Coal

Freese, Barbara. Coal: a Human History. Perseus Publishing, 2003.
Freese, Barbara: Coal: a Human History. Narrated by Shelly Frasier. Tantor Media, Inc., 2005.

Reason read: February is Science Month.

From soup to nuts, this is the history of coal at breakneck speed (with some global warming/climate change lectures thrown in for good measure).
I will be one hundred percent honest. Before Freese’s book I had never really given thought to coal. It is an interesting topic. Every Christmas there is the joke about coal in the stocking and once in a while a coal mine collapse will make the news. I did know that it has always been a dirty fuel responsible for massive pollution in cities across the world like London and Pittsburgh. However, I don’t know anyone who burns coal for heat or locomotion. I don’t think I even know what a coal stove looks like.
After reading Coal readers will know there are different types of coal and their uses will vary. Historically, coal was used for making jewelry and as currency, in addition to being a heat and energy source. Once the dangers of mining coal were fully realized, companies put animals, children, and immigrant laborers to work in the mines. The illnesses and deaths resulting from working with coal were difficult to read. Despite being less than 300 pages, Freese reserves a good section of Coal for explaining the environmental repercussions of using coal. The statistics are staggering and eye opening.

Author fact: at the time of Coal’s publication, Freese was an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Minnesota. As an aside, I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Freese sat her husband down and said, “I think I want to write a book about coal.”

Book trivia: there are a few black and white photographs in Coal: a Human History.

Narrator trivia: Shelly Frasier sounds like a little like Dolly Parton. I have no idea why.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the simple chapter called “Science 101” (p 195).