A wealth of very useful information about energy use, resources, and environmental and socioeconomic impact, and the author's unabashed but educated opinions about approaches to the future. Thought-provoking and highly worthwhile reading for both believers and unbelievers. -- Professor Noam Lior, Editor-in-Chief, ENERGY - The International Journal An authoritative and comprehensive look at global energy prospects by one of the world's most respected energy scholars. -- Cutler J. Cleveland, Professor and Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Boston University Vaclav Smil's work stands as a bright light in a sea of dim treatises on the subject of energy. His previous energy books are invaluable and insightful resources, filled with real facts and clear writing. Energy at the Crossroads continues and expands that tradition. -- Mark P. Mills, Digital Power Capital An excellent guide for the general reader or university student to complex energy and environmental issues. Smil's critical thinking, independence, and conscious attempts to remain objective while clearly keeping in mind normative goals are, as always, refreshing. -- Jonthan E. Sinton, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Smil has the best macroscope of all current energy analysts. -- Jesse H. Ausubel , Director, Program for the Human Environment, The Rockefeller University

Vaclav Smil is the author of more than thirty books on energy, the environment, food, and the history of technical advances, including Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature, published by the MIT Press. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.