It’s a promotional piece because Smil has (yet another) new book coming out. I’ve seen it (thanks Z-Library) and am distinctly underwhelmed. It’s about tech hy

It’s a promotional piece because Smil has (yet another) new book coming out. I’ve seen it (thanks Z-Library) and am distinctly underwhelmed. It’s about tech hype and failure but says nothing new and even the rehashes are poorly done, judging from the areas I personally know best. Vaclav Smil started off as a knowledgeable commentator on sci-tech (his fertilizer book is especially nice) but has devolved to basically a brand, with the work (such as it is) done by an army of grad assistants. Very surface stuff beloved by the likes of Bill Gates who confuse surface with depth.