Powering the Future: A Scientist's Guide to Energy Independence Book

The reviews seem positive, yet the ratings low, so I'm adding a review for balance.
--- I read this book aloud for homeschooling my 7-8th grader. My student is very audio (learning)...and reading aloud enabled me to verify understanding, and add clarification & explanations of topics too complex (though I found most of the writing understandable at the 7th grade level, it was lack of life-experience with historical references that needed the most explanations), as well as test student comprehension.

The 1st half was devoted to analyzing the existing situation, and energy sources, both convention & alternative (including experimental). Our rating 5.9*! (yes, out of 5; we thought it was that good): What a fabulous effort to gather a wide variety of information & present it in an understandable way! The references (at the back) themselves took up 17% of this book!

The 2nd half focused on solutions & conclusions. Our rating 3.9* was a little ho hum, while still being a worthwhile read. It was not a clearly presented...we found it choppy & hard to follow, comparatively. And most of it was simply reiterating what had already been explored in the 1st half of the book.

The author claimed to be attempting an unbiased review, leaving the reader to their own conclusions. The 1st half did seem relatively unbiased (as anything like this can be), due to the volume of material/people referenced...but the 2nd half was extremely obvious in bias. Not that I didn't agree with most of the conclusions; I felt they were based on solid facts, but he was definitely telling you/had made up his mind what the solution to our energy problem is.

I wish this were required reading for every member of Congress! And every HS student! I feel I now have the ability to intelligently discuss, with a factual basis, all of our current energy sources (rather than simply "knowing" in my gut what makes the most sense).

We absolutely have the ability to meet all of our energy needs, with the technology to get it done before a crisis...too bad political bickering & corporate greed make it unlikely to happen.