Review by Wolfgang Rindler, University of Texas at Dallas
One of the main themes of David MacKay's wonderful new book is that the old
adage "every little bit helps" is dead wrong in the case of energy, where
"if everyone does a little, we'll achieve only a little." What is needed
instead, and in a hurry, is every one of the big items, like solar, wind,
tides, nuclear, etc., and even then the outcome is iffy. This is a real
eye-opener and an urgent call to action, hammering home the immensity of
the problem. It is pristinely free of demagoguery. Readers are encouraged
to draw their own conclusions, having seen every major claim justified by
simple back-of-the-envelope calculations that everyone can follow.
"Sustainable Energy" is great fun to read. I couldn't lay it down for
hours. It's written in an irreverent style and leavened with hundreds of
clever and beautiful cartoons, graphs, and photos. But the author is dead
serious. His amazing stance of making the book available for free on the
internet adds immensely to his moral impact. If only enough people would
read his book, and read it soon, that would already be a valuable first
step towards salvation.
Wolfgang Rindler
Professor of Physics,
University of Texas at Dallas
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