From the New York Times bestselling author of How the World Really Works a wide-ranging look
at the most fundamental governing principle of our world: size whose laws limits and
peculiarities offer the key to understanding health wealth and even happiness No one writes
about the great issues of our time with more rigor or erudition than Vaclav Smil. - Elizabeth
Kolbert To answer the most important questions of our age we must understand size. Neither
bacteria nor empires are immune to its laws. Measuring it is challenging especially where
complex systems like economies are concerned yet mastering it offers rich rewards: the rise of
the West for example was a direct result of ever more accurate and standardized measurements.
Using the interdisciplinary approach that has won him a wide readership Smil draws upon
history earth science psychology art and more to offer fresh insight into some of our
biggest challenges including income inequality the spread of infectious disease and the
uneven impacts of climate change. Size explains the regularities-and peculiarities-of the key
processes shaping life (from microbes to whales) the Earth (from asteroids to volcanic
eruptions) technical advances (from architecture to transportation) and societies and
economies (from cities to wages). This book about the big and the small and the relationship
between them answers the big and small questions of human existence: What makes a human
society too big? What about a human being? Which alternative energy sources have the best
chance of scaling and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels? Why do tall people make more
money? What makes a face beautiful? How about a cathedral? How can changing the size of your
plates help you lose weight? The latest masterwork of an ambitious and astonishing polymath who
swings for fences (Wired) Size is a mind-bending journey that turns the modern world on its
head.
