The Grid

As I work in the Utilities field, I appreciated this book a great deal. It is well written and provides an excellent history and overvieww of one of life's present necessities--electricity. This is far from a dry book on what some may take as a dull subject. I really appreciated the historical backgr......more

This book presents an excellent overview of the development of the electrical power grid. I'd have liked more technical detail, but as it was, it was an enjoyable book for a certain kind of person. A certain kind of person being a geek like me. I recommended it so several of my engineer friends, and t......more

What I liked Schewe has a talent for imagining "What if?" about things that the rest of us take for granted. That's useful when investigating something as ubiquitous and invisible as the electric grid. What if we tried to make a power grid out of steam instead of electricity? What was life like befor......more

For many of the two billion people enjoying consistent and adequate wattage, electricity is overlooked and taken for granted. If you can pardon a gawky sense of humor and the adventurous prose, The Grid will fill in the gaps in your understanding of how we make, distribute, and use electricity. Sche......more

n every room there sits a caged beast waiting to cause mischief, but which most of the time is put to honest work, instead. When Thomas Edison began selling electrical service for artificial illumination in the close of the 19th century, did he realize how radically he would transform the world? Ste......more