Synopses & Reviews
In the face of todayand#8217;s environmental and economic challenges, doomsayers preach that the only way to stave off disaster is for humans to reverse course: to de-industrialize, re-localize, ban the use of modern energy sources, and forswear prosperity. But in this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more abundant energy, Faster computing, Lighter vehicles, and myriad other goods. That same desire is fostering unprecedented prosperity, greater liberty, and yes, better environmental protection.
Utilizing on-the-ground reporting from Ottawa to Panama City and Pittsburgh to Bakersfield, Bryce shows how we have, for centuries, been pushing for Smaller Faster solutions to our problems. From the vacuum tube, mass-produced fertilizer, and the printing press to mobile phones, nanotech, and advanced drill rigs, Bryce demonstrates how cutting-edge companies and breakthrough technologies have created a world in which people are living longer, freer, healthier, lives than at any time in human history.
The push toward Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is happening across multiple sectors. Bryce profiles innovative individuals and companies, from long-established ones like Ford and Intel to upstarts like Aquion Energy and Khan Academy. And he zeroes in on the energy industry, proving that the future belongs to the high power density sources that can provide the enormous quantities of energy the world demands.
The tools we need to save the planet arenand#8217;t to be found in the technologies or lifestyles of the past. Nor must we sacrifice prosperity and human progress to ensure our survival. The catastrophists have been wrong since the days of Thomas Malthus. This is the time to embrace the innovators and businesses all over the world who are making things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper.
Review
"A book brimming with well-founded enthusiasm about the amazing present and the prospects for a more amazing future...exploding with fascinating energy facts and...super-fun to read....Bryce takes his appreciation of innovation and uses it to illuminate the past, present, and future of innovation across the board."
ForbesSo what went wrong or, rather, right? Why is the human race in much better shape than it was 200, 100, or 50 years ago? Robert Bryce reminds us of the answers in his sprightly new book and promises that even better times lie ahead
Bryces new book is an enlightening stroll down the sunny side of the street.” Hiawatha Bray,the Boston Globe
Engrossing survey”Arthur Herman, the Wall Street Journal
A celebration of innovations that have produced cheaper and more abundant energy, faster computing, lighter vehicles and other technological benefits
..Bryce [is a] booster for business and technology; he makes many intriguing arguments in this rejoinder to the doomsayers [and] rebuttal to the catastrophists who insist that disaster lurks just around the corner.”Kirkus Reviews
The author of four books on oil and energy, Mr. Bryce has written a new book well worth reading
Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper
captures the headlong rush of Western cultures endless drive for ever better technology. It is an extraordinary impulse that has created a world in which more people live longer and more comfortably than ever before.”Fred Andrews, New York Times
For years, Robert Bryce has been calling for rationality on energy policy. In this book, Bryce goes beyond energy to explain why the innovation that drives entrepreneurs is the way of the future. I'm an unapologetic capitalist. Reading Smaller Faster has only fortified my belief that the best way to address poverty is through entrepreneurial capitalism that produces more innovation and progress.”
John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO, Whole Foods Market, and co-author of Conscious Capitalism
Robert Bryce may be our finest observer of the energy scene. Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper displays all the virtues -- the contacts, the technical savvy, the wit and clear thinking that make Bryce indispensable.” Charles R. Morris, author of The Dawn of Innovation and Comeback
Don't be misled by Robert Bryce's very breezy style. His new book makes important and positive observations about the world's energy future. You don't have to agree with every one of his attitudes or conclusions to hope that the reporting and arguments in the book are taken seriously, and that the innovators and start-ups he vividly describes get the support they need.” James Fallows
"[Bryce's] new book constitutes a direct assault against the policies of "degrowth" advanced by those who peddle what he calls "collapse anxiety". The book is also a sustained argument against the fundamentally pessimistic worldview that underlies those policies. . . . The claim that we can and should replace fossil fuels with renewables such as wind and solar is, Bryce says, a "damnable lie" that obscures the far more important question of what we should do to make more energy available to more people, especially 'the more than two billion people who are still living in abject energy poverty."John Daniel Davidson, National Review
Part of the fun of Bryces book comes from the sheer range of his examples
he has a way of bringing them to life.”Josiah Neeley, Master Resource
I found the contrarian views expressed in Bryce's new book to be a refreshing antidote to the gloom and doom that pervades the TV screens and print media today. He shows us there is hope, as long as the human power to innovate and make changes is present.”Huntington News, review
Synopsis
In this spirited, provocative, optimistic rebuttal to those who think the answer to the myriad environmental and social challenges we face is to forswear prosperity and de-develop, the author of
Power Hungry marshals a wealth of data and examples to show how new technologies, business innovation, and the inexorable human desire to make things smaller, faster, lighter, denser, and cheaper, hold the key to both planetary preservation and human progress.
Synopsis
In the face of todays environmental and economic challenges, doomsayers preach that the only way to stave off disaster is for humans to reverse course: to de-industrialize, re-localize, reduce consumption and forswear development. But in this timely and much-needed rebuke, Robert Bryce shows that the real solutions to our problems are to be found in the innovations and technologies of the future, and in the force that inspires their invention: the inexorable human drive to make things smaller, faster, lighter, denser, cheaper.
Utilizing on-the-ground reporting from Ottawa and Panama to Bakersfield, California and Canadian County, Oklahoma, along with an easy-to-read narrative, numerous company profiles, graphics, and photographs, Bryce shows how things are getting better, a lot better. They are getting better thanks to technologies that improve the quality of our lives and help preserve the natural world -- technologies like the vacuum tube and mass-produced fertilizer, the printing press and mobile phones, nanotech medicine and advanced drill rigs -- all provide vivid proof of our desire to find smaller faster solutions. He profiles well-known companies like Ford and Intel, along with newer ones like Khan Academy and M-PESA, to show how businesses are helping to create a world in which people are living longer, freer, healthier, lives than at any time in human history.
Smaller, Faster, Lighter, Denser, Cheaper reveals that the tools we need to save the planet arent to be found in the technologies or lifestyles of the past. Nor must we sacrifice prosperity and human progress to ensure our survival. The path to a sustainable future will be forged by innovators and businesses all over the world who will continue making things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper because, well, thats what we humans do.
About the Author
Robert Bryce is the acclaimed author of four previous books, including, most recently, Power Hungry: The Myths of and#147;Greenand#8221; Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, his articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Austin Chronicle, Bloomberg View, CounterPunch, and National Review. An apiarist, he lives in Austin with his wife, Lorin, and their three children.