Erik Schmidt · Author
Energy, society, digital independence and the stories in our DNA. Books for people who want to understand how things connect.
10 books · 13 editions
Energy
The transformation of the energy system as a structural task: why electrification, grids, markets and storage can only be understood together, and why the energy transition is above all a question of structures, time horizons and priorities.
Energy
Electricity as a system in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg: grids, storage, prices and politics, compared country by country on a common template. With more than 170 figures and tables, current as of November 2026.
Artificial intelligence
Why people accept AI output unchecked and hand responsibility to technical systems. Fourteen cases from offices, administrations, associations and family research, and practical ways to keep judgement in human hands.
Genealogy
A DNA test yields lists, numbers and files, but no ancestors. A step-by-step guide from match list to proven kinship: segments, clusters, triangulation, chromosome mapping, Y-DNA and mtDNA, with real data from the author's own family.
Society
Fragility today stems less from scarcity than from the tight coupling of energy, communication, transport, administration and digital platforms. Who decides in a crisis, who is protected, and who bears the cost?
Society
We usually know what ought to be done. Why does it so rarely happen? On crumbling bridges, overstretched administrations and fragile networks, and on the reserve, repairability and institutional learning that keep democratic societies capable of acting.
Digital independence
There is no cloud, only other people's computers. A pamphlet on what the word conceals: discontinued services, burnt-out data centres, devices that become paperweights without their vendor's server. And on the alternative that has long been sitting on the desk.
Society
A handbook on the asterisk, colon and glottal stop in gender-inclusive German.
Artificial intelligence
How artificial intelligence exposes our software architecture.
Society
Synthetic voices, social bots and the power of apparent majorities.
