The Energy Reader

The Energy Reader presents a series of readings that examine the energy problem from an anthropological perspective and look at energy holistically, including social and cultural components and long term implications for global and social environmental change.  

• Brings a unique critical approach to the problem of energy and its complexity
• Presents the topic as both a human and a technological problem, differentiating long-term perspectives from short term fixes
• Includes coverage of  the politics of energy, the protection of future generations, the avoidance of dangerous waste products, efficiency, resilience, and democratic relevance
• Features selections drawn from the work of physicists, economists, business experts, engineers, journalists, historians, and entrepreneurs

The Energy Reader examines the quandary of meeting future energy needs, bringing a unique critical approach to this complex global challenge and its potentially dire implications. It evaluates the social and cultural components of the energy problem in addition to the technological issues, and differentiates long-term perspectives from short term fixes presenting readers with a truly holistic approach to energy.

In this insightful book a wide range of experts address the overall energy problem, the politics of energy, the protection of future generations, the avoidance of dangerous waste products, efficiency, resilience, and democratic relevance. These cross-disciplinary critical perspectives are presented by respected social scientists, physicists, economists, business experts, engineers, journalists, historians, and entrepreneurs. They illuminate the key historical trends in energy development and demonstrate new and sometimes controversial solutions—they tell us what can and will work with respect to current and future energy policies. The Energy Reader offers thought-provoking insights into the global energy strategies necessary for humanity's future.

Laura Nader is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Nader's books include Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiry into Boundaries, Power and Knowledge (1996), The Life of the Law (2002), and, with Ugo Mattei, Plunder–When the Rule of Law is Illegal (Blackwell, 2008). Her films To Make the Balance and a later PBS film Little Injustices are widely disseminated.