Power Trip - by Amanda Little (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

After covering the environment and energy beat for more than a decade, columnist Amanda Little decided that the only way to fully understand America's energy crisis was to travel into the heart of it. So she embarked on a daring, cross-country power trip to the most extreme and exciting frontiers of our energy landscape.

In Power Trip, we accompany her to a deep-sea oil rig, the cornfields of Kansas, the catacombs of the Pentagon, the Talladega Superspeedway, and inside New York City's electrical grid. We visit laboratories creating the innovations that will carry us into a clean-energy future. Little also travels back through history to investigate how America developed its unrivaled appetite for fossil fuels. In vivid, fast-paced prose, she illustrates how the same American ingenuity that got us into this mess can get us out of it too.

Review Quotes

"Ambitious and highly readable. . . . [Little] expertly ties together disparate strains of history to make her case. . . . Jargon-free and written with a fine eye for detail-one of the best books on America's energy crisis to emerge in recent years." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Power Trip offers a panoramic view of our energy crisis, exploring past, present, and future with hope, passion and humor. Whether you are liberal or conservative, expert or novice, young or old, you'll find adventure and insight in this book." -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., co-author of Not a Drop to Drink: America's Water Crisis

"Energy is the most important story in the world bar none, and no one has ever told it with more verve than Amanda Little. If you want to know how the world works, and why it may not work much longer, this is the book you need." -- Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

"Power Trip takes a most timely and complicated issue and weaves a fast, fun, and gripping story--one that's both candid and unflinching in its approach. Amanda represents the best of a new young perspective, a new voice of green." -- Robert Redford

"Lively, engaging and most thought-provoking. . . . Little answers the questions that perplex many-and, so importantly, identifies the key questions that only the future will answer." -- Daniel Yergin, Pulitizer Prize-winning author of The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

"A wonderfully illuminating voyage. Little charts a fresh path outside the usual doctrinaire accounts on energy. Her intelligence and enthusiasm will change the way you think about the future." -- Steven Johnson, bestselling author of The Ghost Map and The Invention of Air

"It's hard to imagine a book about energy that would appeal as much to a business executive as it would to an eco-activist-or, for that matter, to a soccer mom, a farmer, a politician or a student. Here it is . . . a must-read for everyone." -- Jim Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Duke Energy

"Charming, fun, and deeply informed, Power Trip is a great way to get a handle on our energy and environmental future. Little talks to the key players across America, digs into the reasons we have so many problems, and finds hope for a better world ahead." -- Congressman Jim Cooper, Nashville, TN

"Combine the historical intrigue of Jared Diamond, the journalistic flare of Tom Wolfe, and the passionate advocacy of Rachel Carson-and you get Power Trip. Amanda Little's multifaceted approach makes this the one book about our energy past and future that everyone should read and all will enjoy." -- Andrew Shapiro, founder and president of GreenOrder