FT Business Book of the Year

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Zoom by Iain Carson, Vijay Vaitheeswaran

Zoom

Zoom is the book Jeremy Clarkson might write if he suffered a Damascene conversion at the wheel of his Ferrari and then spent 10 years studying environmental policy. — Read the complete FT review

Synopsis

“Oil is the problem. Cars are the solution.”

Those two simple sentences by the authors of Zoom define the scope of their
illuminating and important book, an examination of a transformation in business
and culture that is occurring before our eyes.

We are living in the midst of a Great Awakening. People are seeking
environmentally-sound alternatives to gas guzzlers. Detroit’s reign is over. Oil
companies, despite their billion-dollar profits, could be on the brink of
extinction if they don’t adapt. And citizens, all too aware that these
industries have lobbied politicians into gridlock over energy policy, are
mobilizing to support leaders who advocate new policies.

In Zoom, Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, award-winning
correspondents for The Economist, show why and how geopolitical and economic
forces are compelling the linked industries of oil and autos to change as never
before.

Drawing on years of industry research-including dozens of interviews with motor
and energy executives, top policymakers, and latter-day Fords and Edisons-Carson
and Vaitheeswaran explain:

  • How Toyota became the world’s largest automaker through innovation and
    superior performance.

  • Why American politicians have, for decades failed to address our energy
    issues and global warming-and how grassroots movements, along with
    individual entrepreneurs, innovators, and outsiders, are making real reform
    possible.

  • How these Green revolutionaries are creating new products powered by
    hydrogen, electricity, bio-fuels, and digital technology.

As political leaders debate our energy, environmental and economic future,
Zoom offers a lucid and visionary portrait of what that future could be.
Anyone planning to vote will find compelling truth in its assertions and
conclusions.