jasonbooker

Freese offers an interesting narrative of coal that weaves through preindustrial England to present. I get the feeling reading that she researched everything from the perspective of coal and then unsurprisingly found that the world's history has been driven by coal (from the industrial revolution to the 2000 US election). That said she makes strong points about the importance of fuel and offers a very interesting minihistory. Her writing style is easily readable and straightforward, but tries too hard to be a crossover book and is at times overly simplified and cute. She was formerly an environmental lawyer and it shows, the whole book has a strong leaning toward air quality concern, which I found worthwhile but she certainly isn't objective about her concerns and values. All in all very informative and fun to read. It will fill you with annoying facts to drop on your friends, such as that Daylight Savings Time was instituted in World War II as a reaction to the gas and coal shortage in order to better use daylight in lighting the home. The second-to-last chapter is a short look at China and coal. The modernday stuff is pretty pat but the history is awesome and makes me want to go to Kaifeng.

2022-11-28 18:47