The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World Hardcover – International Edition, February 20, 2007

I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend and knowledge of Mr. Schewe gained from a guy I know who knows Schewe as a friend. On our farm we had a Delco 32 volt DC/110 volt AC generating system ... 32 volts available all the time for lighting and a few special table fans; 110 volts available only when the generator was running. When we finally got commercial electric power everything changed almost overnight. We were out Rialto Road from Yazoo City, Mississippi, which had it's own steam generating plant. There was no "grid" to supply Yazoo City if the plant had serious problems. Greenwood also had it's own generating plant. That seemed to be the norm. Now move ahead seventy years. Both Yazoo City, Greenwood and the area where our Rialto Plantation had been located are now on the Grid.Schewe's book will enlighten you with facts you never considered. You'll discover just where the energy that lights your home originates. You'll discover that much of the electrification of North America was and is conducted by private enterprise. Government sponsored projects such as TVA and Hoover Dam have played major roles.If you think this book might not interest you, think again! Within the first few pages you'll find it interesting. After the first chapter you'll take it to work with you. It's good material for conversation and to fill your ever growing quest for knowledge.I have found a few instances where I would have changed the wording for clarity... but that's just my opinion and does not detract from the overall message.

A mis-titled book, The Grid is more a survey of American electrification than it is an explanation of the Grid itself.As a historical survey, this book is generally interesting and informative. In fact, the coverage of the 1965 Northeast power outage is pretty gripping. The section on the TVA was also quite interesting.Even the best parts though are marred by the author's overly enthusiastic writing style. Sometimes it works, but in general, he uses too many rhetorical questions and too many "cutesy" comparisons and descriptions. It often feels like he is talking to a class of third graders.I felt the book really lost steam in the later chapters with too much reverence for Amory Lovins and excessive emphasis on "green" initiatives.Overall, the book is an easy and informative read, but certainly not great. And finally, don"t expect to learn much about what the grid is or how it (or electricity itself) actually works.

Electricity is one of those things I never understood. I have worked around it in some capacity for years, as a fire protection engineer, but I never figured out how power got from the generators sets to the grids and then into homes, businesses and the like. And, I never really understood how AC worked or why one system was better than any other. I had a year of physics in college, and yet when electricity was described I glazed over.Although the author himself points out that it would be impossible to put the entire history of electricity into a single volume, he does a wonderful job of beginning with the basics and explaining them so anybody can understand the subject. From the initial small grid on Pearl Street in New York to today's mammoth interconnected grids covering huge areas, the book examines and reflects on how it was built and how it operates in the world then and today.We start the look at the grid in the middle of the black out that struck the East Coast in 2003 and then revert back to the beginning with Edison. Following Edison comes, Tesla, Westinghouse, Insull, Lilienthal and every other major player in electricity to current time. The author also covers all of the major events and a few less major ones as well. He even has a side trip to Russia during Lenin's time to examine how the grid was formed under Communist rule.The book is fascinating in content and wonderfully written. The author has a unique ability to describe otherwise boring information and make it come alive. He also has an interesting sense of humor, and plants his tongue firmly in his cheek on more than one occasion. This book is history at its best, and I look forward to reading more of the work of this author. This is highly recommended for all!

This was a true learning experience for me. I had no idea how the grid functioned, was designed or survived daily onslaught. My only suggestion for a new edition would be to add commentary, in depth, of the effects of alternative energy sourcing and the intermittency challenges that result.I have learned, as an author, how to use the interview technique to introduce new concepts. Thank you!

There are so many things wrong with this book it's a wonder I haven't asked for my money back. The writing is terrible, with the narrative wondering in all sorts of weird directions, and barely coherent in spots. I am surprised the publisher even accepted the manuscript; it is childish in an attempt to come across as serious and philosophical. I found myself skipping passages--always a bad sign.

Though I liked his book Maverick Genius I almost didn’t buy this one as some of the reviews were so scathing. Fortunately I read the description of the book so my expectations were met. I enjoy books by Sagan, Gould, de Grasse Tyson, Pinker, Hazen, Livio, Ferris, Mukherjee, Dawkins and others who can write about very complicated subjects that are accessible to the non scientist. It can be an enlightening experience with no other purpose beyond your own self fulfillment. I couldn’t understand a book filled with flow charts, equations and a deep background in physics. I wouldn’t attempt to read a paper by Schewe or any of these other authors that were written for their colleagues. If that’s your interest you might look at the footnotes in the book for a purer scientific explanation. If it’s for your own pleasure for a subject you enjoy but have no expertise in you might give this one a try.

Basically, I should have read the description more carefully. I mistook this book for another similarly named book. As it stands, though, I found the author's writing style somewhat off-putting. He tends to use unusual phrasing and language. Also, the overall organization of the book is not as good as it could be.