A deeply reported revelation of the human costs of mining the minerals on which those batteries depend, from cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo to nickel in Indonesia ... Niarchos is an intrepid and curious correspondent. He introduces us to so-called artisanal miners in Congo, people who risk their lives and meager fortunes in a harrowing effort to harvest valuable rocks from the earth ... He examines the development of the lithium-ion battery industry in Japan. He tells the story of how China transformed from a poor country full of bicycles into the world’s leading source of electric vehicles ... Unfortunately, this trove of material is served up with scant attention to narrative. The result is a book that is frequently a bewildering slog.
Journalist Niarchos digs into the global minerals trade at the heart of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a hub in the vast supply chains that have brought misery to many and immense profits to a few ... Will have readers rethink the ethics of extraction—you’ll never look at your phone or your EV in quite the same way again. An eye-opening and sobering investigation that challenges us to consider the suffering embedded in our everyday devices.
Journalist Niarchos debuts with an impressive investigation into the global race to acquire the raw materials needed to power electric vehicles, cellphones, laptops, and other devices ... Readers won’t look at their smartphones the same way again.
