Audio only
Length8h 42m
About this audiobook
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.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.5 (827)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreScience and Nature, Psychology, Technology
Length8 hrs 42 mins
Narrated byStephen Perring
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMay 16, 2023
LanguageEnglish
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
The Story of BirdsSteve Brusatte11h 49m4.6 (401)$29 · $0.00
What It Takes to Save a LifeKwane Stewart6h4.6 (556)$24 · $0.00
Pastoral SongJames Rebanks8h 35m4.5 (12K)$26 · $0.00
How Stella Learned to TalkChristina Hunger7h4.5 (10.9K)$24 · $0.00
Craig & FredCraig Grossi8h 6m4.5 (9.6K)$26 · $0.00
Celebrating BirdsNatalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez6h 47m4.6 (330)$24 · $0.00
Saving JemimaJulie Zickefoose4h 59m4.5 (749)$20 · $0.00
Will's Red CoatTom Ryan8h 23m4.5 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
Of Time and TurtlesSy Montgomery10h 34m4.5 (5K)$29 · $0.00
Zen and the Art of Saving the PlanetThich Nhat Hanh9h 20m4.5 (3.9K)$29 · $0.00
Bottle of LiesKatherine Eban14h 25m4.4 (12K)$33 · $0.00
IngrainedCallum Robinson8h 10m4.5 (1.1K)$26 · $0.00
The Lion Tracker's Guide To LifeBoyd Varty3h 1m4.4 (4.8K)$18 · $0.00
Born for LoveBruce D. Perry, Maia Szalavitz11h 42m4.4 (4K)$29 · $0.00
The Mountains of California (With Original Drawings & Photographs) (Annotated)John Muir11h 35m4.5 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
The New GuysMeredith Bagby16h 50m4.4 (1.2K)$40 · $0.00
Blue PasturesMary Oliver3h 23m4.4 (3.8K)$18 · $0.00
The Rise and Reign of the MammalsSteve Brusatte13h 26m4.4 (11.1K)$33 · $0.00
VaccinatedPaul A. Offit8h 30m4.4 (3.7K)$26 · $0.00
What to Make of a LifeJim Collins13h 31m4.4 (793)$33 · $0.00
TerraformPropaganda5h 39m4.7 (594)$24 · $0.00
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett2h 44m4.6 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
Hour of the HeartIrvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom8h 19m4.6 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m4.6 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m4.6 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 22m4.6 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge5h 59m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m4.6 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m4.6 (503)$29 · $0.00
Disturbed in Their NestsAlephonsion Deng, Judy A. Bernstein11h 22m4.6 (595)$23 · $0.00
No Name in the StreetJames Baldwin5h4.5 (8.5K)$20 · $0.00
Magic SeasonWade Rouse6h 41m4.6 (855)$24 · $0.00
Consent Laid BareChanel Contos7h 11m4.5 (1.7K)$24 · $0.00
The Big RevealSasha Velour6h 15m4.5 (2.1K)$24 · $0.00
Pastoral SongJames Rebanks8h 35m4.5 (12K)$26 · $0.00
Never Lost AgainBill Kilday10h 1m4.4 (805)$29 · $0.00
How the Internet HappenedBrian McCullough13h 28m4.3 (2.7K)$23 · $0.00
Collected Writings of Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla, Thomas Commerford Martin21h 50m4.3 (1.7K)$1 · $0.00
Just AspireAjai Chowdhry9h 13m4.4 (260)$29 · $0.00
The Little Book of AliensAdam Frank8h 20m4.3 (1.3K)$26 · $0.00
The inventions, researches and writings of Nikola Tesla (Annotated)Thomas Commerford Martin16h 59m4.3 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
KargilV.P. Malik15h 18m4.3 (2K)$24 · $0.00
Experiments with Alternating CurrentsNikola Tesla9h 6m4.3 (874)$1 · $0.00
Fire on the HorizonTom Shroder, John Konrad8h 23m4.3 (858)$26 · $0.00
The Smell of Kerosene (Annotated)National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Donald L. Mallick, Peter W. Merlin11h 32m4.3 (523)$2 · $0.00
The Boy Who Harnessed the WindWilliam Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer10h 5m4.2 (78.9K)$29 · $0.00
Across the Airless WildsEarl Swift10h 8m4.3 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Console WarsBlake J. Harris20h 41m4.2 (13.7K)$46 · $0.00
Improvised Munitions HandbookU.S. Department of Defense4h 49m4.3 (1.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
Escaping GravityLori Garver10h 54m4.2 (2.2K)$20 · $0.00
Wireless WarsJonathan Pelson8h 2m4.3 (418)$20 · $0.00
Let There Be WaterSeth M. Siegel8h 36m4.2 (2.3K)$20 · $0.00
The PerfectionistsSimon Winchester11h 46m4.2 (9.9K)$29 · $0.00
Rethinking NarcissismDr. Craig Malkin6h 7m4.2 (3.4K)$24 · $0.00
Project Animal FarmSonia Faruqi11h 23m4.3 (563)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
Why Do Men Fall Asleep After SexMark Leyner, Billy Goldberg6h 32m3.7 (2.2K)$24 · $0.00
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Annotated)Charles Darwin9h 27m4.1 (13.5K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Hidden Habits of GeniusCraig Wright10h 7m4.0 (2.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Critique of JudgmentImmanuel Kant16h 24m4.1 (11.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Meaning of It AllRichard P. Feynman2h 51m4.1 (14K)$12
The Lives of a CellLewis Thomas4h 12m4.3 (14.8K)$15
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Charles Darwin10h 43m4.1 (2.6K)Free
On the SoulAristotle3h 25m4.1 (8K)$1.20 · $0.00
Wealth, Poverty, and PoliticsThomas Sowell8h 27m4.5 (7.8K)$20
The Critique of Judgement Part IImmanuel Kant5h 48m4.1 (1.2K)$4.70 · $0.00
The Critique of Judgment: Theory of the Aesthetic Judgment and Theory of the Teleological Judgment (Annotated)Immanuel Kant15h 31m4.1 (15.7K)$1.99 · $0.00
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of MoralsDavid Hume4h 1m4.1 (7.1K)Free
The Conduct of LifeRalph Waldo Emerson7h 9m4.2 (376)$2 · $0.00
A Treatise on Paintingda Vinci Leonardo7h 9m4.2 (814)$1 · $0.00
The Last HarvestJohn Burroughs6h 24m$1 · $0.00
Popular scientific lecturesErnst Mach11h 9m$2 · $0.00
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of AnimalsR. Mrs. Lee9h 32m$2 · $0.00
Scientific and Evolutionary Foundations of Morality – 4 Classic Moral StudiesAlexander Bain, William Kingdon Clifford, Thomas Huxley, W. R. Sorley29h 21m$2
WindfallsA. G. Gardiner6h 45m4.1 (17)$2.30
I mondi invisibiliJ. VON4h 11m4.3 (161)$3.50 · $0.00