Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- About the Authors -- 1 Approaching Energy: Our Driving Force of Development -- 1.1 Different Songs with the Same Source: Energy, Amount of Energy, and Sources of Energy -- 1.1.1 Energy -- 1.1.2 Amount of Energy -- 1.1.3 Sources of Energy -- 2 Face-Changing Skill: Energy Conversion and Its Law -- 2.1 Way of Energy Conversion -- 2.2 Law of Energy Conversion and Conservation -- 3 Like the Shadow Following the Body: Ubiquitous Energy -- 3.1 Energy and "I"--3.2 Energy and "Us"--4 Burning Passion: Beginning of Greatness -- 4.1 Discovery and Utilization of Fire -- 4.2 Cooking and Human Evolution -- 5 Domestication a Godsend: Exploring Farming Force -- 5.1 Origin of Domestication -- 5.2 "Domestication" of Natural Forces -- 6 Coal and Steam: Driving Force of the Industrial Revolution -- 6.1 Discovery and Early Use of Coal -- 6.2 Steam Engine and the First Industrial Revolution -- 7 The Light of Electromagnetic Measurement in the Information Civilization -- 7.1 Advent of the Internal Combustion Engine Era -- 7.2 Change from Magnetism to Electricity -- 7.3 Nuclear Power Developed in Controversy -- 8 Global Warming: A Hot Topic -- 8.1 Sea Level Rise -- 8.2 Seasonal Chaos Disrupts the Biosphere -- 9 Environmental Deterioration: Not an Unwarranted Threat -- 9.1 Troubling Garbage -- 9.2 Formidable Crust -- 9.3 Endangered Rivers -- 10 How Long Can Resources in Short Supply Last? -- 10.1 Soon-Depleted Petroleum Resources -- 10.2 Undesirable Coal Resources -- 10.3 Renewable Energy Beset with Difficulties -- 11 Energy Disputes: Blasting Fuse of Future Warfare -- 11.1 Global Energy Problem -- 11.2 The Political Attribute of Energy -- 11.3 Energy and War -- 12 Technical Innovation: The Sunshine Passing through the Clouds