"Lucid and thorough coverage of a timely topic."

—Publishers Weekly

"There are many points of interest here, beginning with the cast of characters—Fletcher has a knack for getting good quotes. His description of the technical aspects of the battery boom will appeal to general science readers, but the story’s strong human angle—where determination, creativity, and greed get wonderful display—should interest all readers."

—Library Journal

"Bottled Lightning jump-starts the electric-car story with one of the key players -batteries- and does it brilliantly. The more you know, the more you're ready."

—Chris Paine, director, Who Killed the Electric Car? and Revenge of the Electric Car

"[Fletcher] follows lithium from the South American salt flats where most lithium minerals are mined to the labs of General Motors, tracing its journey from obscure metal to one of the most sought-after resources on earth -- and perhaps the centerpiece of the automotive future."

—Discover magazine

"Fletcher captivatingly explains just how significant lithium may become in satisfying the industrial world's insatiable energy needs and, ultimately, reducing its dependence on oil . . . An informative and timely read."

—Carl Hays, Booklist

"To move from our present energy predicament, the most vexing challenge is transportation -- in short, finding a convenient, safe, portable energy source that packs as much energy per kilogram as does gasoline. Electric batteries have tantalized car builders since the nineteenth century, but they still seem to be just down the road a bit. In Bottled Lightning, Seth Fletcher enlists chemists, geologists, business investors, and automotive engineers to tell an engrossing and important story of how we got to where we are. This book can help us get to where we need to be."

—Rush Holt, U.S. House of Representatives

"[Fletcher] balances science and history with a closeup look at business practices and priorities, providing lucid and thorough coverage of a timely topic."

—Publishers Weekly

"[Fletcher's] description of the technical aspects of the battery boom will appeal to general science readers, but the story's strong human angle--where determination, creativity, and greed get wonderful display--should interest all."

—Robert Eagan, Library Journal

"An engaging read detailing the intrigue surrounding the birth and development of modern lithium-ion batteries. Fletcher intersperses the story of the science, business, and politics of batteries with colorful quotes from some of the eminent personalities in the field."

—Gerbrand Ceder, R. P. Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"[Fletcher] provides an entertaining, surprisingly eventful history of human efforts to harness energy in the form of battery power . . . A fine, readable work of popular science."

—Kirkus Reviews

"A well-written, smart and . . . rollicking story."

—Steve LeVine, Foreign Policy

"Fletcher makes a good case that the electric-car trend may soon be able to shed its dubious reputation as a public-private hybrid and roll under its own power."

—Ronald Bailey, The Wall Street Journal