Jason Makansi

Though my degree is in Chemical Engineering (Columbia University), my passions and pastimes are writing, reading, music (playing viola, piano, and composing), tennis and other racquet sports, and bicycling. From a family newspaper when I was in elementary school through the high school newspaper, a career in engineering journalism, short stories, poetry, non-fiction, and fiction, I’ve been writing in one format or another most of my life. An overview of my work is included below.

FICTION

Current work in progress: wREQuIem at The Red Rocks

At a time when Americans either embrace or lament the death of expertise, Wrequiem at the Red Rocks hammers the final nail in the coffin. Through the prism of an academic colloquium sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Philosophy of Freedom, Wrequiem prosecutes the excesses, contradictions, confrontations, and cul de sacs of contemporary American discourses and aspirations. In this work of brutalist satire, Makansi takes aim at a world in which the most erudite scholars argue about the most mundane words, and the only freedom left is controlling the narrative.

THE MOMENT BEFORE

America’s global ambitions are reduced to one father, his daughter, and the two men who seek to reunite them.

The unflinching story of an American-Arab’s life in limbo.

Tricked by the two people closest to him, Elias Haddad leaves his beloved daughter Cheryl Halia for what he believes is a short trip home to Syria to visit his dying father. Largely ignorant of Middle East politics, Elias is detained upon arrival in Damascus and conscripted into Assad’s army, beginning a forty-year geopolitical odyssey from hell which culminates in his captivity in Guantanamo during America’s post-9/11 War on Terror.

In her search for her father, Cheryl meets John Veranda, an idealistic lawyer who risks his family’s land, his marriage, and his aspirations for his hometown’s future for a relationship with Cheryl neither are prepared for.

Stuart Eisenstat, a dedicated federal bureaucrat, thinks he’s doing an old friend a favor when he picks John’s hometown as the perfect site for relocating Guantanamo detainees only to come face to face with the personal cost of America’s global ambitions.

As the author of both fiction and non-fiction, and the winner of 2017 Independent Publishers IPPY GOLD and 2016 Foreword Reviews INDIE SILVER, Jason Makansi’s writing has been praised as “immensely readable,” “entertaining, enlightening, and essential,” and “relevant to today’s political and cultural environment.”

Non-FICTION

Carbon IRA & YouTility: How to Address Climate Change & Reward Carbon Reduction Before It’s Too Late (2019)

According to the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), adverse human impacts on global climate are worsening. Under present conditions, we have twelve years before the planet changes irreparably, potentially harming tens of millions of people.

Nominally, 55-60 percent of the carbon build-up from humans comes from electricity and transportation. The ideas presented in this book represent a quick-start way forward. If we organize the electricity industry around two core principles—the Carbon IRA and the YouTility—we may yet be able to stave off disaster.

The Carbon IRA is a way to motivate electricity consumers to use less and get engaged with solutions for individuals. The YouTility is a way to accelerate the infrastructure transformation on the production and delivery side.

Painting By Numbers: How to sharpen your BS detector and smoke out the "experts" (2017)

AWARDS: 2017 Independent Publishers IPPY GOLD and 2016 Foreword Reviews INDIE SILVER

Better numerical literacy isn't just desirable; it's essential to sustaining a civil, democratic, and free society.

In the public sphere, numbers are supposed to be more solid than words, less subjective. They are not. "The numbers don't lie," say experts. Yet they very often do. Numerical results are used to further the political, business, academic, and personal objectives of those who wield them.

In PAINTING BY NUMBERS, you get wisdom, humor, and twelve commandments anyone can apply to separate numerical BS from valid results. It will raise your numerical literacy, and that of your friends, family, colleagues, and students. Even PhDs have called PAINTING BY NUMBERS a "refreshing refresher," and "something every literate person needs to understand."

Given polling controversies in the recent election, vociferous debate over climate change, economic meltdowns caused by bogus and fraudulent financial models, medical and health trends driven by dubious results from trials, even sports now managed by "numbers guys," better numerical literacy isn't just desirable; it's essential to sustaining a civil, democratic, and free society.

LIGHTS OUT: The Electricity Crisis, the Global Economy, and What It Means To You (2007)

“This work is provocative, factual and will make you think about the situation we face. It is a must-read for anyone even slightly interested in the adequacy of the U.S. power sector and what the future may hold. The book clarifies where we are today, how we got here and paints a plausible if not scary scenario of the future. Industry, regulatory and political leaders need to read this to see the possible end results of their decisions."
-- Barry Worthington, Executive Director, United States Energy Association.

“Jason Makansi’s story is engaging and thought provoking and will appeal to a wide audience within and outside the energy business. His long history in the electricity business has given him keen insights into the inner workings of the utility industry, and his examples and illustrations, based on his personal attempts at demand side management at home with his family, give a lighter background to what is a profound and sometimes alarming thesis.”
-- Geoffrey R. Egan, Ph.D., President, APTECH Engineering Services Inc.

“This book enables even the novice to understand clearly the multi-faceted issues facing an electricity-thirsty world. Politics and economics are converging rapidly, propelled by the world-wide need for power to satisfy the rapidly expanding consumer demands for goods fueled by that power. Keeping the lights on is no longer a local, regional or national issue. This book lays the foundation for understanding how complex power generation and delivery truly is, and is a clarion call to citizens and consumers world-wide alike to become more informed and more involved.”
-- Timothy McCreary, President, HF Controls Corp.

“This thoroughly-researched and well-documented discourse explores the litany of issues plaguing the energy industry today. Lights Out will challenge your critical thinking skills and may cause you to question your position on the issues. More importantly Lights Out proposes realistic solutions that even our elected representatives can comprehend and should seriously consider.”
-- Dr. Robert V. Peltier, P.E., Editor-in-Chief, POWER magazine

"Jason Makansi’s 25 years experience in the electric power industry, combined with his ability to explain complex technologies in simple terms, makes him the ideal author for this book. It should be required reading for everyone in the trade, the financial community and others providing products and services to the industry, as well as for business schools that teach why technology leadership can be fleeting. And let’s not forget the peeved customer who wants an unbiased explanation."
-- Robert G. Schwieger, Editor and Publisher, COMBINED CYCLE Journal

Praise for Lights Out (click for radio and video interviews and more reviews)

“Lights Out is a fast paced, no holds barred account of what is wrong in our electricity sector and how we might get it back on track, written by someone who has been in the business long enough to know what he is writing about.”
-- Leonard Hyman, Author of America’s Electric Utilities: Past, Present and Future

Lights Out: The Electricity Crisis, The Global Economy, And What it Means to You points out a troubling reality in today's world--too many people take the electric power infrastructure for granted. Jason Makansi draws on his years of experience to illuminate numerous dimensions of today's US power sector--engineering, political, economic and financial--to make it all too apparent that taking reliable, afforable and environmentally sound power for granted is a mistake. This book is an important catalyst for a long overdue discussion we all need to have regarding our electric power future.
-- Lawrence Makovich, Managing Director of Cambridge Energy Research Associates Global Power Group.

“Jason Makansi gives us a succinct, insightful view of recent electricity problems from the California blackouts and financial disaster to the economy-busting rate increases going into effect from Baltimore to Maine. His lively, provocative writing explains the mysteries of the technology, the politics, the regulation, and the market manipulation. Parts of the book may make you mad, but you won’t be able to put it down and you will always be learning something.”
-- Lester Lave, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Co-director, Electricity Industry Center, Carnegie Mellon University

An Investor’s Guide to the Electricity Economy (2002)

Energy Investing that gets beyond the hype

2001 was perhaps the most tumultuous year in the modern history of the energy industry. As with telecommunications, computer and information technology, and Internet/e-commerce businesses over the last two decades, it is now a truly delicate but potentially lucrative time to invest in electricity. Deregulation means that investors face a breathtaking array of new companies and technologies that have the potential to grow and accumulate wealth. With a focus on understanding market dynamics and "technology capital," Jason Makansi shows you how to get beyond analyst hype, uncover new opportunities, and invest wisely in An Investor's Guide to the Electricity Economy.

Divided into three sections-"The Industry," "The Investor," and "Case Studies"-this book introduces readers to the most current and relevant industry trends, critical insights and research based on the author's tested methodology, and the companies and technologies that are transforming the industry. The author's "Technology Matrix" assesses the potential of new companies based on technology development cycles, market-entry timing, commercialization progress, and strategic alliances. Understanding the new energy wholesale and retail experience, in which business and consumers will have a variety of providers and service plans to choose from, is emphasized throughout. Other topics covered include:
* Neglected investment opportunities such as in the coal, nuclear, energy storage, and transmission sectors
* Energy information services and distributed power
* The California electricity crisis of 2000--2001-lessons learned
* Corporate profiles of industry innovators

Articles and Short Stories

The number of articles in trade journals and business magazines is too large to count. Over an 18+ year career as an engineering and technology journalist and consultant covering all aspects of the global electricity industry, I wrote for and edited multiple McGraw-Hill journals, was referenced or quoted in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CNBC, etc.

And I’ve always loved short stories and poetry. I was able to get a number of both published in literary journals, some of which are no longer publishing. Here are a few of the short stories:

“Signal Point,” published in Rainbow Curve.

”Little Egypt, published in Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley, Southeast Missouri State University.

”American Muezzin,” published in Mizna: Arts, etc.

”Hallucination in D Minor,” published in Marginalia, Western State College of Colorado.

”Moon Dust,” published in Arabesques.