I've been reading it and finding it very interesting, informative and well researched... until I ran into a couple of hiccups.

It's funny how an author's throwaway comments on other topics outside the purview of what they're writing about can affect your opinion of their writing.

For me, when he mentions that "we know so much about viruses" and how every molecule of CO2 we release from fossil fuel is polution; these statements really affect his credibility.

Though his opinions on these two topics specifically don't greatly affect what he's mainly writing about, I find upon reading those parts I can no longer take him as seriously as before when reading his specific insights into the history of electricity, which are fascinating.