Overview

What makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four grand transitions of civilization--in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics--which have transformed the way we live. Societies that have undergone all four transitions emerge into an era of radically different population dynamics, food surpluses (and waste), abundant energy use, and expanding economic opportunities. Simultaneously, in other parts of the world, hundreds of millions remain largely untouched by these developments. Through erudite storytelling, Vaclav Smil investigates the fascinating and complex interactions of these transitions. He argues that the moral imperative to share modernity's benefits has become more acute with increasing economic inequality, but addressing this imbalance would make it exceedingly difficult to implement the changes necessary for the long-term preservation of the environment. Thus, managing the fifth transition--environmental changes from natural-resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and global warming--will determine the success or eventual failure of the grand transitions that have made the world we live in today.

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Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of over forty books on topics including energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy. No other living scientist has had more books (on a wide variety of topics) reviewed in Nature. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, in 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. Winner of the prestigious Audie Award (for History and Audio Drama), veteran actor Robert Fass is equally at home in a wide variety of styles, genres, characters, and dialects. A seven-time Audie nominee with over 100 unabridged audiobooks to his credit, Robert has also earned multiple Earphones Awards, including for his narration of Joe Golem and the Drowning City by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. Robert has given voice to modern and classic fiction writers alike, including Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, John Steinbeck, Carlos Fuentes, Isaac Asimov, Ellery Queen, Steve Berry, Jeffrey Deaver, and Nele Neuhaus, plus bestselling nonfiction works in history, politics, health, journalism, philosophy, and business.

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