Admission: I can’t read Vaclav Smil. I’ve had several false starts with several of his books, and get through a chapter or two at best before I give up. It’s like reading dictionaries end to end from A-Z. No story. His stuff really needs to be in random-access look-up form.
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Energy and Civilization fucked me up for weeks. There's a story there but it's a slow-burning and extremely bleak one.
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Same. Dry as bones. I used to read the encyclopedia for fun (weird kid). Dictionary is a whole other level. Suppose that’s besides the point but hey
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