The Grid

The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future

by Gretchen Bakke

Completed: July 30, 2021

• Tech
• 288 pages
• ISBN: 9781608196104
• Goodreads page

★

What this book is not - a careful, accurate introduction to the structure of the American power grid; or pretty much any explanation of any technical topics when it comes to the physics or chemistry of the electric grid; or a rigorous data-based explanation of where the grid now is, and how things might or ought to look like in the future. Basically, if you’re looking for anything remotely technical, or grounded in sound economics, then this is not it.

What this book is - lots of light character sketches, lots of dramatic descriptions of events like blackouts, lots of historical anecdotes incoherently connected, and an “anthropologist’s” (albeit shallow) guide to American society and electricity or some such thing. Basically, it is like a typical New Yorker essay on technical topics - unnecessarily long without any sound understanding of the technical topic - extended into a book.

For example, at the beginning of the last chapter - the culmination of the book - the author writes:

In this, the last chapter, I’d like to turn toward our more intimate and personal interactions with the grid and our desires for these.

If you actually want to learn something about the power grid, skip it. Unless you’re so bored that you are in the mood for a seemingly neverending New Yorker essay, skip it.

All book cover images are from Goodreads unless specified otherwise.