Still the Iron Age: Iron and Steel in the Modern World

by Vaclav Smil

Although the last two generations have seen an enormous amount of attention paid to advances in electronics, the fact remains that high-income, high-energy societies could thrive without microchips, etc., but, by contrast, could not exist without steel. Because of the importance of this material to comtemporary civilization, a comprehensive resource is needed for metallurgists, non-metallurgists, and anyone with a background in environmental studies, industry, manufacturing, and history, seeking a broader understanding of the history of iron and steel and its current and future impact on society. Given its coverage of the history of iron and steel from its genesis to slow pre-industrial progress, revolutionary advances during the 19th century, magnification of 19th century advances during the past five generations, patterns of modern steel production, the ubiquitous uses of the material, potential substitutions, advances in relative dematerialization, and appraisal of steel’s possible futures, Still the Iron Iron and Steel in the Modern World by world-renowned author Vaclav Smil meets that need.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Technology, Chemistry

280 pages, Paperback

Published February 17, 2016

About the author

Vaclav Smil is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst whose work spans energy, environment, food, population, economics, history, and public policy. Educated at Charles University in Prague and later at Pennsylvania State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in geography, Smil emigrated from Czechoslovakia to the United States in 1969 following the Soviet invasion, before beginning his long academic career at the University of Manitoba in 1972. Over the decades he established himself as a leading voice on global energy systems, environmental change, and economic development, with particular attention to China. Smil has consistently argued that transitions to renewable energy will be gradual rather than rapid, emphasizing the persistence of coal, oil, and natural gas and highlighting the difficulties of decarbonizing critical industries such as steel, cement, ammonia, and plastics. He has also been skeptical of indefinite economic growth, suggesting that human consumption could be sustained at much lower levels of material and energy use. Widely admired for his clear, data-driven analyses, Smil counts Bill Gates among his readers, while colleagues have praised his rigor and independence. Known for his reclusiveness and preference for letting his books speak for him, he has nonetheless lectured extensively worldwide and consulted for major institutions. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada, Smil remains a highly influential public intellectual.

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still the Iron Age (2016) by Vaclav Smil is a marvellous, heavy, short history of iron and steel making through human history. Vaclav Smil's books are not easy going. They are dense compilations of very well referenced numerical records. However, Still the Iron Age is fairly short and is thus one of his more readable books. 

Smil traces the pre-history of iron smelting, then the historical records and also includes the best numerical estimates of the volumes of iron and steel produced at various times. From around the time of the Industrial Revolution there is an incredible explosion in the volume of iron produced. In England the amount of charcoal required to make iron severely curtailed the amount of iron that could be produced, in 1850 British Iron production was 100 times the production in 1750 due to the use of coke. It's a truly staggering change.

The increased iron and steel production facilitated the development of steam engines to better mine coal for coke and also led to increased demand for these products as steam engines for textile productions and later steam trains came into being. 

Similar changes in steel production also occurred in steel production, the Bessemer process led to an increase in US steel production from the end of the Civil War until the start of WWI by a factor of 1500. It's increases of orders of magnitudes like this that are just so staggering. The book meticulously covers this. 

In the twentieth century the changes to steel are still remarkable. While many people would be aware of The Bessemer process fewer people would be aware of Basic Oxygen Furnaces, Electric Arc Furnaces and the remarkable increase in the use of recycled material in iron and steel production. 

Smil points out the dramatic rise in iron and steel production since WWII and how the industry has changed. He makes the point that while much discussion of innovation concentrates on silicon and electronics the changes in iron and steel production are also very significant and we really do, in a meaningful way, still live in an age where iron and steel are as important as ever to the global economy. 

The final part of the book details the staggering rise of China's steel industry. This has the statistic that in 3 years China around 2013 used more steel and concrete than the US did in the entire 20th century. There is, as usual, more interesting detail on this in how Chinese steel production is fairly inefficient and often government owned and that future rationalisation, as has happened in richer countries is likely to happen in China presently. 

All in all, Still the Iron Age is a fantastic book by Smil. It's also small enough to be digestible. If the story and statistics of the increase in one of the world's most important materials interests you this book is highly recommended. 

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very engaging at certain points and equally mind-numbing at others. As someone who knew very little about iron and steel but having a recent interest due to a work project, I learned a sufficient amount to greatly appreciate its means of production and use for society over the centuries.I also learned a lot more that was useless to me but the amount of detail and technical knowledge here is impressive--but completely beyond my interest and ability to comprehend. As such, I only scanned most paragraphs that were rife with data. Sometimes those paragraphs would alternate with more narrative-oriented information for a lay person like me, snapping me back to attention. I got more out of the first few chapters of the book that were less nerdy because they covered the earlier phases of the use of iron when the processes were simpler and not ruled by overly complicated measurements and processes. Overall, I'm impressed by the author's knowledge and ability to consolidate all the relevant information in a single work that seemingly speaks to both standard non-fiction readers like myself and more avid science/industrial readers. I'm interested in checking out other books by Smil but not sure I could tolerate it unless I have an unusual rise in interest in the topic like I did for iron.

[John Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

In another great synthesis work, Smil gives a history and broad understanding of the steel making industry - how far it has come and how much it can still rely on medieval technology like the Blast Furnace.

The book begins with a timeline of metallurgic innovation. The center of the book looks at energy and material (ore, coal/coke, lime) inputs into steel making, and outputs of steel, slag, carbon dioxide and increasingly smaller output of particulate. This analysis of present day industry primarily covers Blast Furnace iron converted to steel in a Basic Oxygen Furnace, but he also includes Direct Reduction of Iron and Electric Arc Furnaces and their increased importance in affluent countries with lots of steel scrap. The book ends with a consideration of how steel may change in our modern world: some areas where is it may be replaced (mostly transportation), how it may be made more efficient with both existing and new technologies, and how much our modern world will continue to rely on a metal that is an order of magnitude more common than all other metals combined.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great overview of an important industry by Smil, in my opinion. The author begins with the first smelting of iron and rapidly brings us to the era of mass steel of the 19th century. Whether you want to know more about the process used to make steel to the resource flows required to maintain the industry, or even if you just want to see how important steel is to nearly every human industry, this book is a great introduction, and often more. If you want the chemical and material science, you'll need to find a more technical book, but Smil does a great job of giving you the necessary basics so that you at least have some understanding of the usual nomenclature and lingo to approach more advanced texts. He also does an excellent job of using and explaining the numbers and figures with quantitative reasoning that is augmented by knowledge of the errors and uncertaninty.

Overall, if you're interested in the global steel industry, this is a great book to read after reading Misa's entry on the US steel industry (A Nation of Steel).

[Tony Fecteau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative! The information was dense at times and was a little hard to process. Overall, it was a good primer on the history of steel.