Size: How It Explains the World - Couverture souple

Smil, Vaclav

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0241992141 ISBN 13 : 9780241992142

Editeur : Penguin, 2023

Synopsis

'There is no author whose books I look forward to more' Bill Gates

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a mind-opening exploration of how size defines life on Earth.

Explaining the key processes shaping size in nature, society and technology, Smil busts myths around proportions - from bodies to paintings and the so-called golden ratio - tells us what Jonathan Swift got wrong in Gulliver's Travels - the giant Brobdingnagian's legs would buckle under their enormous weight - and dives headfirst into the most contentious issue in ergonomics: the size of aeroplane seats.

It is no exaggeration to say this fascinating and wide-ranging tour de force will change the way you look at absolutely everything.

‘Vaclav Smil is a phenomenon with an appetite for facts over prejudice and fashion. Essential reading for anyone who cares about the future’ Lord Norman Foster

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of over forty books on topics including energy, environmental and population change, food production, and public policy. His books for a general reader include Numbers Don't Lie and the New York Times bestseller How the World Really Works. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Smil is the expert's expert (Bill Gates: 'There is no author whose books I look forward to more').

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

To answer the most important questions of our age, and secure our future, we must understand size. Neither bacteria nor empires are immune to its laws. Measuring it is challenging, especially where complex systems like economies are concerned, yet mastering it offers rich rewards.

Grounded in history and drawing on the latest science, with much recourse to art and classic literature, Size explains the regularities - and peculiarities - of the key processes shaping life (from microbes to whales), the Earth (from asteroids to volcanic eruptions), technical advances (from architecture to transportation), and societies and economies (from cities to wages). We learn, for example, the rules governing beauty, why a biosphere needs diversity, how to predict the size of a country, why bigger animals need proportionately less food and how a particular level of wealth inequality is inherent.

Is bigger always better? Can something keep growing indefinitely, or be too big to fail? Vaclav Smil tackles this goliath subject and it is no exaggeration to say that this tour de force will change the way you look at absolutely everything.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Penguin
• Date d'édition: 2023
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0241992141
• ISBN 13: 9780241992142
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 304
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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