Powering the Future, Robert B. Laughlin
Powering the Future, Robert B. Laughlin
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Powering the Future
How We Will (Eventually) Solve the Energy Crisis and Fuel the Civilization of Tomorrow

Author: Robert B. Laughlin

Narrator: Traber Burns

Unabridged: 5 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/27/2011


Synopsis

In Powering the Future, Nobel laureate Robert B. Laughlin transports us two centuries into the future, when weve ceased to use carbon from the ground. Boldly, Laughlin predicts no earthshattering transformations will have taken place. Six generations from now, there will still be soccer moms, shopping malls, and business trips. Firesides will still be snug and warm. How will we do it? Not by discovering a magic bullet to slay our energy problems but through a slew of fascinating technologies, drawing on wind, water, and fire. Powering the Future is an objective yet optimistic tour through alternative fuel sources, set in a world where weve burned every last drop of petroleum and every last shovelful of coal.

About Robert B. Laughlin

Robert B. Laughlin is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Physics at Stanford University. In 1998 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the fractional quantum Hall effect. He is the author of The Crime of Reason and A Different Universe. He lives in Palo Alto, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jason on October 29, 2011

While there are certainly interesting bits to this book, mostly, he repeats his primary thesis (we will use fossil fuels until they run out and then use what's cheapest) over and over and over again. Perhaps most aggravating is his almost total dismissal of the implications of climate change while e......more

Goodreads review by Fraser on March 31, 2019

Such a crazy cool book. Laughlin uses first principles thinking as well as common-sense benchmarks to describe in laymen’s terms how we are likely to create and store energy as our fossil fuels run out (in about 200 years). For energy generation, his bet is on our creating synthetic petroleum, thanks......more

Goodreads review by Brendan on April 03, 2012

This is weird overall. You could skip chapters 2 and 3 entirely. Not really of much help except for the part about fast breeding nuclear reactors.......more

Goodreads review by Jose on January 13, 2022

Sadly, most of the energy landscape is littered with confusion from hidden interests by certain groups or individuals. This confusion gets extrapolated and permeates much of the discourse even at the top levels in most organizations that deal with energy, climate, electricity, environment, etc. This......more

Goodreads review by D.L. on June 15, 2017

The author, a professor of physics at Stanford, discusses various possible ways of obtaining and storing energy in the future. I remain skeptical about many of his forecasts, but one insight that I suspect is true is his assertion that we as a species will always opt for whatever source of energy is......more