Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 More On Auto Industry History than Alternative Fueled Cars June 26, 2008
I expected to see more on the technologies competing to replace gasoline as the power source for cars in this book. it is really more about how the world auto industry reached its current state than the merits of the alternative technologies and forecasting which will prevail. Still, if you read it, you will gain good background for understanding what's in the media stories about the auto industry, particularly why the US big three have been losing out to Toyota and Honda.
Zooms at the end April 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Vijay's "Power to the people" was a pioneering work in highlighting the various issues including geo-political tensions, pollution, and the immediate need to find an alternate substitute for oil (My 5 star rating for this book on [...]). Since then, in direct correlation with and also perhaps in anger against the rise in oil prices, particularly the world's dependence on Middle East oil, several books have been published in the last 5 years. America and the Automobile that were once described as " The Siamese Twins" and Automobiles that was once hailed as "the Industry of Industries" suddenly became the sinner of them all. Emotions and rhetoric apart, facts need to be analyzed with a view to the future. This book scores well on this count.
The fact that the US Automobile companies have almost lost their race to "imports" particularly from Japan is no longer a secret. The path breaking MIT research that led to the excellent tome "The Machine that Changed the World" by Womack et al, gave a surgical 3 D view of the Japanese strengths that Uncle Sam could not emulate till date. Thanks of course for the money well spent on the project.
I do not understand why the authors have to take us back in history to narrate the old story again and again when we have well written books and reports on this topic.
Coming to the point, I expected the book to straight get into the topic (as I had expected from the title) "The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future". More than anything else, most of the book is about the past, without concrete conclusions or inferences about the future.
Many of the technologies, names of Companies doing research on Hydrogen Fuel Cells and other concepts are repeated from "Power to the people". In fact I got a little impatient till about two thirds of the book till which I came across nothing original except quotes from many well known publications and books published in the last 5 years.
At his point in time I could reflect on some of the best books that have done original work on the topic of Oil and the US Auto Industry.
-The End of Detroit by Michelin Maynard
-The End of Oil by Paul Roberts
-Twilight in the Desert - Matt Simmons
-Addicted to Oil - Ian Rutledge (A classic completely missed out in this book. I strongly recommend this book for your intellectual stimulation.)
Throughout the book, I remembered King Hubert, who had rightly forecast that oil will soon reach its peak output, at least on this planet. As I was reading the book, Oil had touched $[...], a new record.
Criticisms apart, the book has its own merits.
-Excellent read for those who want an overview of the Automobile Industry- Past, present and future.
-Non technical and easy to comprehend
-You are alone on a long train journey in a desert, and have nothing else to do.
-The last few chapters try discussing new technologies and you know nothing about technology.
Amidst this confusion Toyota leads the way in Hybrids. But if we are to apply the core concept of "The Innovators Dilemma" by Prof. Clayton Christen of Harvard Business School, incumbents may not be the winners in launching the car of the future. Keep "Googling" to find out who can give us the solution for a clean and green future!!
Good luck to those who have bought the book.
 Some good information, but doubts linger about accuracy March 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Zoom: the Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future" is a pretty good book. It reads much like a history lesson on oil, cars, and energy in general. I found that a bit over much as I was wanting to look more ahead to solutions, rather than rehash the mistakes and things of the past. Also I found some of the information rather sloppy. For example in several places the author makes reference to the EV1, the car GM created and then refused to sell to consumers. They only leased it. Yet on page 287 of "Zoom" the author writes, "...EV1, the sleek, all-electric car that was sold only in California..." How many other of these types of infractions are in the writing? Since I am not an auto engineer, I can only speculate, but it did make me wonder about the rest of the book. Nonetheless, the book does have some good points. And hopefully, there will be a car that gets us all away from oil.
 superfical old ideas January 28, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Very disappointing. Just a lot of tired old ideas - GM and oil company conspiracy theories. Not worth the money. I did not finish it.
The "False Founder" myth strikes again January 9, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Yak. These authors spend only 4 pages on Tesla, and not one word on the person(s) behind the car. Insted, they go on about Elan Musk of PayPal fame as it was his "invention" rather than something he invested on at a later time. The "False Founder" myth strikes again.
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