94 Best Solar Energy Books of All Time

Bob JohnstoneThis book is only partly about solar, as one part of the solution to the energy issue. I chose it partly because it’s a relatively new book, but also because we’ve already had books by a historian, a utility manager, and a politician; the environmental NGOs are also playing a very important role in all of this – in getting the legislation changed, in running campaigns – and Fred Krupp is... (Source)

Bob JohnstoneThis is a beautiful book. It’s everything an introduction to a subject should be. It’s structured in a very intelligent way; it has short chapters; it has a lot of  good illustrations. It’s based on a lot of firsthand interviewing and research. (Source)

Juliet DavenportI met Ian McEwan as part of the Cape Farewell programme. That is an organisation set up by a lovely man called David Buckland, who is a photographer and an artist. He wanted to create a social response to climate change. In other words, he wanted to get people like Ian McEwan to mix with the scientists and find out more about what is going on. So he took a lot of people – including Ian McEwan,... (Source)

Andrew ElliottIn terms of non-business books, my choice has got to be Sahara by Clive Cussler. I like it mostly for the fact that it is nothing more than a fun, wild adventure. And, frankly, sometimes a book that provides nothing more than pure fantastical escapism is exactly what the doctor ordered. (Source)

Bob JohnstoneIn order for anything to be successful, you need supportive legislation, and to get supportive legislation you need politicians who are committed and informed. Herman Scheer was the great political champion of solar in Germany. He was the one who bulldozed the crucial legislation through the German parliament, against the wishes of the Schroeder government. Without him, the whole sea-change in... (Source)

Bill Gates[On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012.] (Source)

Bill Gates[On Bill Gates's reading list in 2011.] (Source)

Bob JohnstoneI chose this one because we depend on electricity for just about everything we do, and yet most of us have absolutely no idea of how this stuff gets to us, or what it is, for that matter. Philip Schewe, the author, refers to it as ‘bottled lightning’. He quotes the National Academy of Engineering saying that the grid is the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century, and also the... (Source)

Bob JohnstoneThis book is not about solar specifically, but David Freeman has been in his time – and still is – a very active solar proponent. He’s a very, very interesting man. He’s been around forever and is now 83. I met him a couple of years ago in Los Angeles. He’s from Tennessee, although his folks are Lithuanian; his father was an umbrella repairman. He trained as a lawyer, and claims to have been the... (Source)