How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil

HOW THE WORLD REALLY WORKS by Vaclav Smil (Numbers Don’t Lie) offers insight on “The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going.” Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and the author of over forty books; in 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. All of that points to potential for a fascinating discussion in his most recent text which begins with an Introduction subtitled “Why do we need this book?” There, he argues that our increased specialization (e.g., less than 1 percent the country’s population or “about 3 million men and women (farm owners and hired labor) [is] directly engaged in producing food”) has resulted in a “comprehension deficit.” Are you curious about the global environment and the impact of changing energy sources or food production? There are sections on those topics as well as risks we face from “viruses to diets to solar flares.” Smil categorizes this text as “the product of my life’s work, and written for the layperson.” I do think it is written in a personable manner although it is rather dense and filled with statistics. Student researchers will most likely be interested in specific sections (e.g., plastics, globalization of transportation and communication). Many of them are curious about two avenues which he discounts: eminent disaster and the need for space colonization or the ease and likelihood of using artificial intelligence to solve looming problems. If they are patient, this will stretch their thinking. HOW THE WORLD REALLY WORKS received a starred review from Kirkus.