Three New Books and Seven New Book Translations in Five Languages
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
Japan’s Dietary Transition and Its Impacts (Kazuhiko Kobayashi of the University of Tōkyō is my co-author) is now in production; the final version of Harvesting the Biosphere: How Much We Have Taken From Nature was sent to the publisher; the final version of (NOT)Made in US: Manufacturing and America’s Rise and Retreat will be completed [...]
Read MoreMichael Cembalest, the CIO of J.P. Morgan, Made a Pilgrimage to Manitoba to Spend a Day with Vaclav Smil.
Monday, November 21st, 2011
Another Don Quixote Thanksgiving. Every year at Thanksgiving1, we look in-depth at an issue that affects markets and portfolios. Last year, we examined the unraveling situation in Europe. Unfortunately, most concerns we expressed last year have been borne out, and are getting much worse (I spent the weekend reading legal documents on a Eurozone break-up, [...]
Read MoreBill Gates Reviews “Prime Movers of Globalization”
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
“Prime Movers of Globalization is another remarkable book by Smil, a professor at the University of Manitoba and a prolific author who takes an interdisciplinary approach to writing about important topics in the fields of energy, the environment, population, food production, and technical innovation.” See the review on The Gates Notes
Read MoreNewton Magazine (Italy) Interview with Federico Pedrocchi
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Vaclav Smil è uno dei piú attenti osservatori del mercato energetic mondiale. . . Read the Interview
Read MoreGridlines: A Few Words with Vaclav Smil…
Friday, July 15th, 2011
“The fortunes of nations,” Vaclav Smil writes in his 2008 book Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years, “are not determined primarily by strategic designs or economic performance but by the magnitude and efficiency of their energy conversions.” We are now in the midst of just such a grand transition from fossil fuels to [...]
Read MoreDesde el Exilio: El Sistema Global: Entrevista a Vaclav Smil
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Siete mil millones de personas, 1000 barriles de petróleo consumidos cada segundo, pandemias, conflictos geopolíticos, dramáticos cambios en la distribución de renta y fragilidad económica y financiera. La complejidad de los lazos entre la biosfera y la sociedad humana y aceleración de los procesos de interacción entre ambos sistemas es probablemente el campo de estudio [...]
Read MorePresident Obama, Vaclav Smil and the Energy Budget
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
By Bryan Walsh, TIME Speaking at George Washington University today on the nation’s finances, President Obama drew a line in the sand, promising to protect Medicare and Medicaid from Republican budget cuts. But at the same time, Obama didn’t play down the severity of the country’s debt woes, pledging to cut a combined $4 trillion [...]
Read MoreVaclav Smil on Foreign Policy’s list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers” for keeping the West honest about its plight
Sunday, November 28th, 2010
The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers No. 49. Vaclav Smil, Environmental Scientist, University of Manitoba, Canada
Read MoreBill Gates Reviews “Why America is Not a New Rome”
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
Comparing America and Ancient Rome Although the U.S. has faced significant challenges in recent decades, Vaclav Smil points out in a new book why comparisons with the decline of the Roman Empire fall short. Vaclav Smil has written another very informative book called “Why America is Not a New Rome.” This is the third book [...]
Read MoreArguing against the claim that computing has been the most important innovation of the 20th century
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
Smil, V. 2010. Arguments against the claim that computing has been the most significant innovation of the 20th Century, In The Economist: Opening Remarks, October 19, 2010 Rebuttal Statements, October 22, 2010 Closing Statements, October 27, 2010
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