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vivian_munich's review against another edition
2.0
An easily digestible book that provides some food for thought, but lacks in depth and doesn’t offer anything new or profound. A lot of bold predictions/statements made by the author also leave me in doubt, opinions I’m totally fine living without. A quick read at least.
lovesarahmae's review against another edition
5.0
#NumbersDontLie by #VaclavSmil
..
When #BillGates suggests a book, you check it out. This is the random facts book of my dreams. It is literally just hours of random statistics all stung together in a series of interwoven essays. A fantastic audiobook that feels like an overy intelligent podcast. Strongly suggest
..
When #BillGates suggests a book, you check it out. This is the random facts book of my dreams. It is literally just hours of random statistics all stung together in a series of interwoven essays. A fantastic audiobook that feels like an overy intelligent podcast. Strongly suggest
podczytany's review against another edition
4.0
Niesamowicie interesująca, pełna ciekawostek! Nie podobał mi się jedynie rozdział „PAŃSTWA”, ale to dlatego, że polityka to zupełnie nie moja działka.
Ocena: 4,0.
Ocena: 4,0.
kubamilcarz's review against another edition
4.0
Knowledge overload! I like books I find hard to agree with. This one challenged my assumptions and opinions. Wasn’t an easy read, but hey this is exactly what counts!
reti's review against another edition
3.0
You’re getting a lot of brief information about many things. This book is pretty easy to read. Heating houses chapter - not so sure about his best solution. In some cases his overly simplistic approach bothered me.
lei15's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Very informative and interesting book, the only con is that i would have loved to have more calculations in it.
jorisvanmens's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable light read that briefly covers numerous macroeconomic and societal topics such as population, energy and human development. Beyond what the title suggests, there's a lot of opinion in this book as well, reflecting Smil's world view.
A few random tidbits:
- Building insulation is key to reducing our energy consumption, and triple glass (with inert gas) leads to significantly better savings than double glass, though is still rarely used
- Human Development Index (HDI) is a better measure of progress & well-being than GDP; North-West Europe has highest HDIs
- The 1880s were a significant source of innovation defining our modern era (skyscrapers, thermal- and hydro-power systems, Coca Cola, elevators, gas turbines, ballpoint pens and vending machines, etc.)
- The world has more cattle biomass than human biomass
- It may be too early to call our geological epoch the Anthropocene: humans have no effect on the large forces defining previous epochs such as plate tectonics, the planet's orbital path, volcanic eruptions, asteroids, etc.
Fun book.
A few random tidbits:
- Building insulation is key to reducing our energy consumption, and triple glass (with inert gas) leads to significantly better savings than double glass, though is still rarely used
- Human Development Index (HDI) is a better measure of progress & well-being than GDP; North-West Europe has highest HDIs
- The 1880s were a significant source of innovation defining our modern era (skyscrapers, thermal- and hydro-power systems, Coca Cola, elevators, gas turbines, ballpoint pens and vending machines, etc.)
- The world has more cattle biomass than human biomass
- It may be too early to call our geological epoch the Anthropocene: humans have no effect on the large forces defining previous epochs such as plate tectonics, the planet's orbital path, volcanic eruptions, asteroids, etc.
Fun book.