Fuel

A Speculative Dictionary

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Physics, Energy, Biological Sciences, Environmental Science, Other Sciences, Philosophy & Social Aspects
Cover of the book Fuel by Karen Pinkus, University of Minnesota Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Karen Pinkus ISBN: 9781452951973
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press Publication: November 1, 2016
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press Language: English
Author: Karen Pinkus
ISBN: 9781452951973
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication: November 1, 2016
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Language: English

Fuel is an idiosyncratic, speculative dictionary of fuels, real and imagined, historical and futuristic, hopeless and utopian. Drawing on literature, film, and scientific treatises—most produced long before “climate change” was in circulation—Fuel argues for a distinction between energy (a system of power) and fuel (a substance, which can be thought of as “potentiality”) as it endeavors to undo the dream that we can simply switch to renewables and all will be golden.

From “Air” to “Zyklon B,” entries in this unusual “dictionary” include Algae, Clathrates, Dilithium, Fleece, Goats, Theology, Whale Oil, and many, many more. The tone of the entries ranges as widely as the topics: from historical anecdotes (the Ford Fiesta “boozemobile”) to eccentric readings of the classics of “energy lit” (*Germinal* and Oil!); from literary observations (a high octane Odyssey?) to excursions into literary theory. The dictionary draws from an eccentric canon, including works by Jules Verne, George Eliot’s Silas Marner, Paolo Bacigalupi’s Windup Girl, and the Tom Cruise vehicle Oblivion, among others. 

A message from this ambitious project is that energy can be understood as a heterogeneous set of self-mystifying systems or machines that block access to thought as they fascinate us. Fuels emerge as more primal elements that the audience can grasp at various points along the way to consumption/combustion. This dictionary can help scramble our thinking about fuel—not in order to demonize energy and not in order to create a new hierarchy in which certain renewables take over from fossil fuels but instead to open up potential ways of interacting with real and imaginary substances, by wrenching them out of narrative and placing them into an idiosyncratic dictionary to be applied by readers into new narratives.  

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Fuel is an idiosyncratic, speculative dictionary of fuels, real and imagined, historical and futuristic, hopeless and utopian. Drawing on literature, film, and scientific treatises—most produced long before “climate change” was in circulation—Fuel argues for a distinction between energy (a system of power) and fuel (a substance, which can be thought of as “potentiality”) as it endeavors to undo the dream that we can simply switch to renewables and all will be golden.

From “Air” to “Zyklon B,” entries in this unusual “dictionary” include Algae, Clathrates, Dilithium, Fleece, Goats, Theology, Whale Oil, and many, many more. The tone of the entries ranges as widely as the topics: from historical anecdotes (the Ford Fiesta “boozemobile”) to eccentric readings of the classics of “energy lit” (*Germinal* and Oil!); from literary observations (a high octane Odyssey?) to excursions into literary theory. The dictionary draws from an eccentric canon, including works by Jules Verne, George Eliot’s Silas Marner, Paolo Bacigalupi’s Windup Girl, and the Tom Cruise vehicle Oblivion, among others. 

A message from this ambitious project is that energy can be understood as a heterogeneous set of self-mystifying systems or machines that block access to thought as they fascinate us. Fuels emerge as more primal elements that the audience can grasp at various points along the way to consumption/combustion. This dictionary can help scramble our thinking about fuel—not in order to demonize energy and not in order to create a new hierarchy in which certain renewables take over from fossil fuels but instead to open up potential ways of interacting with real and imaginary substances, by wrenching them out of narrative and placing them into an idiosyncratic dictionary to be applied by readers into new narratives.  

More books from University of Minnesota Press

Cover of the book Murray Talks Music by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book The Sacred Era by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book The Salvager by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Red Skin, White Masks by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book The Parasite by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Deep Mapping the Media City by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book How Noise Matters to Finance by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Mechademia 3 by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Avant-Garde Museology by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Reinventing Citizenship by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Cinema Approaching Reality by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Civil Resistance by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book The Land of Dreams by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Cinema without Reflection by Karen Pinkus
Cover of the book Commemorating and Forgetting by Karen Pinkus
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy