Growth
From Microorganisms to Megacities
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Growth
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Narrated by:
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Eric Jason Martin
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By:
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Vaclav Smil
About this listen
Growth has been both an unspoken and an explicit aim of our individual and collective striving. It governs the lives of microorganisms and galaxies; it shapes the capabilities of our extraordinarily large brains and the fortunes of our economies. Growth is manifested in annual increments of continental crust, a rising gross domestic product, a child's growth chart, the spread of cancerous cells. In this magisterial book, Vaclav Smil offers systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the trajectories of empires and civilizations.
Smil takes listeners from bacterial invasions through animal metabolisms to megacities and the global economy. He begins with organisms whose mature sizes range from microscopic to enormous, looking at disease-causing microbes, the cultivation of staple crops, and human growth from infancy to adulthood. He examines the growth of energy conversions and man-made objects that enable economic activities - developments that have been essential to civilization. Finally, he looks at growth in complex systems, beginning with the growth of human populations and proceeding to the growth of cities.
©2019 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2020 Gildan MediaListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Growth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- farren
- 17-04-21
too much going off
please don't purchase on audible...great book but too many facts to grasp...then reading from a book
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- coz
- 04-12-20
challenging!
I stuck it out all the way to the end! I didn't think I would during the first section on different graphs and growth patterns but it gets much better when you get into the meat of the book. it does have A LOT of figures in it...most of which washed over me a bit, particularly as I usually listen in my car. there were lots of interesting themes and nuggets to take away-plus some useful words if I ever go on Pointless (concatenation is a goodie, I'm not telling you the rest just in case you happen to be on it too!). the chapters at the end looking at complex things like economies, population and civilisations and the "what comes after growth" were probably the most interesting, a reward for the other 20ish hours of listening!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Craig
- 09-07-23
Naturalistic fallacy meet collelation as causation
The entire premise of the book is based on a rather hidden lie of scientism designed to seem scientific. It takes natural growth to argue a poorly constructed Malthusian idea that we are approaching limits to growth.
As a statistician, the "prediction" models are dome of the worst and most dishonest attempts at seeming scientific I have had the displeasure of reading for some time.
Philosophical "shoulds" are applied in place of can. But, the understanding of economics is a complete strawman.
Overall, one of the most dishonest and disingenuous attempts in developing a poor argument against growth. Paul R. Ehrlich would be proud. Same lies. New wine in Old bottles.
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