The Powerhouseis a real-time, two-year thrilling account of big invention, big commercialization, and big deception. It exposes the layers of competition and ambition, aspiration and disappointment behind this great turning point in the history of technology.
Steve LeVine is the Washington correspondent for Quartz, where he writes about the geopolitics of energy and technology. He is a Future Tense fellow at the New America Foundation and teaches energy security at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where he is an adjunct professor. He is the author of The Oil and the Glory and Putin's Labyrinth.
“Mr. LeVine provides a fascinating insight into the challenges of
scientific advancement, especially the difficulty of translating
victories in the lab to the demands of the mass market.... Mr.
LeVine has written something like a thriller.... An important story
with world-wide implications.”—Wall Street Journal
“A propulsive techno-saga.”—Nature
“Captivating.... A rollicking good tale.”—Joe Nocera, New York
Times
“With the pace... of a thriller, [LeVine]... reveals how the very
human foibles of scientists and entrepreneurs, as well as
fundamental physics and chemistry, stand in the way of such
efforts, which, if successful, could result in a new global
industry and attendant jobs.”—Scientific American
“LeVine [has] a penchant for dissecting the science side of the
energy industry.”—Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times’s Dot Earth
Blog
“‘Powerhouse’ shows readers how a scientific insight can work its
way slowly into the marketplace, to the point where it becomes
ubiquitous. The book is also packed with the kind of strange,
unexpected history that makes good science writing so
memorable.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“LeVine, who spent two years inside Argonne’s battery-research
unit, captures the sense of growing urgency and competitive drive
among [a] sheltered and sometimes bickering group of tinkerers....
LeVine also provides the authoritative take on the rise and
fall—and perhaps the coming resurrection—of Envia, which has
licensed Argonne’s battery technology in pursuit of its big but
not-fully-baked ambitions.”—Washington Post
“Journalist LeVine (The Oil and the Glory) offers an inside look at
the race among industrialized nations to develop a world-changing
battery technology. The story’s intensity is bolstered by the high
stakes…But LeVine wisely stays focused on the competition as it
unfolds, luring readers into the drama with clear explanations of
the American players involved in both the public and private
sectors.”—Publishers Weekly
“LeVine is a masterful story teller and Powerhouse is a thrilling
read about an innovator’s quest to transform our planet and our
lives. His goal, a revolutionary battery, has the potential to
change everything.” —Peter H. Diamandis, chairman of the X-Prize
Foundation and author of Abundance: The Future is Better Than You
Think
“Steve LeVine has written a fast-paced, engaging account of one of
this young century’s great quests: the search for a technology that
will unleash a dramatic transformation of the world with
blockbuster new industries and culture-changing products. It’s an
amazing story, gripping in its surprising narrative and crowded
with fascinating characters.” —Marcus Brauchli, former Executive
Editor, The Washington Post, and former Managing Editor, The Wall
Street Journal
“Gripping and mind-opening. Filled with astonishing research, The
Powerhouse reads like a thriller. It’s fabulous.” —Amy Chua, Yale
Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The
Triple Package
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