think that's just right for me- I don't know that I could have taken too much more about the Victorians dying from "fog" or the little kids with rickets or... well, any of it. Including the modern coal industry spin doctors who are the same soulless bastards they've always been. Coal dust is GOOD for children to breathe, they said back then. Greenhouse gases are GOOD for farmers, they say now. *shudder*
Well worth reading.
Well worth reading.
raehink's review
3.0
While I loved the chapters about the history of coal in England and the United States, I was far less interested in the section on China and the author’s seeming obsession with global warming — which come across as dated since the book was published fifteen years ago.