How the World Really Works

Why it’s on the list: Vaclav Smil’s quantitative tour of what modern life physically depends on — energy, food production, materials — and what those numbers imply about where we’re going.

Where I heard about it

• The AppetiZIRP — cited there as the named source for the essay’s farming-displacement statistic.
• A crowd-sourced X thread — in the replies to @SpencrGreenberg asking “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world (or how humanity or society) really works?” (the thread, June 2025); the full list is on A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet).

Connections

• The AppetiZIRP — where this book is cited.
• A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — recommendation #2: named in this crowd-sourced thread.