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The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World Kindle Edition

by Phillip F. Schewe (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 50 ratings
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The electrical grid goes everywhere—it's the largest and most complex machine ever made. Yet the system is built in such a way that the bigger it gets, the more inevitable its collapse.

Named the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century by the National Academy of Engineering, the electrical grid is the largest industrial investment in the history of humankind. It reaches into your home, snakes its way to your bedroom, and climbs right up into the lamp next to your pillow. At times, it almost seems alive, like some enormous circulatory system that pumps life to big cities and the most remote rural areas.

Constructed of intricately interdependent components, the grid operates on a rapidly shrinking margin for error. Things can—and do—go wrong in this system, no matter how many preventive steps we take. Just look at the colossal 2003 blackout, when 50 million Americans lost power due to a simple error at a power plant in Ohio; or the one a month later, which blacked out 57 million Italians. And these two combined don't even compare to the 2001 outage in India, which affected 226 million people.

The Grid is the first history of the electrical grid intended for general readers, and it comes at a time when we badly need such a guide. As we get more and more dependent on electricity to perform even the most mundane daily tasks, the grid's inevitable shortcomings will take a toll on populations around the globe. At a moment when energy issues loom large on the nation's agenda and our hunger for electricity grows, The Grid is as timely as it is compelling.
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0309102605
  2. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  3. Publisher
    Joseph Henry Press
  4. Publication date
    February 20, 2007
  5. Language
    English
  6. File size
    1058 KB
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With an appreciation of the technical ingenuity, human drama and cultural impact of the electrical grid, physicist and playwright Schewe illuminates how electricity has catalyzed both the best and worst of modernity since Thomas Edison devised the first electrical network in 1882. Even as the grid delivered light and mechanization, foremost minds like Westinghouse, Tesla and Insull continued to refine it, creating a society totally dependent on its invisible wonders. In the 1965 Northeast blackout, for example, New York shut down for lack of a product that barely existed half a century before. The grid's complexity demands predictability, Schewe shows, but even a minor short circuit can trigger a systemwide avalanche. Peppering his narrative with quotations from cultural critics Lewis Mumford and Henry David Thoreau, he argues that, economically, "we can't afford to throw away two-thirds" of energy as waste, and explains how nuclear and renewable resources can reduce pollution. Schewe also explores how Africa and Asia's dearth of electricity affects the participation of impoverished people in society. Though the final chapter on how astronauts took energy with them to the moon seems unnecessary, overall Schewe crafts an entertaining narrative with enlightening scientific and historical detail.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Phillip F. Schewe, in his eclectic survey of the past century, casts a perceptive eye on how that momentous transformation came about, and where it may heading." -- Natural History, April

"This is the first book to describe the remarkable history of a hidden matrix that rules the industrialized world, is invisible when it is working, and is taken for granted by almost everyone who uses it. Anyone who has ever wondered what happens when you plug a toaster into an electrical outlet will find this book as illuminating as the billions of lights the grid powers every day. As energy demands continue to rise in political significance, general readers will find the perspective offered by this book particularly useful." -- Lawrence M. Krauss, author of The Physics of Star Trek, and, Hiding in the Mirror

"This wonderfully written story of the electricity industry's remarkable history is a prerequisite for understanding its challenges and opportunities today... a very fun read." -- Amory B. Lovins, CEO, Rocky Mountain Institute

"What Thoreau did for Walden Pond, Schewe has done for The Grid. At last, a subject too often chronicled by dry institutional histories has found its bard. It's fun to read and vividly told." -- Keay Davidson, author of Carl Sagan: A Life

"The Grid is the most complex machine ever built and it has had the greatest impact on our quality of life of any technological advancement. Yet, few people understand the Grid and recognize it as the power delivery system that brings electricity to our homes and businesses. Phillip Schewe does a masterful job of recounting the Grid's history and some of the many challenges it now faces." -- Clark Gellings, Vice President, Innovation Electric Power Research Institute

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004S79OSA
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joseph Henry Press (February 20, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 20, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1058 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 318 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 50 ratings

About the author

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Phillip F. Schewe

Phillip F. Schewe

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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
50 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Harrison Holmes
5.0 out of 5 stars Plug into the Grid... there's more to it than your light switch
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2015
Verified Purchase
I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend and knowledge of Mr. Schewe gained from a guy I know who knows Schewe as a friend. On our farm we had a Delco 32 volt DC/110 volt AC generating system ... 32 volts available all the time for lighting and a few special table fans; 110 volts available only when the generator was running. When we finally got commercial electric power everything changed almost overnight. We were out Rialto Road from Yazoo City, Mississippi, which had it's own steam generating plant. There was no "grid" to supply Yazoo City if the plant had serious problems. Greenwood also had it's own generating plant. That seemed to be the norm. Now move ahead seventy years. Both Yazoo City, Greenwood and the area where our Rialto Plantation had been located are now on the Grid.

Schewe's book will enlighten you with facts you never considered. You'll discover just where the energy that lights your home originates. You'll discover that much of the electrification of North America was and is conducted by private enterprise. Government sponsored projects such as TVA and Hoover Dam have played major roles.

If you think this book might not interest you, think again! Within the first few pages you'll find it interesting. After the first chapter you'll take it to work with you. It's good material for conversation and to fill your ever growing quest for knowledge.

I have found a few instances where I would have changed the wording for clarity... but that's just my opinion and does not detract from the overall message.
3 people found this helpful
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charles peterson
3.0 out of 5 stars Misleading Title. OK Book.
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
A mis-titled book, The Grid is more a survey of American electrification than it is an explanation of the Grid itself.

As a historical survey, this book is generally interesting and informative. In fact, the coverage of the 1965 Northeast power outage is pretty gripping. The section on the TVA was also quite interesting.

Even the best parts though are marred by the author's overly enthusiastic writing style. Sometimes it works, but in general, he uses too many rhetorical questions and too many "cutesy" comparisons and descriptions. It often feels like he is talking to a class of third graders.

I felt the book really lost steam in the later chapters with too much reverence for Amory Lovins and excessive emphasis on "green" initiatives.

Overall, the book is an easy and informative read, but certainly not great. And finally, don"t expect to learn much about what the grid is or how it (or electricity itself) actually works.
One person found this helpful
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Frederick S. Goethel
5.0 out of 5 stars A Shockingly Well Written Book on the History of Electricity
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2007
Verified Purchase
Electricity is one of those things I never understood. I have worked around it in some capacity for years, as a fire protection engineer, but I never figured out how power got from the generators sets to the grids and then into homes, businesses and the like. And, I never really understood how AC worked or why one system was better than any other. I had a year of physics in college, and yet when electricity was described I glazed over.

Although the author himself points out that it would be impossible to put the entire history of electricity into a single volume, he does a wonderful job of beginning with the basics and explaining them so anybody can understand the subject. From the initial small grid on Pearl Street in New York to today's mammoth interconnected grids covering huge areas, the book examines and reflects on how it was built and how it operates in the world then and today.

We start the look at the grid in the middle of the black out that struck the East Coast in 2003 and then revert back to the beginning with Edison. Following Edison comes, Tesla, Westinghouse, Insull, Lilienthal and every other major player in electricity to current time. The author also covers all of the major events and a few less major ones as well. He even has a side trip to Russia during Lenin's time to examine how the grid was formed under Communist rule.

The book is fascinating in content and wonderfully written. The author has a unique ability to describe otherwise boring information and make it come alive. He also has an interesting sense of humor, and plants his tongue firmly in his cheek on more than one occasion. This book is history at its best, and I look forward to reading more of the work of this author. This is highly recommended for all!
13 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Learning Each Day
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2014
Verified Purchase
This was a true learning experience for me. I had no idea how the grid functioned, was designed or survived daily onslaught. My only suggestion for a new edition would be to add commentary, in depth, of the effects of alternative energy sourcing and the intermittency challenges that result.
I have learned, as an author, how to use the interview technique to introduce new concepts. Thank you!
One person found this helpful
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bevdig
1.0 out of 5 stars badly written
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2013
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There are so many things wrong with this book it's a wonder I haven't asked for my money back. The writing is terrible, with the narrative wondering in all sorts of weird directions, and barely coherent in spots. I am surprised the publisher even accepted the manuscript; it is childish in an attempt to come across as serious and philosophical. I found myself skipping passages--always a bad sign.
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Jim W.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent if you like popularizers of science..
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2019
Verified Purchase
Though I liked his book Maverick Genius I almost didn’t buy this one as some of the reviews were so scathing. Fortunately I read the description of the book so my expectations were met. I enjoy books by Sagan, Gould, de Grasse Tyson, Pinker, Hazen, Livio, Ferris, Mukherjee, Dawkins and others who can write about very complicated subjects that are accessible to the non scientist. It can be an enlightening experience with no other purpose beyond your own self fulfillment. I couldn’t understand a book filled with flow charts, equations and a deep background in physics. I wouldn’t attempt to read a paper by Schewe or any of these other authors that were written for their colleagues. If that’s your interest you might look at the footnotes in the book for a purer scientific explanation. If it’s for your own pleasure for a subject you enjoy but have no expertise in you might give this one a try.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Brian Roland Gaulke
3.0 out of 5 stars Okay
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2017
Verified Purchase
Basically, I should have read the description more carefully. I mistook this book for another similarly named book. As it stands, though, I found the author's writing style somewhat off-putting. He tends to use unusual phrasing and language. Also, the overall organization of the book is not as good as it could be.
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