🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Vaclav Smil
Vaclav Smil is a former Distinguished Professor of the University Of Manitoba Winnipeg Faculty Of Environment. Smil went to the Carolinum University’s Faculty of Natural Sciences and then the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences for his graduate studies. He is a man of very many research interests that include economic, energy, population, environmental, food, public policy, and historical policy studies. He has also applied some of the approaches in his studies on environmental, food, and energy affairs in China. Vaclav is a Royal Society of Canada Fellow and made history as the first non-American to be awarded the Advancement of Science Award by the American Association for Public Understanding of Technology and Science.
All Book Series by Vaclav Smil
Energy In The Developing World: The Real Energy Crisis
Series opener · book 1 of 42 · published 1980
Energy Analysis And Agriculture: An Application To U.s. Corn Production
Book 2 of 42 · published 1982 Co-authored · Paul Nachman,Thomas V. Long
Energy, Food, Environment: Realities, Myths, Opinions
Book 5 of 42 · published 1987
Energy In China's Modernization: Advances And Limitations
Book 6 of 42 · published 1988
General Energetics: Energy in the Biosphere and Civilization
Book 7 of 42 · published 1991
China's Environmental Crisis: An Enquiry Into the Limits of National Development
Book 8 of 42 · published 1993
Global Ecology: Environmental Change and Social Flexibility
Book 9 of 42 · published 1993
Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization
Book 11 of 42 · published 1998
Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production
Book 12 of 42 · published 2000
The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change
Book 14 of 42 · published 2002
Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties
Book 15 of 42 · published 2003
Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact
Book 17 of 42 · published 2004
Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences v. 2
Book 18 of 42 · published 2006
Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems
Book 19 of 42 · published 2007
Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next 50 Years
Book 21 of 42 · published 2008
Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects
Book 23 of 42 · published 2010
Prime Movers of Globalization: The History and Impact of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines
Book 25 of 42 · published 2010
Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate
Book 26 of 42 · published 2010
Japan's Dietary Transition and Its Impacts
Book 27 of 42 · published 2012 Co-authored · Kazuhiko Kobayashi
Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature
Book 28 of 42 · published 2012
Carbon-Nitrogen-Sulfur: Human Interference in Grand Biospheric Cycles
Book 29 of 42 · published 2012
Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization
Book 30 of 42 · published 2013
Should We Eat Meat?: Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory
Book 31 of 42 · published 2013
Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing
Book 32 of 42 · published 2013
Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses
Book 33 of 42 · published 2015
Still the Iron Age: Iron and Steel in the Modern World
Book 35 of 42 · published 2016
Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World
Book 38 of 42 · published 2020
Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Book 39 of 42 · published 2021
How to Feed the World: The History and Future of Food
Latest in the series · book 42 of 42 · published 2025
Paradoxes of the Infinite
Series opener · book 1 of 108 · published 1851 Anthology · Bernard Bolzano
A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century
Book 2 of 108 · published 1910 Anthology · Henry Augustin Beers
The Apple and the Spectroscope
Book 4 of 108 · published 1951 Anthology · T.R. Henn
The Varieties of Goodness
Book 5 of 108 · published 1963 Anthology · Georg Henrik von Wright
The Novels of Virginia Woolf
Book 11 of 108 · published 1977 Anthology · Hermione Lee
Marx and the End of Orientalism
Book 13 of 108 · published 1978 Anthology · Bryan S. Turner
Political Manipulation and Administrative Power
Book 14 of 108 · published 1979 Anthology · Eva Etzioni-Halevy
Strategy and Ethnocentrism
Book 15 of 108 · published 1979 Anthology · Ken Booth
A Geography of the Lifeworld
Book 16 of 108 · published 1979 Anthology · David Seamon
The Coherence of Gothic Conventions
Book 17 of 108 · published 1980 Anthology · Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Organisation Theory and Local Government
Book 18 of 108 · published 1980 Anthology · Robert J. Haynes
The Fall and Rise of the Asiatic Mode of Production
Book 21 of 108 · published 1982 Anthology · Stephen P. Dunn
Japanese Ikat Weaving
Book 22 of 108 · published 1982 Anthology · Jun Tomita,Noriko Tomita
Knowledge Elite and the Failure of Prophecy
Book 23 of 108 · published 1985 Anthology · Eva Etzioni-Halevy
The Economics of the Industrial Revolution
Book 25 of 108 · published 1985 Anthology · Joel Mokyr
The Permafrost Environment
Book 26 of 108 · published 1986 Anthology · Stuart A. Harris
Austrian Economics
Book 27 of 108 · published 1986 Anthology · Barry Smith,Wolfgang Grassl
Women and Print Culture
Book 28 of 108 · published 1989 Anthology · Kathryn Shevelow
Liberal Neutrality
Book 29 of 108 · published 1989 Anthology · Robert E. Goodin,Andrew Reeve
Informal and Incidental Learning in the Workplace
Book 32 of 108 · published 1990 Anthology · Victoria J. Marsick
Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples
Book 33 of 108 · published 1991 Anthology · Harrie Kuhnlein
Economic Inequality and Poverty
Book 34 of 108 · published 1991 Anthology · Lars Osberg
Sibyls and Sibylline Prophecy in Classical Antiquity
Book 35 of 108 · published 1992 Anthology · H.W. Parke
A Guide to Children's Reference Books and Multimedia Material
Book 37 of 108 · published 1998 Anthology · Susan Hancock
Interviewing and Deception
Book 38 of 108 · published 1998 Anthology · David Canter,Laurence Alison
Shipboard Life and Organisation, 1731-1815
Book 39 of 108 · published 1998 Anthology · Brian Lavery
Overcoming Child Abuse
Book 40 of 108 · published 1999 Anthology · Michael Freeman
John Knox and the British Reformations
Book 41 of 108 · published 1999 Anthology · Roger A. Mason
Arts, Government and Community Revitalization
Book 42 of 108 · published 1999 Anthology · Javier Stanziola
Battles for the Standard
Book 43 of 108 · published 2000 Anthology · Ted Wilson
Integrated Transport Policy
Book 44 of 108 · published 2000 Anthology · John Preston,Helen Lawton Smith,D.N.M. Starkie
Asia-Europe Cooperation After the 1997-1998 Asian Turbulence
Book 45 of 108 · published 2000 Anthology · Chyungly Lee
Understanding Emotions
Book 46 of 108 · published 2001 Anthology · Peter Goldie
Geography of the 'New' Education Market
Book 47 of 108 · published 2002 Anthology · Chris Taylor
Economic Costs and Consequences of Environmental Regulation
Book 48 of 108 · published 2002 Anthology · Wayne B. Gray
Stalin's British Victims
Book 49 of 108 · published 2004 Anthology · Francis Beckett
The Deconstructive Turn
Book 50 of 108 · published 2010 Anthology · Christopher Norris
The Language of Jane Austen
Book 52 of 108 · published 2011 Anthology · Norman Page
A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages : Volume One 378-1278
Book 54 of 108 · published 2014 Anthology · Charles Oman
Wasting the Rain
Book 55 of 108 · published 2014 Anthology · William M. Adams Adams
The Invention of Scotland
Book 57 of 108 · published 2014 Anthology · Murray Pittock
Spectrum of Decadence
Book 58 of 108 · published 2014 Anthology · Murray Pittock
Trends in Energy Use in Industrial Societies
Book 59 of 108 · published 2015 Anthology · Joy Dunkerley
Grey Wolf-- Mustafa Kemal
Book 60 of 108 · published 2016 Anthology · H.C. Armstrong
From Mathematics to Philosophy
Book 61 of 108 · published 2016 Anthology · Hao Wang
Equity Choices and Long-Term Care Policies in Europe
Book 62 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · August Österle
K-12 Case Studies for School Administrators
Book 63 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · Marcia Norton,Paula E. Lester
The Rape of the Masses
Book 64 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · Serge Chakotin
Achieving Schooling for All in Africa
Book 65 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · Christopher Colclough,Samer Al-Samarrai,Mercy Tembon
The First Emperor of China
Book 66 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · Li Yu-Ning
Explaining Post-Soviet Patchworks
Book 67 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · Klaus Segbers
Origen Against Plato
Book 68 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · Mark Julian Edwards
Faith, Culture and the Dual System
Book 69 of 108 · published 2017 Anthology · Bernadette O'Keeffe
Culture, Politics and Nationalism an the Age of Globalization
Book 70 of 108 · published 2018 Anthology · Reneo Lukić,Michael Brint
Handbook of Teacher Training in Europe
Book 71 of 108 · published 2018 Anthology · Maurice J. Galton,Bob Moon
Psychology and Religious Truth
Book 72 of 108 · published 2018 Anthology · Thomas Hywel Hughes
An Outline of Psychology
Book 74 of 108 · published 2018 Anthology · Willam McDougall
Regionalisation and Integration in China
Book 77 of 108 · published 2018 Anthology · Colin Brown,John Longworth,Scott Waldron
Nationalism and Racism in the Liberal Order
Book 78 of 108 · published 2018 Anthology · Bob Brecher,Jo Halliday
Where Do We Come From? Is Darwin Correct?
Book 80 of 108 · published 2019 Anthology · Herbert Morse
Waltharius and Ruodlieb
Book 81 of 108 · published 2019 Anthology · Dennis Kratz
The Future Air Navigation System
Book 83 of 108 · published 2019 Anthology · Vincent P. Galotti
Transport Policy Problems at National and International Level
Book 84 of 108 · published 2019 Anthology · International Transport Worker's Federation
International Conflict in the Twentieth Century
Book 87 of 108 · published 2021 Anthology · Herbert Butterfield
Introduction to Systems Philosophy
Book 88 of 108 · published 2021 Anthology · Ervin Laszlo
Transport Network Planning
Book 90 of 108 · published 2022 Anthology · Patrick Michael O'Sullivan
The Life and Writings of Giambattista Vico
Book 92 of 108 · published 2023 Anthology · H. P. Adams
A History of Eastern Christianity
Book 94 of 108 · published 2023 Anthology · Aziz S. Atiya
Critical Essays on Jane Austen
Book 95 of 108 · published 2023 Anthology · B C Southam
The Creatures Time Forgot
Book 96 of 108 · published 2023 Anthology · David Hevey
A Handbook of Latin Literature
Book 97 of 108 · published 2023 Anthology · H. J. Rose
Cosmic Humanism and World Unity
Book 98 of 108 · published 2023 Anthology · Oliver L. Reiser
The Treasure of the Copper Scroll
Book 99 of 108 · published 2023 Anthology · John Marco Allegro
The Idea of the Soul
Book 101 of 108 · published 2024 Anthology · William Ellis
The Bach Family
Book 102 of 108 · published 2024 Anthology · Karl Geiringer,Irene Geiringer
Christology and Myth in the New Testament
Book 103 of 108 · published 2025 Anthology · Geraint Vaughan Jones
Philosophy and Human Movement
Book 104 of 108 · published 2025 Anthology · David Best dec'd
Computers into Classrooms
Book 105 of 108 · published 2025 Anthology · Hugh Mackay,John Beynon
Technological Literacy and the Curriculum
Book 106 of 108 · published 2025 Anthology · Hugh Mackay,John Beynon
The Communist Foreign Trade System
Latest in the series · book 108 of 108 · published 2026 Anthology · Frederic L. Pryor
Nutrition
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2012 Anthology · Sarah Brewer
Powers of Ten
Series opener · book 1 of 18 · published 1982 Anthology · Philip Morrison,Phylis Morrison
The Discovery of Subatomic Particles
Book 3 of 18 · published 1983 Anthology · Steven Weinberg
Fossils And The History Of Life
Book 4 of 18 · published 1983 Anthology · George Gaylord Simpson
The Science of Musical Sound
Book 6 of 18 · published 1983 Anthology · John R.Pierce
The Science of Structures and Materials
Book 9 of 18 · published 1988 Anthology · J.E. Gordon
From Quarks to the Cosmos: Tools of Discovery
Book 10 of 18 · published 1989 Anthology · Leon M. Lederman
Signals: The Science of Telecommunications
Book 12 of 18 · published 1990 Anthology · John R.Pierce
Atoms, Electrons, and Change
Book 13 of 18 · published 1991 Anthology · PeterAtkins
Molecules and Mental Illness
Book 14 of 18 · published 1993 Anthology · Samuel Barondes
Mathematics: The Science of Patterns
Book 15 of 18 · published 1994 Anthology · Keith Devlin
On the Shores of the Unknown
Latest in the series · book 18 of 18 · published 2003 Anthology · Joseph Silk
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Vaclav Smil?
Vaclav Smil is a former Distinguished Professor of the University Of Manitoba Winnipeg Faculty Of Environment. Smil went to the Carolinum University’s Faculty of Natural Sciences and then the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences for his graduate studies. He is a man of very many research interests that include economic, energy, population, environmental, food, public policy, and historical policy studies.
Which Vaclav Smil series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Routledge Revivals series, the earliest of Vaclav Smil's multi-book series: it opens with Paradoxes of the Infinite (1851) and runs to 108 books across 1851–2026, ending with The Communist Foreign Trade System (2026). Vaclav Smil's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Vaclav Smil written?
Vaclav Smil has 170 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1851 and 2026. 128 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Routledge Revivals series with 108 books — and 42 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Vaclav Smil's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Vaclav Smil's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Routledge Revivals (1851–2026, 108 books), Scientific American Library (1982–2003, 18 books) and Oneworld Beginners' Guides (2006–2012, 2 books).
How are Vaclav Smil's books organised into series?
This guide splits Vaclav Smil's 170 books into 3 named series and 42 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Routledge Revivals (108 books, 1851–2026); Scientific American Library (18 books, 1982–2003); Oneworld Beginners' Guides (2 books, 2006–2012).