# Book - Energy and Civilization, a History ## Metadata - Author: [[Vaclav Smil]] - Full Title: Energy and Civilization, a History - Category: #books ## Highlights - In every instance considered, natural selection will so operate as to increase the total mass of the organic system, to increase the rate of circulation of matter through the system, and to increase the total energy flux through the system so long as there is present an unutilized residue of matter and available energy” (Lotka 1922, 148). ([Page 8](https://www.google.com/url?q=http://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec%3Dfrontcover%26output%3Dreader%26id%3DV8fLJwAAAEAJ%26source%3Dbooks-notes-export%26pg%3DGBS.PA8.w.0.0.0.4&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1646556727670351&usg=AOvVaw00PRgmFxOthKvRTisR9YIs)) - The availability of power sources determines the amount of work activity that can exist, and control of these power flows determines the power in man’s affairs and in his relative influence on nature” (Odum 1971, 43). ([Page 9](https://www.google.com/url?q=http://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec%3Dfrontcover%26output%3Dreader%26id%3DV8fLJwAAAEAJ%26source%3Dbooks-notes-export%26pg%3DGBS.PA9.w.0.0.0.3&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1646556727673606&usg=AOvVaw2o8PDmdTsml1itxZ1stGdp)) - What we do know is that all matter is energy at rest, that energy manifests itself in a multitude of ways, and that these distinct energy forms are linked by numerous conversions, many of them universal, ubiquitous, and incessant, others highly localized, infrequent, and ephemeral (fig. 1.1). ([Page 11](https://www.google.com/url?q=http://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec%3Dfrontcover%26output%3Dreader%26id%3DV8fLJwAAAEAJ%26source%3Dbooks-notes-export%26pg%3DGBS.PA11.w.0.0.0.1&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1646556727677415&usg=AOvVaw0UEGhTSlOfRYUgoLeCWY1j))