proseandpassion:

Lämmel, Sozialphysik, Kosmos 1925. “Social physics” This book is amazingly relevant today - the author discusses the physical foundations and limitations to human activities, i.e. mainly energy and natural resources. As this was written before oil-based fuels became dominant, it still gives a lot of space to energy resources like solar, wind, and hydro, which we’re now interested in again, though for slightly different reasons.

Love the illustrations comparing human energy to energy content of fuels. For instance, a day’s work from a man, he says, is equivalent to the energy released from burning 350g of coal, the little heap on the table. Drastically illustrates why, with all the suffering involved in mining, it is still economical. And the last one shows a water fall and the number of workers needed to supply the equivalent energy.

Also fun to watch the author worrying that 1.7 billion people might be a bit too much for our planet …