Friends have been asking "how is the book selling?" - I'm happy to report that
Sustainable Energy - without the hot air has been doing quite well. On amazon.co.uk, its sales rank
among all books has been wandering around the
100 mark for some time now. And in the list of
the most popular Science and Nature books, it's at number 4, ahead of Dawkins'
God Delusion, and (a great personal triumph, this) ahead of the IEE's renowned "On-site Guide; BS 7671 : 2008 IEE Wiring Regulations 17th Edition".
I made a graph showing how the sales rank of SEWTHA has evolved on amazon.co.uk and on amazon.com. The light vertical lines mark events, with the most significant ones being the Economist's review, the Cory Doctorow review, and the coverage by the Guardian, which took the sales rank to
47.
The latest piece of good news is that I've been elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society.
The Society's press release mentions me and the book, which is very nice of them!
8 comments:
When I read the title of this entry, I thought you had read the new European standard for KNX domestic energy saving system.
I haven't read the standard myself, but I attended a recent lecture on the subject. It was easily the most boring lecture I attended all year. Even though the title sounded so promising. Smart Homes.
But I guess, as Howard Liddell would maintain, as in passive homes. It doesn't have to be sexy, if it works and doesn't break after 5 years. Or like Photovoltaic, deteriorate by 1% per annum.
Brian O'Hanlon
Congratulations on your election to FRS!
I wonder how making the book freely available online has affected the sales. With Harry Potter that would surely be a bad idea! But with the energy debate being a niche subject, you may attract more sales overall due to people discovering it to be an interesting topic after having read a few chapters online, who then subsequently order a print copy.
Congratulations on the FRS and the sales rank.
I think the idea to push really hard is to not go/travel/drive unless there is a direct economic need. And the same for consumerism. For example, it's a nice day, let's drive to the beach - NOT. Those lovely decorations would be nice to have, let's buy them - NOT. Frivolous driving (not going to work or the grocery) takes lots of energy. Buying stuff for around the house or garden requires energy to manufacture and transport.
So how dedicated are you all to saving the planet? No concerts (takes lots of energy to get there, put on the show), the cinema (getting there, air conditioning, the projector, etc). For a 1st-world country, this list will be quite long.
Congratulation on the book.
I am interested in your description of the greenhouse effect -
"So carbon dioxide has a warming effect. This fact is based not on complex historical records of global temperatures but on the simple physical properties of CO2 molecules. Greenhouse gases are a quilt, and CO2 is one layer of the quilt."
Is this quilt effect limited to greenhouse gases or can it apply to liquids and solids ? In which case is an Alpine village kept warm at night, or warmer than it might be, by a nearby mountain ?
Belated congratulations on the fellowship.
Oliver Morton
Congratulations on the book and the fellowship; also for the fortitude to persevere in a very worthy but very dispiriting media environment.
In which case is an Alpine village kept warm at night, or warmer than it might be, by a nearby mountain ?
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