Powering the Dream
The History and Promise of Green Technology
By: Alexis Madrigal
Published: march 29, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
ISBN-10: 9780306818851
ISBN-13: 978-0306818851
Publisher: Da Capo Press
"But the impacts of the energy sources we use have come up against other things that we care about, like the health of our children, the preservation of other kinds of life, and our national credibility. All kinds of energy production have negative impacts, but because they're all different, picking out which ones are compatible with our other ideals can seem difficult", writes senior editor and led technology writer for TheAtlantic.com, and visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, Alexis Madrigal, in his eye opening and very engaging book Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology. The author describes a relatively unknown history or alternative energy production and use in the United States, how many good ideas were overtaken or lost, and how to avoid the to learn the lessons of the past could result in missed opportunities now and in the future.
Alexis Madrigal recognizes that no one technology will solve the energy problems of the present and future. In many ways, the book is a celebration of the spirit of innovation and its many successes and failures. As a process that is both uncertain, and filled with dead ends and side tracks, innovation must travel its own roads and make the course changes as necessary. People make mistakes and ideas are often wrong, but the opening of the process of innovation in the field of green energy has and will lead to many unexpected breakthrough discoveries. Alexis Madrigal provides ample historical evidence, that innovation and discovery have been part of the search for energy and power, for the entire history of America. Many of these stories of energy innovation and technological advance, over the course of American history, are not known to most people.
Alexis Madrigal (photo left) dispenses with the usual stories of hidden energy suppression and the often invoked rogues gallery of supposed villains. Instead, the author takes a very balanced historical approach to the successes and failures of alternative energy technology. Alexis Madrigal points out correctly that there is no one universal solution to the energy problem. The author doesn't advocate panaceas, but rather examines the strengths and limitations of technology and its byproducts. Throughout the twentieth century, many new technologies were discovered and utilized, and then later forgotten with the dominance of low cost fossil fuels. While many of these previous and often forgotten innovations may be worth reviving, they are more important as a guide to a future where technological advances will be both effective and dead ends. Alexis Madrigal shares stories of tragically neglected technology, as well as the reasons that certain technologies were successful, while others fell or were pushed to the wayside.
For me, the power of the book is how Alexis Madrigal presents a balanced study of the past, present, and future of green technology. This well researched and presented book contains footnotes for every chapter, as well as an extensive bibliography, to guide the reader toward conducting further study into promising green technologies of today, as well as those of the past and the potential for the future. Part history book, part analysis of green technologies, and part theory about the nature of technology itself, this book provides a the reader with many avenues for continuing the discussion beyond the book itself. An additional strength of the book is the inclusion of several pages of photographs of long forgotten green technology, some false starts in alternative energy, and some visual insight into the thought process that created these innovations.
I highly recommend the fascinating and thought provoking book Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal, to anyone seeking insights into the many lost opportunities in green technology in the past. This book serves as a reminder that alternative energy is not a new concept, and that many of the currently highly touted concepts have a very long history. As a guide to the future, the author points to past successes and failures to help innovators avoid some of the same mistakes as their predecessors.
Read the inspirational and lesson filled book Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal, and find out the real history of green technology and alternative energy innovation in America. This book will change the way you think about green technology, and its past, present, and future.
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