Growth

From Microorganisms to Megacities

De: Vaclav Smil

Narrado por: Eric Jason Martin

Growth has been both an unspoken and an explicit aim of our individual and collective striving. It governs the lives of microorganisms and galaxies; it shapes the capabilities of our extraordinarily large brains and the fortunes of our economies. Growth is manifested in annual increments of continental crust, a rising gross domestic product, a child's growth chart, the spread of cancerous cells. In this magisterial book, Vaclav Smil offers systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the trajectories of empires and civilizations.

Smil takes listeners from bacterial invasions through animal metabolisms to megacities and the global economy. He begins with organisms whose mature sizes range from microscopic to enormous, looking at disease-causing microbes, the cultivation of staple crops, and human growth from infancy to adulthood. He examines the growth of energy conversions and man-made objects that enable economic activities - developments that have been essential to civilization. Finally, he looks at growth in complex systems, beginning with the growth of human populations and proceeding to the growth of cities.

©2019 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2020 Gildan Media

Unmatched detail and analysis

Growth covers such a broad subject matter to make the book have something for everyone interested in how the world works. Chapters on society, economics and the future were most meaningful to me.

Informative and somewhat frightening

At times felt like an overload of information and stats but ultimately I enjoyed how it paints the picture of the danger of our unconstrained consumption and growth on the planet and to ourselves as a species.

Excellent book; condescending narrator

Enlightening, data-rich book with excellent foundations in engineering and history, like Smil's other works.
Must read for those in the arts and social studies (especially economics).
Only negative is the Narrator; he oozes condescension and detracts from the book.

great book missing PDF in Audible

the usual accompaniing PDF is missing. great performance and content otherwise. Vaclav is a fantastic author

Accompanying PDF

A wealth of well researched detail as we have come to love from Vaclav Smil; however, it would have been great to have the accompanying PDF available.

Needs PDF for figures

Quite tough, narrator sounds like a computer. He refers to figures but PDF is not available. This would greatly increase its value

fascinating

it's long so I listened at 1.5 speed but still took a long time to get through. important insights into growth of everything and implications for how we think about out future

Infinite growth is not sustainable!

Connecting the dots from virtually all areas of reference... Vaclav makes the point clear for all who want to understand: progress cannot continue forever without serious impact on the biosphere.

PDF should come with this book...

Great book BUT where is the pdf for all the charts and numbers mentioned? (which is the key info to understanding the context)

Please improve this!

Need accustomizing

Narration seems to progress in staccato fashion. I listen at x1. 3 to try to smooth over the minute pauses