Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper

How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong

De: Robert Bryce

Narrado por: Steven Menasche

In the face of today’s environmental and economic challenges, doomsayers preach that the only way to stave off disaster is for humans to reverse course: To de-industrialize, re-localize, ban the use of modern energy sources, and forswear prosperity. But in this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more abundant energy, Faster computing, Lighter vehicles, and myriad other goods. That same desire is fostering unprecedented prosperity, greater liberty, and yes, better environmental protection.

Utilizing on-the-ground reporting from Ottawa to Panama City and Pittsburgh to Bakersfield, Bryce shows how we have, for centuries, been pushing for Smaller Faster solutions to our problems. From the vacuum tube, mass-produced fertilizer, and the printing press to mobile phones, nanotech, and advanced drill rigs, Bryce demonstrates how cutting-edge companies and breakthrough technologies have created a world in which people are living longer, freer, healthier, lives than at any time in human history.

The push toward Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is happening across multiple sectors. Bryce profiles innovative individuals and companies, from long-established ones like Ford and Intel to upstarts like Aquion Energy and Khan Academy. And he zeroes in on the energy industry, proving that the future belongs to the high power density sources that can provide the enormous quantities of energy the world demands.

The tools we need to save the planet aren’t to be found in the technologies or lifestyles of the past. Nor must we sacrifice prosperity and human progress to ensure our survival. The catastrophists have been wrong since the days of Thomas Malthus. This is the time to embrace the innovators and businesses all over the world who are making things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper.

©2015 Robert Bryce (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Packed With Useful Information

Would you consider the audio edition of Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper to be better than the print version?

I do not own the print version. I imagine the print version's footnotes would be handy for someone who wanted to dig deeper on the numbers.

What other book might you compare Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper to and why?

It has up to date information on a variety of subjects, full of solid numbers that are given greater meaning when dropped into their respective historical contexts. Its a blending of a credible magazine like Scientific American and a sober history text for each topic.

Have you listened to any of Stephen Menasche’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. He captured the tone of the writing.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was astonished at times. Challenged, incredulous, even a little angry at others. And I had a few great laughs.

Any additional comments?

Aside from gaining a handle on the state of a lot of the newest innovation, its well worth the read/listen to get a more sober perspective on the great energy debate. With so much hyperbole and wish-based thinking (on both sides, from the technoutopians to the basically anti-human growth crowd) it was nice to have something grounded in the physics.

Best Energy Path to the Future

Would you consider the audio edition of Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper to be better than the print version?

Some aspects of the print version are better. I could not find any PDF with the audible version and there are a number of graphs in the book that could use a printable copy.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There are many people quoted, but the author is telling the story himself and is the only one with more that one dimension

What about Stephen Menasche’s performance did you like?

He did a great job.He has a good sense of the meaning of what he is saying.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was surprised by the number of topics in the book since I have read a book by the author before. I was really looking for his reasoning about why to go N2N. So when he had mentioned over and over again that wind can't help I was happy to reach the energy part where he identified the problems and prospects for nuclear. In particular the quotes from several environmentalits supporting nuclear after the Foucoshima event. Of course I needed to know how he arrived at and what position he took on global warming.

Any additional comments?

Author Robert Bryce admits that he cannot properly evaluate the models used in predicting global warming(he is concerned that no one else can do it). He, however, then tells how we need to recognize that wind is a very poor source except for remote locations. To meet the needs of the worlds future growth in energy demand he sees natural gas and nuclear power.(his N2N). He has collected many quotes for both sides of his story, many of which give deep insight into the question.

That's what I have been saying.

I have had a sense of what this book is about, and have been arguing it's case since the 80's. It is wonderful to here it all laid out with facts and figures. Listening to this book has been a sanity saver and a thought promoter.

Affirmation

Read most of this book on the 4th of July, after having put it off for quite a while. So glad I did. With all of our social problems and continuous “renewables will save everything” rhetoric, I needed an affirmation of reality. The facts are still the facts. How reassuring.

Title should be Debunk the myths!

What made the experience of listening to Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper the most enjoyable?

The data behind all the assertions.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Author

What does Stephen Menasche bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Emotion and appropriate skepticism and emphasis in the right places.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

see my title/headline

Any additional comments?

should be a must-read for all high school kids, to actually educate them on the 'reality' of energy, science and technology, and what it ACTUALLY has done for mankind!

I thought I was getting a book on the future.

Instead I got a chronicle of smaller, faster, lighter, cheaper things, the vast majority of which I had already known about. A complete waste of my time and money.