Richard Rhodes is the author of numerous books and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He graduated from Yale University and has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Appearing as host and correspondent for documentaries on public television's Frontline and American Experience series, he has also been a visiting scholar at Harvard and MIT and is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Visit his website: RichardRhodes.com
Riveting...Mr. Rhodes has scored another masterpiece. --The Wall Street Journal In this meticulously researched work, Rhodes brings his fascination with engineers, scientists and inventors along as he presents an often underappreciated history: four centuries through the evolution of energy and how we use it. --The New York Times Book Review Richard Rhodes' dazzling Energy: A Human History tells a compulsively readable tale of human need, curiosity, ingenuity and arrogance... This exceptional book is required reading for anyone concerned about the human impact on the future of the world. --Bookpage Energy is an excellent book that manages to be both entertaining and informative, and it's likely to appeal to both science fans and those of us who only passed physics by the skin of our teeth. It's also a powerful look at the importance of science. --NPR.ORG Rhodes delivers brilliantly on the inner workings of steam engines and reactors, and his lively narrative takes readers on thrilling side trips... His fascinating tale will delight technology wonks and particularly appeal to inventors and discoverers. --Publisher's Weekly Energy is both a work of history and a passionately written moral tale...Rhodes's hope that a critical look at past energy technologies will benefit those of the future is heartening. --Science Magazine Once again, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author Richard Rhodes takes on entangled issues around the use of science and technology and makes complicated matters more approachable. Rhodes's study will appeal to many, not just technophiles. As always, he is an exceptionally engaging writer. --Library Journal, Starred Review A magesterial history...a tour de force of popular science, which is no surprise from this author. --Kirkus, Starred Review Rhodes doesn't minimize the downsides of advances, both human and environmental, yet, on the whole, this is a beautifully written, often inspiring saga of ingenuity and progress, ideal for general readers. Immensely engaging, trusted, and best-selling, Rhodes will attract the usual avid interest as he brings facts, context, and clarity to a key, often contentious subject. --BOOKLIST, Starred Review