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 enlarge | Authors: Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Iain Carson
Publisher: Twelve
Category: Book
List Price: $27.99
Buy New: $15.48
You Save: $12.51 (45%)
New (32) from $15.48
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 29539
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 044658004X
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.47629222
EAN: 9780446580045
ASIN: 044658004X
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: H20080716212310T
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| Customer Reviews:
 Zooming Ahead - 'Making the Transition' January 8, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
ZOOM is a very well written and informative book with some interesting insights on our energy and transportation challenges, and possible solutions. Clearly the biggest challenge is getting the public and Washington aware of how serious our future energy issues are, and reducing our dependence on hydrocarbon fuels for transportation.
I learned alot from this book about the 'behind the scenes' issues and the overall world energy 'drivers', and how the US is no longer the primary market influence, except for pollution and Global Warming, where we lead the world! China will clearly become the influencing force as their citizens clamor to enjoy the benefits (and impacts) of owning their own cars, with 2 Billion people standing in line to share the (American) dream.
This is MUST reading for politicians, particularly those who think we can save Detroit by keeping the CAFE standards low. We don't need CAFE standards if the American public wakes up to the Reality of trying to Save our Planet! Toyota and other high efficiency imports are demonstrating that 50 mpg should be the Minimum efficieny Target, not 35 mpg as congress jokingly set for 2020!
The Wake-up Call may be $5/G gas for many, but should be the CO2 levels at 384 ppm, as we are dangerously close to the Tipping point, where there is NOTHING that we can do to save the planet, once we cross 450 ppm.
The authors should send a free copy of this inciteful book to every congressman and presidential candidate, so they understand that time is running out for our citizens, our economy, and our civilization.
I think it is a must-read (or listen) for everyone December 26, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
A vast amount of great information that I think everyone should know and very thought provoking. There is so much valuable information that I am listening to it for the second time and that won't be the last time. I am trying to think about how to describe the different topics and all the information you get out of each one but there is just so much that I can't even put it into words. Just get it and you will see what I mean.
 Where Goes the Car? December 23, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The problem with oil and the internal combustion engine can be understood by a few statistics. Car ownership in the US is more than one per person - 1,148 cars for every 1,000 Americans. In China and India it is about 10 cars per 1,000 persons. Current global oil consumption is about 86 million barrels per day. If car ownership and oil consumption levels in China and India reached half the US-level, an extra 100 million barrels daily would be required; if they equaled the US-level, yet another 100 million barrels daily would be needed. You don't even need to believe in global warming to see that this trend is unsustainable.
The authors, Iain Carson and Vijay V Vaitheeswaran, are transportation journalists and techno-optimists. They love cars and see a bright future for car ownership, provided that one or more of the host of new fuel and energy technologies are embraced - everything from flex-fuel ethanol engines to plug-in hybrids. They are pessimists, however, about the will of Big Oil and Detroit - and politicians - to meet the challenges of carbon emissions, declining oil reserves, and the rising energy demands of newly developing nations such as China and India. This is very telling since both authors worked for the pro-business magazine The Economist.
Although their sharp criticisms of business will have them pegged as anti-business or "leftist," their censure of politicians is across the spectrum. The story about the Clinton/Gore intiative in 1993 with the Big Three, known as the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, would have been funny were it not so tragic. The Big Three went through more than a billion dollars worth of subsidies to produce new fuel-efficient vehicles. The vehicles were rolled out for the 2000 North American Auto Show in Detroit as concept cars, but by 2002 and with a new administration, they were all scrapped because they were deemed to be flawed. (We are going through the same charade today with biofuels.) Ironically, Toyota took the challenge seriously and started develpment on what is now the Prius. According to the authors, what Clinton and Gore needed to do was tax carbon emissions - something that is politically suicidal.
The Bush administration and the automakers have since embarked on an ambitious project known as FreedomCar (as in freedom from foreign oil). This vehicle would be fueled by pure hydrogen. Along with this, Governor Schwarzenegger has initiated a plan to build a hydrogen refueling infrastructure in California. (Read 21st Century Complete Guide to Hydrogen Power and Fuel Cell Cars: FreedomCAR Plans, Automotive Technology for Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Production, Storage, Safety Standards, Energy Depart for more information.)
Cynicism aside, this might be the fuel of the future. Stanford Ovshinsky has been advocating hydrogen fuel for over 40 years. It is a zero-emissions technology. The hydrogen loop starts with water and ends with emitting only water vapor into the atmosphere. The hydrogen storage system he invented is used in the Prius, as well as other new hybrids coming into the market. From hydrogen batteries, the next step is pure hydrogen fuel which, by the way, is already being used in the new Honda FCX.
The race to build the car - and the fuel - of the future has thus far, according to the authors, been a race by Big Oil and the Big Three to prevent the future from arriving. But with the success of the Prius, the rising cost of fuel, and the instability of oil producing countries, there are signs that the culprits might be changing. The authors recommend higher fuel taxes to accelerate change. At the same time, they discourage government subsidies for such things as ethanol production. That sounds tough for business and for the ordinary consumer, but it might be the bitter medicine that is needed.
I subtracted one star because I felt this book focused too much on the mistakes of the past, and too little on future technologies.
 A look at the past more than a look at the future. December 9, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Almost entirely a history of everything that's "bad" about cars and the auto & oil industries. Very little OF SUBSTANCE about what they could become and HOW TO GET THERE. Also, the book could have been 1/2 it's final length if the authors hadn't kept repeating things. Disappointing.
Zoom, zoom, zoom November 24, 2007
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
Book arrived on time, which is better than Brothers (late) and Alan Greenspan's latest book (never).
Arriving at all is better than never!
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