On: What if they gave an Industrial Revolution and nob...

[allturtles]

If anything it should make you suspicious of Smil's book, since it was published more recently.

[kaycebasques → allturtles]

Valid! Energy and Civilization didn't live up to the hype for me so I'm happy to include this possibility

For completeness we should also mention the other possibilities:

* The author(s) had no control over the cover design (which I hear is common)

* There aren't many readily available paintings out there that capture the vibes of the industrial revolution as well as this one

* No one cares, stop talking about this

[slothtrop → kaycebasques]

I only read How the World Really Works, but I thought it was generally good, save for occasional non-sequiturs.