Bob White, FRS
Professor of Geophysics, Cambridge University.

If everyone lived in the same way as we do in the West we would need three whole planets like earth to fuel our habits. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that this isn't sustainable. But it's seductively easy to ignore. The people who will suffer most from our profligate use of natural resources are those on the other side of the world in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and our as-yet unborn children and grandchildren. They are out of sight and out of mind. We excuse ourselves by saying that the inevitable march of technology is bound to bring a solution. So let's not be Jeremiahs, we say. In this book David MacKay brings us down to earth. He anchors what can and can't be done in the basic physics of how this world works. And he ties it to the individual, to each one of us, by showing how what we do makes a difference. We face a major problem of energy supply over the next few decades and we need radical solutions which start now. Here is a great source book of ideas and pointers to ways forward, leavened by humour and personal anecdotes. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to read and understand it: but if you are one, you can get all the equations and references you need at the back of the book.

Bob White, FRS
Professor of Geophysics, Cambridge University.

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