Front Cover -- The Second Law of Life: Energy, Technology, and the Future of Earth As We Know It -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- PART I The Birth of a Beautiful Theory: Thermodynamics -- Chapter 1 So What Is All This Talk About Entropy? -- A few simple questions -- A look at our travel itinerary -- Chapter 2 The Science of Heat and Work: Classical Thermodynamics -- Historical context -- How easy is it to go back? -- Heat, energy, and mechanical work -- Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics -- Perpetual motion and engines -- Entropy and the direction of time -- Let's take a break -- Chapter 3 Much More About Entropy -- Do we really understand what entropy is all about? -- History of the acceptance of the existence of the atoms in physics -- Statistical Thermodynamics: macroscopic and microscopic views -- Entropy and the direction of time: reprise -- Point of zero entropy and of zero absolute temperature -- Boltzmann's struggle with the scientific community -- Energy efficiency and some conclusions -- Chapter 4 Link of Thermodynamics to Modern Physics -- Three men and thermodynamics -- Why couldn't Newton's mechanics explain everything? -- Thermodynamics at the birth of modern physics -- The interpretation of time and its direction -- The influence of modern physics on thermodynamics: does relativity change entropy? -- PART II Entropy and Our Society, Our Culture, Our Planet, and Our Universe -- Chapter 5 Entropy, the Economic Process, and the World's Environmental Problems -- General environmental trends -- How entropy plays a role in the economic process and re-defines concepts such as efficiency and sustainability -- A plea for a redefinition of efficiency and sustainability -- Chapter 6 Energy, Entropy, Life, and Heat Death.

The contradiction between the thermodynamic push for chaos and the tremendous degree of molecular and biological organization -- Entropy and the food chain -- Heat Death -- Chapter 7 The Use of the Concept of Entropy in Other Sciences -- Entropy and electrical communication -- Maxwell's demon -- Use of the concept of entropy in other nonscientific fields -- Epilogue -- Appendix I Two More Laws of Thermodynamics? -- Appendix II Another Way of Looking at Entropy -- Appendix III How Does the Gas Heat Up in the Air Pump? -- Appendix IV Will Reshuffling a Deck of Cards Change the Entropy? -- Appendix V How Much Does the Entropy Change in a Case of Gas Expansion and Gas Mixing? -- Appendix VI Thermodynamic Timeline -- Appendix VII Can the Human Body Be Considered a Heat Engine? -- Appendix VIII Ways to Concentrate Energy: Nuclear Energy, Photovoltaic Cells, and Fuel Cells -- Appendix IX Qualitative Definitions and Descriptions of Entropy -- Appendix X Some Simple Calculations and Interesting Numbers -- References -- Index.