<p>How Canada helped Britain finance the war effort.</p>

Canada and the Cost of World War II: The International Operations of Canada's Department of Finance, 1939-1947 (Carleton Library)

Business & Money

Bryce, Robert

International

McGill-Queen's University Press

<p><b>Historically, it was guns, germs, and steel that determined the fates of people and nations. Now, more than ever, it is electricity.</b> <div><br /> <br /> Global demand for power is doubling every two decades, but electricity remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to supply and do so reliably. Today, some three billion people live in places where per-capita electricity use is less than what's used by an average American refrigerator. How we close the colossal gap between the electricity rich and the electricity poor will determine our success in addressing issues like women's rights, inequality, and climate change.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In <i>A Question of Power</i>, veteran journalist Robert Bryce tells the human story of electricity, the world's most important form of energy. Through onsite reporting from India, Iceland, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, New York, and Colorado, he shows how our cities, our money--our very lives--depend on reliable flows of electricity. He highlights the factors needed for successful electrification and explains why so many people are still stuck in the dark.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>With vivid writing and incisive analysis, he powerfully debunks the notion that our energy needs can be met solely with renewables and demonstrates why--if we are serious about addressing climate change--nuclear energy must play a much bigger role.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Electricity has fueled a new epoch in the history of civilization. <i>A Question of Power</i> explains how that happened and what it means for our future.</div></p>

A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations

Economics

PublicAffairs

<p>If, in the ancient world, it was guns and germs and steel that determined the fates of people and nations, in modern times it is electricity. No other form of power translates into affluence and influence like it. Though demand for it is growing exponentially, it remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to supply and to do so reliably. Storage is even harder. This paradox has shaped global politics, affected the outcome of wars, and underlies the growing chasm between rich and poor, educated and uneducated. It is changing the game for business, and the requirements of national defence. It is altering the landscape and complicating the task of dealing effectively with climate change.In this book, Robert Bryce explains the unique nature of electricity as a commodity. He draws on stories from history to illustrate the stunning impact of our quest to harness it, illuminates exactly what is required to successfully sustain it, and explores the impact on societies and individuals when it collapses.As billions of people around the world still live in darkness, the gap between the electricity haves and have-nots widens, with profound political and ethical consequences. Modern life, even civilisation, has become ever more dependent on a source of energy that must be produced locally and in the moment, in a reliably steady stream at particular wattage, conveyed on wires strung on poles or threaded through pipes. If the lights go out, so does our manner of living, with potentially devastating consequences.</p>

Biography & History

<p>Enron. The word has become synonymous with excess, avarice, and Wall Street skullduggery. It wasn't always so. Once upon a time, Enron was a stable, profitable company with some of the best energy assets in the world. But in the late 1990s, the company changed.<br>Surely you've heard about some of Enron's convoluted deals and nefarious accounting practices. But what hasn't been explained is Why? Why did this once-thriving, innovative company with rock-solid cash flow suddenly implode? The answer, Texas business journalist Robert Bryce reveals in this book, is that bad business practices begin with human beings.<br>Pipe Dreams is not your typical boring business book. It's a gossipy, funny, irreverent analysis of Why Enron Failed. It traces Enron's transformation from a small regional gas pipeline company into an energy Goliath...and then tracks step-by-step, business decision by business decision, extra-marital affair by extra-marital affair, how Enron's leaders were corrupted. Based on interviews with more than 200 current and former Enron employees, as well as Wall Street analysts and dozens of company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pipe Dreams tells the inside story of the greed, sex, and excess that strangled the seventh-largest corporation in America. It contains profiles of the company's key miscreants, including Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Andrew Fastow, and Lou Pai, the secretive trading whiz who sold more stock - $270 million worth - than any Enron executive. There's also a devastating profile of Rebecca Mark, a largely-ignored player in the Enron saga, whose bad deals in India and the water business cost investors $2 billion.</p>

Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron

Ivins, Molly

<p>No other province holds more political and economic power than the Lone Star State. Two of the last three American presidents—and three of the last eight—have been Texans. Each of them got to the White House by exploiting a network of money and power that no other state can match.<br><br> In <i>Cronies</i>, renowned investigative reporter Robert Bryce illuminates how Texas turned its vast energy resources into political power, and how a small group of Texas corporations, lawyers and politicians use that power to protect and defend their own economic interests. Through an absorbing narrative that moves from the days of the oil boom, through the rise and reign of LBJ, to today, Bryce profiles the Texans and the Texas corporations who have wielded—and continue to wield—great power in America's domestic and foreign policy, including the Bushes, James A. Baker III, Halliburton, Baker Botts, Ray Hunt, Bell Helicopter, and more. He shows how massive transfers of wealth from the rest of the country to Texas have allowed the state to prosper. <i>Cronies</i> demonstrates how George W. Bush is the living embodiment of Texas' crony networks, and how those networks continue to play critical roles in the 21st century.<br><br> Distinguished by the same crack investigative skills and colorful storytelling that reviewers loved in <i>Pipe Dreams</i>, <i>Cronies</i> not only explains the astonishing rise of Texas; it offers a timely, provocative new way to look at American politics and our deadly entanglements in Iraq.</p>

Cronies: Oil, The Bushes, And The Rise Of Texas, America's Superstate

History

Americas

<p>After the shocking collapse of Enron in fall, 2001 came an equally shocking series of disclosures about how America's seventh-largest company had destroyed itself. There were unethical deals, offshore accounts, and accounting irregularities. There were Wall Street analysts who seemed to have been asleep on the job. There were the lies top executives told so that they could line their own pockets while workers and shareholders lost billions. <br><br> But after all these disclosures, the question remains: Why? Why did a thriving, innovative company with rock-solid cash flow and reliable earnings suddenly flame out in a maelstrom of corruption, fraud and skulduggery? The answer, Texas business journalist Robert Bryce reveals in this incisive and entertaining book, is that bad business practices begin with human beings. Pipe Dreams traces Enron's astounding transformation from a small regional gas pipeline company into an energy Goliath...and then tracks step-by-step, business decision by business decision, extra-marital affair by extra-marital affair, how, when and why the culture of Enron began to go rotten, and who was responsible. <br><br> The story of Enron's fall isn't just a story about accounting procedures; it's a story about people. Bryce tells that story with all the personality, passion, humor, and inside dope you'd hope for, and the result is an un-putdownable read in the tradition of <i>Barbarians at the Gate</i> and <i>The Predators' Ball.</i></p>

Cronies: How Texas Business Became American Policy-- and Brought Bush to Power

Education & Reference

<p>Everybody is talking about energy independence.” But is it really achievableor even desirable? In this controversial, meticulously researched book, Robert Bryce exposes the false promises and political posturing behind the rhetoric. <i>Gusher of Lies</i> explains why the idea of energy independence appeals to voters while also showing that renewable sources like wind and solar cannot meet America's growing energy demand. Along the way, Bryce exposes the ethanol scam as one of the longest-running robberies ever perpetrated on American taxpayers. In a new foreword to this edition, he shows how energy independence rhetoric was used during the 2008 election, even as the heavily subsidized ethanol business fueled a growing global food crisis.</p>

Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of ""Energy Independence""

<p>The promise of green jobs” and a clean energy future” has roused the masses. But as Robert Bryce makes clear in this provocative book, that vision needs a major re-vision. We cannotand will notquit using carbon-based fuels at any time in the near future for a simple reason: they provide the horsepower that we crave. The hard reality is that oil, coal, and natural gas are here to stay.</p>
<p>Fueling our society requires more than sentiment and rhetoric; we need to make good decisions and smart investments based on facts. In <i>Power Hungry</i>, Bryce provides a supertanker-load of footnoted facts while shepherding readers through basic physics and math. And with the help of a panoply of vivid graphics and tables, he crushes a phalanx of energy myths, showing why renewables are not green, carbon capture and sequestration won't work, and evensurprise!that the U.S. is leading the world in energy efficiency. He also charts the amazing growth of the fuels of the future: natural gas and nuclear.</p>
<p><i>Power Hungry</i> delivers a clear-eyed view of what America has in the tank,” and what's needed to transform the gargantuan global energy sector.</p>

Power Hungry: The Myths of ""Green"" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future

<p>The promise of "green jobs" and a "clean energy future" has roused the masses. But as Robert Bryce makes clear in this provocative book, that vision needs a major re-vision. We cannot--and will not--quit using carbon-based fuels at any time in the near future for a simple reason: they provide the horsepower that we crave. The hard reality is that oil, coal, and natural gas are here to stay. </p>
<p>Fueling our society requires that we make good decisions and smart investments based on facts. In <i>Power Hungry</i>, Bryce crushes a phalanx of energy myths, showing why renewables are not green, carbon capture and sequestration won't work, and even--surprise!--that the U.S. is leading the world in energy efficiency. <i>Power Hungry</i> delivers a clear-eyed view of what's needed to transform the gargantuan global energy sector.</p>

Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bryce, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bryce, Robert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bryce, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Canada and the Cost of World War II: The International Operations of Canada's Department of Finance, 1939-1947 (Carleton Library)

A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations

A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations

Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron

Cronies: Oil, The Bushes, And The Rise Of Texas, America's Superstate

Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron

Cronies: How Texas Business Became American Policy-- and Brought Bush to Power

Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of ""Energy Independence""

Power Hungry: The Myths of ""Green"" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future

Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future