To understand some of the modern myths about oil and its influence on industrial, social, economic, and political existence, The Prize offers a wide ranging narrative into how oil got to where it is now as the critical commodity of the industrial age. Whether it will be displaced, as coal was, by other energy sources Yergin introduces, but he provides no crystal ball. The book originally ended a bit after Saddam Hussein's first defeat by a President Bush. The latest edition provides a coda to cover the second time a President Bush did something similar, and more lasting to Mr Hussein.
The greatest value in Yergin's presentation is his broad understanding of the world's geopolitical history, albeit with a Western Slant. You get introduced to Joseph Stalin, a labor organizer in the Baku oil fields long before he became the tyrant history remembers. T Boone Pickens makes an appearance, as well as the founders of the American Oil Industry, the European Oil Industry, and a number of leaders and traders in the global oil business.
Yergin is even handed in his praise for, and criticism of, industry leaders and political leaders. That alone makes the book worth a read. Beyond that, a great many little tidbits of historical interest crop up to add depth and color to what could have been a dry narrative.
In the end, how oils use helps and hurts people is what this book is about.
That story is far from over, but Yergin leaves us with the implied assumption that the last of the three or four major "oil shocks" to the global economy are behind us.
If he's wrong about that, he won't be the first to not see the next one coming. The call to action from this book, though not explicitly made, is the eventual imperative to find other, sustainable sources of energy and to once again adapt industrial age society -- which whether we like it or not, is the global society we live in.
This reviewer spent much of his adult life keenly aware of the impact of oil, oil shocks, and how oil, power, wealth and politics mixed. Some of my tasks in the Navy were directly related to how power, wealth, and politics trickle down to policy, and in a few cases, armed confrontation. Likewise with gas lines: I lived it.
If one ever wondered who "John Galt" is or was, you won't find him in this volume, but you will find no few people who tried to become the one who controls the global oil industry. At this point in history, such control as can be found is dispersed among companies, nations, and international bodies of various sorts. That dispersion of influence is beneficial, in terms of the ability of the system, such as it is, to prevent or avoid another major oil shock to the interconnected global economy.
An enjoyable read, whether taken in small bites or large.
The greatest value in Yergin's presentation is his broad understanding of the world's geopolitical history, albeit with a Western Slant. You get introduced to Joseph Stalin, a labor organizer in the Baku oil fields long before he became the tyrant history remembers. T Boone Pickens makes an appearance, as well as the founders of the American Oil Industry, the European Oil Industry, and a number of leaders and traders in the global oil business.
Yergin is even handed in his praise for, and criticism of, industry leaders and political leaders. That alone makes the book worth a read. Beyond that, a great many little tidbits of historical interest crop up to add depth and color to what could have been a dry narrative.
In the end, how oils use helps and hurts people is what this book is about.
That story is far from over, but Yergin leaves us with the implied assumption that the last of the three or four major "oil shocks" to the global economy are behind us.
If he's wrong about that, he won't be the first to not see the next one coming. The call to action from this book, though not explicitly made, is the eventual imperative to find other, sustainable sources of energy and to once again adapt industrial age society -- which whether we like it or not, is the global society we live in.
This reviewer spent much of his adult life keenly aware of the impact of oil, oil shocks, and how oil, power, wealth and politics mixed. Some of my tasks in the Navy were directly related to how power, wealth, and politics trickle down to policy, and in a few cases, armed confrontation. Likewise with gas lines: I lived it.
If one ever wondered who "John Galt" is or was, you won't find him in this volume, but you will find no few people who tried to become the one who controls the global oil industry. At this point in history, such control as can be found is dispersed among companies, nations, and international bodies of various sorts. That dispersion of influence is beneficial, in terms of the ability of the system, such as it is, to prevent or avoid another major oil shock to the interconnected global economy.
An enjoyable read, whether taken in small bites or large.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1xn4MsE
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