Rating: 
Summary: Coal... a slightly different perspective
Review: A very good account of the history of coal, The author explains the basics, the different types of coal and how they are formed, The book progresses onto early societies and their treatment of the "burning stones". As can be expected the major part of the book is about the industrial revolution and the struggle of cities such as London and Pittsburg to maintain a habital city..The coal industry became "King Coal" and became the industrial lifeblood in many countries. A vital industry over which industrial sectors were formed and labor rights were gained. The Final chapters of the book deal with the pollution problems brought on by the burning coal. Two serious points are brought up;
1) Society can engineer away most of the pollution problems to the point where coal approaches almost perfect combustion. It will result in a much higher cost to utilize coal, and perfect combustion will still leave us with a massive Carbon dioxide output problem. Perhaps accelerating the global warming scenarios
2)The China question, as a large developing nation China is also heavily dependent on coal as a cheap and readily available energy source, and because of China's scarce resources it applies minimal polution control.
This combination does not bode well for the future. This reader thought the material was presented in a very professional manner. It was not a "the sky is falling" type of book. It is in fact a good book to obtain a balanced view. It explains how humans have lived with coal in the past and states that societies may have major decisions to make in the future.
Rating:
Summary: A Well balanced book
Review: A very good account of the history of coal, The author explains the basics, the different types of coal and how they are formed, The book progresses onto early societies and their treatment of the "burning stones". As can be expected the major part of the book is about the industrial revolution and the struggle of cities such as London and Pittsburg to maintain a habital city..The coal industry became "King Coal" and became the industrial lifeblood in many countries. A vital industry over which industrial sectors were formed and labor rights were gained. The Final chapters of the book deal with the pollution problems brought on by the burning coal. Two serious points are brought up;
1) Society can engineer away most of the pollution problems to the point where coal approaches almost perfect combustion. It will result in a much higher cost to utilize coal, and perfect combustion will still leave us with a massive Carbon dioxide output problem. Perhaps accelerating the global warming scenarios
2)The China question, as a large developing nation China is also heavily dependent on coal as a cheap and readily available energy source, and because of China's scarce resources it applies minimal polution control.
This combination does not bode well for the future. This reader thought the material was presented in a very professional manner. It was not a "the sky is falling" type of book. It is in fact a good book to obtain a balanced view. It explains how humans have lived with coal in the past and states that societies may have major decisions to make in the future.
Rating:
Summary: A Well balanced book
Review: A very good account of the history of coal, The author explains the basics, the different types of coal and how they are formed, The book progresses onto early societies and their treatment of the "burning stones". As can be expected the major part of the book is about the industrial revolution and the struggle of cities such as London and Pittsburg to maintain a habital city..The coal industry became "King Coal" and became the industrial lifeblood in many countries. A vital industry over which industrial sectors were formed and labor rights were gained. The Final chapters of the book deal with the pollution problems brought on by the burning coal. Two serious points are brought up;
1) Society can engineer away most of the pollution problems to the point where coal approaches almost perfect combustion. It will result in a much higher cost to utilize coal, and perfect combustion will still leave us with a massive Carbon dioxide output problem. Perhaps accelerating the global warming scenarios
2)The China question, as a large developing nation China is also heavily dependent on coal as a cheap and readily available energy source, and because of China's scarce resources it applies minimal polution control.
This combination does not bode well for the future. This reader thought the material was presented in a very professional manner. It was not a "the sky is falling" type of book. It is in fact a good book to obtain a balanced view. It explains how humans have lived with coal in the past and states that societies may have major decisions to make in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: lively and informative
Review: Barbara Freese has given us a marvelously accessible, general interest book with enough scholarly touches to satisfy academic minds. If you've ever wondered why London had that longtime reputation for "pea soup fogs", read Freese to find out. If you've pondered why England, a small, rainy island lacking many of the amenities of continental European countries,built a world empire and rose to prominence during the Industrial Revolution, read this entertaining history. Freese takes us on a journey through the extraction and uses of coal, and we will even visit a mine in rural China, seen through her sharp yet compassionate eyes.
"Coal: A Human History" deserves the excellent reviews it has received from publications like the New York Times Book Review. May it reach a wide audience both here and abroad. All readers from the age of 10 upward will find absorbing narrative, cleanly and articulately written. Kudoes!
Rating:
Summary: A history of soot, smoke, and power
Review: Barbara Freese's book has it all. It's about an important topic and it's very easy to read. The first few chapters deal with the discovery of coal as fuel, the pollution that resulted, the use of coal to run the British empire, and how coal was dug out of the ground. She describes the industrial revolution, noting that Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine, not James Watt. (Although Watt did make important improvements.)Then she switches over to the US. She describes the coal-mining regions of the Appalachians and the two types of coal. (One burns easier but is dirtier than the other.) Pollution is a key part of the story throughout these chapters. That sets up the final third of the book: coal mining gets automated, alternative fuels are introduced, and the environmental impact of pollution is described. If this is your first book on coal, pollution, or fossil fuel, it won't be your last. Barbara Freese makes the topic very interesting. She whets your appetite for more.
Rating:
Summary: Little Black Book With A Great, Big Punch
Review: Between the covers of this brilliant little black book lie truths hard to stomach for some readers and easier for others. There is no doubt, regardless of the sophistry utilized by its proponents, that coal is POISON on a grand environmental, economic, sociological and epidemiological scale. Its propensity for developing dependency in a culture is akin to what nicoteine and heroin do on an individual level. Ms. Freese, with great scholarship and good will, holds this up for our own appreciation. She paints a seldom seen picture of the truly transformative power of coal in the rise of the industrial nation-state. She also demonstrates coal's ability to make monsters of men in its service. Even the medieval English Roman Church was in the "brimstone" business, only relinquishing power when Henry VIII boldly divested it from the monks. In the modern era, particularly in America, Ms. Freese, in relatively few words, shows us the devastating effects of coal on our country, as well as the lengths that corporations hopelessly addicted to it (think: Sid Vicious and heroin) will go in justifying the continuing, deliberate poisoning of America, Canada and others in the name of coal. Here in West Virginia, where overloaded monster coal trucks almost monthly kill innocents in their bid to get another ton from Point A to Point B; where majestic mountains millions of years old are levelled for a few meager tons of coal, the Industry has hired a beloved former football coach to enourage others to be "Friends of Coal." And the masses are signing up. They may be Friends of Coal, but in any analysis, as Ms. Freese so succinctly and eloquently points out, coal is no friend of theirs, no friend of ours, no friend of yours. As the industry touts in its latest ad campaign here: "COAL: It keeps the lights on." Sure it does. In the nation's funeral homes.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: Coal doesn't leap to one's mind as a terribly interesting topic, now does it? This book, however, proves fascinating from start to finish. It depicts the commodity's influence on human survival, suffering, and industrial growth in a captivating presentation. Looking at coal's history provides fresh insights into parts of history we're already familiar with. I've literally lost sleep over this book - couldn't put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: Coaldust
Review: Freese does a middling job with Coal: A Human History. The first part was well-written, certainly well-researched, and included many interesting facts about coal. The text takes a tangent in the latter half, however. Her critique is really an unsuccessful attempt to explore the effects of coal to contemporary material and cultural history - which is implied in her title. For example, when earlier she shares historical quotes of the sublime quality of coal fogs in urban areas and its modern allure, later she critiques its negative environmental impacts without engaging these earlier anecdotes - there's a troubling disconnect in her analysis between past and present. Freese has spliced a valid contemporary environmental critique onto a strong historical look at the effects of our relationship to coal on cultural and industrial development. I should direct my critique at her editors because she is an excellent writer and supports her theses well. I believe readers would be better served with two pieces - a more fully explored environmental history of coal, and a follow-up companion treatise on the contemporary situation.
Rating:
Summary: world history at its best and worst
Review: From ancient times of 200 BC to the 2003 dilemma of global warming, Barbara Freese holds your interest in the gift of coal and its curse. I found her writing mesmerizing like Rachel Carson's, full of scientific fact with cultural dimensions throughout history and on every continent. From the burning of lungs while cycling across town in China to the child slaves used in coal mines all over made this history hard to stop reading. A must read to help understand our world environment and why the US needs to be a participant in leading. Hope President Bush and Condi Rice read it!
Rating:
Summary: Well-written and comprehensive
Review: From the premise that coal is stored solar energy, Barbara Freese examines the role that coal has taken in the development of human history. She manages to lay out the "connections" between the discovery and exploitation of this resourse and the resulting economic, social, and political changes. All this is done in a very readable format. The only mild criticism I can assign is that, toward the end of the book, she looks to the future and projects what the ultimate result of all this may be. To be fair, that analysis completes the "history" she sets out to profile, and is obviously the point of the book. However, the projection is not nearly as fascinating as the history. When I have loaned this book to friends, my advice has been to read as long as it interests you, and then put it away without guilt. It will be well worth the read, no matter how far you go.
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