Reaping the Whirlwind: Britain's energy transition at Bookhaus
Headfirst Editor's Pick

"Dominic Hinde and Marianna Dudley join Bookhaus to discuss their new books on energy and climate. Hinde’s Drifting North blends memoir, travel, and history to explore Scotland’s role in fossil capitalism and the search for a sustainable future, while Dudley’s Electric Wind traces Britain’s relationship to eolic energy, and how nature, politics, and technology shape society."

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A event held at Bookhaus on Wednesday 29th October. The event starts at 18:00.


We have an event coming up that should be of interest to anyone interested in our energy transition. Dominic Hinde and Marianna Dudley will be at the shop to discuss their new books.

Drifting north: Finding a sustainable future in Scotland's past by Dominic Hinde. Past and future collide in this engaging journey through climate change, fossil capitalism and the struggle for a sustainable world.

Scotland's history and future are entangled with climate change and the story of the modern world. This small country on the fringes of northern Europe pioneered fossil capitalism and played a key role in its spread across the planet. It is a living museum of the crisis of the west, of deindustrialisation, stagnation and the struggle to build a better future from the ashes.

Journalist and sociologist Dominic Hinde travels from the treeless Highlands to the lowland cities, struggling to balance memories with aspiration. Through this journey he finds that his own sensory turmoil, shaped by recovery from a near fatal accident, mirrors the disarray of the fossil fuel transition - an uncertain passage between what was and what must be.

Part memoir, part environmental history, part travelogue, this is a compelling narrative of connections - to place, energy and the possibility of renewal. Through the lens of one country, it asks a vital question: can the lessons of the past help us build a more sustainable future?

Electric wind: An energy history of modern Britain by Marianna Dudley. A cutting-edge history of wind power in Britain.

There are turbines on the horizon. The blades whirl with metronomic rhythm. With each rotation, wind is transformed into electricity. An energy revolution is underway.

Electric wind rewinds to the beginning to explore the rise of wind energy in modern Britain. From the industrial revolution to the aftermath of war, through energy crises and the changing politics of the late twentieth century, we see how energy has shaped a nation - and how a nation is reflected and refracted through energy. Boldly charting Britain through its wildest, windiest places, this book takes us to the edges of land and beyond to think deeply about the role of nature in politics, science and technology. Visionaries and hippies join engineers and entrepreneurs. Traditions and local cultures meet infrastructure and industry in this captivating history.

At a time when action on carbon emissions is urgent, Electric wind offers examples, ideas and stories to fuel change going forwards. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in nature, climate change, landscape and the making of modern Britain.

Dominic and Marianna will be in conversation here at bookhaus. Tickets cost £7 and include a glass of wine or a soft drink and £2 off each book. Presented by bookhaus

Entry requirements: no age restrictions

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