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very clear review of federal spending.
 
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Dickco | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 7, 2012 |
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
The book was an average read at best.

While the style is casual, and highly accessible, the topic deserves far more than the superficial discussions presented in this book. At times, statements by dubious sources are allowed to justify relatively simplistic statements with wide repercussions. My notes regarding the book cite an instance in which Al Gore's stance was used to justify particular stance regarding energy policy. This is just not acceptable.

There is also the issue of the book's inherent lack of criticality. While we may all want (note: "want") America to be energy independent, this is inherently a protectionist stance; a carry-over from America's days as an isolationist super-power (My opinion). Nowhere are counter-arguments to energy-independence addressed in this book. A sole position is posited and then the authors go on to claim they are presenting a case with little to no bias.

Finally, the discussion regarding Nuclear energy is highly superficial. I was left thinking that this book was nothing more than an attempt at selling printed paper to a specific target audience that would have reacted negatively to an in-depth discussion of this topic.

I'll give them credit for one thing: the references section is juicy. If I ever crack this book open again, it will definitely be to further research the articles, data and other texts cited in the final section.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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calwakeel | 9 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jul 21, 2010 |
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
This book is loaded with information on the energy crisis. The authors are very honest about the feasibility (or lack thereof) of various options to get us out of the energy mess, but they make it very clear that there must be a concerted effort to think about these issues, change our lifestyle and invest money in finding solutions. I gave only 3.5 stars because I found the writing sometimes on the trite side - too many popular culture references and attempts to be 'cute'. One should not confuse being 'folksy' with good writing. Despite the shortcomings of the writing style, I would recommend the book for anybody who is looking for detailed and unvarnished information about our energy future and what we should do about it. Disclaimer: I reviewed a pre-publication copy, so maybe the writing was improved by further editing before they released the final version.… (lisätietoja)
½
 
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yapete | 9 muuta kirja-arvostelua | May 24, 2010 |
This book is the layperson's guide to the energy crisis. The authors went to such pains to make sure this book didn't sound academic that they resorted to doing obnoxious things like writing "basically" in almost every other sentence. I hate the word basically, because it doesn't mean anything, so you can imagine I loved sentences such as these: "we need to get some basic facts under our collective belt, and that's basically what the rest of this book is about..."

But really, that's not a big deal. I similarly loathe books that are too academic, so maybe it's just difficult to find the sweet spot that's neither pretentious nor condescending.

The back of the book states that this is a "nonpartisan guide to the energy crisis" which really shows in the details given in this book. You know how Obama got his wish for a "nonpartisan" health care bill that did some okay things and also screwed people over? That's kinda how I feel about the things the authors write about in this book. But then again, I think like a radical, and I like my books to be at least as radical as I am.

How unradical is this book? There is an entire chapter devoted to coal. Not once do the authors mention the words "mountaintop extraction" or make any statements as to just how bad coal mining is. No, they don't paint it as a pretty picture, but if I were a total layperson reading this book, I'd get the idea that the coal we get in the future will be collected from underground mines without blowing up mountains and devastating communities and water supplies.

Also, I really hate the idea of nuclear power, and "clean coal" is a pipe dream, and both of these ideas are brought forth as potential methods for combating global warming. I agree that we can't switch to renewables overnight, but I have a fundamental problem using technology that has copious amounts of radioactive waste as a byproduct (or technology that doesn't exist).

There were some other small things that annoyed me about this book. The authors don't mention local power grids, assuming we're always going to be doing things the way we do them now, inefficient or not. The authors consider methane to be a "secondary threat" as a greenhouse gas, even though it is more than 20 times as good at trapping heat as CO2. Also, the authors mentioned that oil lobbyists aren't the biggest lobbyists, which doesn't make me feel like that's any reason why they're not still influencing the government more than environmental groups or everyday people.

One thing I did like about this book was that it covered residential and electrical use of natural gas, which for some reason I know next to nothing about (except that it cooks my food).

But hey, if you're a non-radical layperson just trying to get an idea for how the whole energy crisis is going, maybe this is just the book for you.
… (lisätietoja)
½
 
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lemontwist | 9 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Apr 14, 2010 |

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Tilastot

Teokset
3
Jäseniä
133
Suosituimmuussija
#152,660
Arvio (tähdet)
½ 3.5
Kirja-arvosteluja
13
ISBN:t
8

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