Manfred Weissenbacher
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Reviews
"Highly Recommended" - Prof. J. Tavakoli for the American Library Association
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"Admirable for its clarity, depth, and informed synthesis" - SciTech Book News
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READERS' COMMENTS
"A brilliantly written, amazingly informative and timely addition to the literature." - Michael Dale, Stanford University
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
"Those who liked (or disliked) Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" will especially enjoy reading "Sources of Power", as it removes a major flaw of Diamond's thesis by integrating it into a larger energy theory of history that holds good beyond the 16th century..." - Editorial Review
A landmark book rolls out a bold, new, energy-based theory of human history based on a simple, yet powerful law: whoever controls the world's effective energy supplies during a given energy age will inevitably dominate the economic, political, and cultural history of that age.
The standard of energy technology is the most determining factor for the fate of human societies. Those who command more energy dominate others and impose their interests or values onto them. In this two-volume set, the main thesis holds that command of energy has been the most critical determinant in human societal and political history, and will thus also decide the future fate of societies and nations. Targeted to a general audience of readers, this is a concise and accessible merger of technological, economic, and political history that ultimately leads to an analysis of the current global situation to provide a roadmap towards a prosperous and peaceful future for all. Those who liked (or disliked) Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" will especially enjoy reading "Sources of Power", as it removes a major flaw of Diamond's thesis by integrating it into a larger energy theory of history that holds good beyond the 16th century, all the way to the present, and even beyond.
The innovative theory articulated in Sources of Power: How Energy Forges Human History parses history into four ages: the foraging, agriculture, coal, and oil ages, each defined by the dominant source of power. Manfred Weissenbacher tests this sweeping theory against the panorama of world history, combining formidable powers of synthesis with a specialist's deep understanding of energy systems and technologies.
After proving the operation of his law through history and into the present, Weissenbacher applies it to global geopolitical trends. He assesses the prospects of the various candidate technologies to succeed oil and charts future scenarios based on the distribution of energy reserves. Finally, he forecasts the fates of the American and Chinese empires in the twilight of the oil age: the United States as a mature superpower forced to deploy military might to occupy oilfields in the Middle East; China as an emerging superpower forced to deploy economic might to muscle in on the development of Third World oilfields.
Karl Marx wrote of man as economically motivated, and history, therefore, as economically determined. Other philosophers and theoreticians have had theories about other forces as determining factors in the play of the ages. Recent developments put energy squarely at the center of the global stage—where it may have stood from the very beginning.
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Though numerous books discuss the technical, economic, and even social
aspects of energy, those exploring the role that energy has played in
shaping human history are rare. Weissenbacher brilliantly explains the
connection between the availability and use of energy sources and social
infrastructure development at different stages in history. At times,
necessarily, the text digresses into discussions of history, technology,
or politics, but the influence of energy is present throughout.
Together, the two volumes are organized into five parts. In part 1,
"Foraging Age," Weissenbacher argues that regional accessibility to
natural sources of energy for survival and nutrition divided foraging
communities into "mobile" and "sedentary" gatherer-hunters, which in
turn resulted in two very different lifestyles. Fire served as a source
of warmth and light and also broadened the human diet as cooking with
fire made many plants easier to digest or helped with food preservation.
Part 2, "Agricultural Age," discusses the emergence of agriculture as
the main source of survival energy (food) and the use of biomass for
light, heat, and metallurgy. Weissenbacher skillfully explains how
excess survival energy (food) produced from land combined with energy
harvested from biomass created social classes, power structures,
knowledge, technologies, new tools of production and destruction, wars,
etc. Part 3, "Coal Age," explores the effects of the continuous
availability of a concentrated source of energy and the introduction of
the steam engine. Coal-fired technologies contributed to an enormous
release of labor, hence promoting the creation of new social skills,
classes, and orders and an increase in the development of machinery and
scientific advancements. The outcomes of this trend were mixed--improved
agriculture, longer lives, more social participation, better and
broader education but also pollution, poverty, hard labor, deadlier
weapons systems, and power concentration.
The last two sections, "Oil Age" and "Beyond Oil," provide a
comprehensive history of the 20th century as it relates to oil. Oil
accelerated the developments that originated in the coal era,
particularly in the transportation sector. Innovations in science and
technology increased, and world power was redistributed based on access
to this new energy source. Considering the limitations of fossil fuels
and their environmental impact, the author concludes that the emergence
of renewable energy would change the current economic and political
world order to a more balanced one characterized by shared power. An
excellent book for interdisciplinary discussion courses. Summing Up:
Highly recommended.
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"Admirable for its clarity, depth, and informed synthesis" - SciTech Book News
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"Weissenbacher’s interests and areas of expertise are impressively wide,
and deep. … Furthermore, he’s intensely curious about how civilization
has evolved, and he’s an engaging, enthusiastic writer. In this
two-volume work he begins by identifying food as the first and most
fundamental energy source, and discusses the ages of foraging,
agriculture, and coal as well as contemporary hunter-gatherers. The
second volume takes the narrative into the oil age and beyond. This is a
long single-authored work admirable for its clarity, depth, and
informed synthesis—as well as its importance to scholars, policymakers,
and students in the many intertwining fields concerned with energy and
politics."
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READERS' COMMENTS
"A brilliantly written, amazingly informative and timely addition to the literature." - Michael Dale, Stanford University
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Dear Manfred Weissenbacher,
I have just finished reading your fantastic book. It took me a little over two weeks to read both volumes, which is a testament to both the fascinating topic and excellent style in which they are written. Fred Cottrell and Earl Cook would be very proud of the continuing legacy in this field. ... I'd again like to congratulate you on a brilliantly written, amazingly informative and timely addition to the literature. I believe "Sources of Power" should be standard issue for all students of energy issues.
Many thanks,
Michael Dale, Stanford University, California
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
"Those who liked (or disliked) Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" will especially enjoy reading "Sources of Power", as it removes a major flaw of Diamond's thesis by integrating it into a larger energy theory of history that holds good beyond the 16th century..." - Editorial Review
A landmark book rolls out a bold, new, energy-based theory of human history based on a simple, yet powerful law: whoever controls the world's effective energy supplies during a given energy age will inevitably dominate the economic, political, and cultural history of that age.
The standard of energy technology is the most determining factor for the fate of human societies. Those who command more energy dominate others and impose their interests or values onto them. In this two-volume set, the main thesis holds that command of energy has been the most critical determinant in human societal and political history, and will thus also decide the future fate of societies and nations. Targeted to a general audience of readers, this is a concise and accessible merger of technological, economic, and political history that ultimately leads to an analysis of the current global situation to provide a roadmap towards a prosperous and peaceful future for all. Those who liked (or disliked) Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" will especially enjoy reading "Sources of Power", as it removes a major flaw of Diamond's thesis by integrating it into a larger energy theory of history that holds good beyond the 16th century, all the way to the present, and even beyond.
The innovative theory articulated in Sources of Power: How Energy Forges Human History parses history into four ages: the foraging, agriculture, coal, and oil ages, each defined by the dominant source of power. Manfred Weissenbacher tests this sweeping theory against the panorama of world history, combining formidable powers of synthesis with a specialist's deep understanding of energy systems and technologies.
After proving the operation of his law through history and into the present, Weissenbacher applies it to global geopolitical trends. He assesses the prospects of the various candidate technologies to succeed oil and charts future scenarios based on the distribution of energy reserves. Finally, he forecasts the fates of the American and Chinese empires in the twilight of the oil age: the United States as a mature superpower forced to deploy military might to occupy oilfields in the Middle East; China as an emerging superpower forced to deploy economic might to muscle in on the development of Third World oilfields.
Karl Marx wrote of man as economically motivated, and history, therefore, as economically determined. Other philosophers and theoreticians have had theories about other forces as determining factors in the play of the ages. Recent developments put energy squarely at the center of the global stage—where it may have stood from the very beginning.
