Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.
Books in order of publication with the newest at the top of the list:
2022 : How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future. Viking/Penguin.
2021 : Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made. Oxford University Press.
2020 : Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Things You Need To Know About The World. Penguin.
2019 : Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities. The MIT Press.
2017 : Energy and Civilization: A History. The MIT Press.
2015 : Natural Gas: Fuel for the 21st Century. Wiley.
2015 : Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses. The MIT Press.
2013 : Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Wiley.
2013 : Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing. The MIT Press.
2013 : Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory. Wiley.
2013 : Harvesting the Biosphere; What We Have Taken from Nature. The MIT Press.
2012 : Japan’s Dietary Transition and Its Impacts. The MIT Press.
2010 : Prime Movers of Globalization: The History and Impact of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines. The MIT Press.
2010 : Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate. The AEI Press.
2010 : Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects. Praeger.
2010 : Why America Is Not a New Rome. MIT Press
2008 : Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years. The MIT Press.
2008 : Oil: A Beginner’s Guide. Oneworld Publications.
2008 : Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems. The MIT Press.
2006 : Energy: A Beginner’s Guide. Oneworld Publications.
2006 : Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences. Oxford University Press.
2005 : Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867–1914 and Their Lasting Impact. Oxford University Press.
2004 : China’s Past, China’s Future. Routledge Curzon.
2003 : Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. The MIT Press.
2002 : The Earth’s Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change. The MIT Press.
2001 : Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production. The MIT Press.
2000 : Feeding the World: A Challenge for the 21st Century. The MIT Press.
2000 : Cycles of Life: Civilization and the Biosphere. Scientific American Library.
1998 : Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization. The MIT Press.
1994 : Energy in World History. Westview Press.
1993 : China’s Environment: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development. M. E. Sharpe. Winner of the 1995 Joseph Levenson Book Prize.
1993 : Global Ecology: Environmental Change and Social Flexibility. Routledge.
1991 : General Energetics: Energy in the Biosphere and Civilization. Wiley.
1988 : Energy in China’s Modernization. M.E. Sharpe.
1987 : Energy Food Environment: Realities Myths Options. Oxford University Press.
1985 : Carbon Nitrogen Sulfur: Human Interference in Grand Biospheric Cycles. Plenum Press.
1984 : The Bad Earth: Environmental Degradation in China. M.E. Sharpe.
1983 : Biomass Energies: Resources, Links, Constraints. Plenum Press.
1982 : (in collaboration with P. Nachman and T. V. Long, II). Energy Analysis in Agriculture: An Application to U.S. Corn Production. Westview Press.
1980 : (in collaboration with W. E. Knowland). Energy in the Developing World. Oxford University Press.
1976 : China’s Energy: Achievements, Problems, Prospects. Praeger.
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