[NevadaGhosts]

I haven't read a lot of books regarding peak oil. Just two. The Oil Age is Over by Matt Savinar... and Powerdown by Richard Heinberg. I really like Matt's book. It is scary, but he has really done his research. I think Matt's book is the most likely eventual outcome of peak oil. It is written in a in your face and straight to the point style. No holding back. Very easy to understand. I like that. Heinberg's book was good, but too watered down. I like the part that talks about how the collapse of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the Myan civilization are very identicle to what is beginning to happen now in the US and other rich countries. But it seems that Heinberg is trying to make dire predictions, while at the same time he is trying not to scare or offend any of his readers. I don't like this. If he believes in something, he should just say it without apologizing about it. Anyways, if anyone else here has a peak oil book they would like to recommend (perhaps a small review, too), please do so. You can get the two books I talked about here:

Oil Age is Over:

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Purchase.html


Powerdown:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 25-3452667

[dmtu]

Good if you like the nuts and bolts technical aspect. So far it's my favorite.
http://www.peakoil.com/review1.html

[clv101]

I've built up quite a peak oil library over the last 6 months.

Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage

Kenneth S. Deffeyes
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies
Richard Heinberg
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

End of Oil
Paul C. Roberts
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

Resource Wars
Michael T. Klare
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World
Richard Heinberg
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

The Truth about Oil and the Looming World Energy Crisis [booklet]
C. J. Campbell
http://www.vitaltrivia.co.uk/modules.ph ... ntent&id=2

Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (still on the bookself waiting to be read!)
Lester R. Brown
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

High Noon for Natural Gas: The New Energy Crisis
Julian Darley
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

This DVD:
http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

This magazine:
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0406/feature5/

On order:
The Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update
Donella H. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 52-7007046

I can highly recommend Deffeyes, Heinberg and Darley. Wasn't so impressed with Roberts, the book seemed very muddled and repeated itself in places, presented a lot but was very week on conclusions.

[nznutter]

I have read most of the peak oil books and prefer Hubberts Peak, the impending world oil shortage. It clearly explains what peak oil is and its potential effects. It presents a balanced view i.e. it is not a doom and gloom book like Heinburgs or an ultra postive book the the numerous hydrogen economy books that are around!

[fastbike]

I find the books written by the geologists (Deffeyes, Campbell etc) help to bring you up to speed on what oil actually is, and how it is extracted.

My first question as I became aware (about 12 months ago) of the impending extraction peak was
"How do we know how much oil is in the ground ?"
I can recommend two books that give you the geological background that answers this question and will help you to decide whether peak oil is a con (by the oil companies et al) or is actually a real-and-happening event.

The first is Deffeyes' "Hubbert's Peak". He provides a good primer on how oil is "produced" i.e. how sediments accumulate and are buried and the crucial "cooking" into oil and/or gas. He also gives a good account of how oil is then discovered and how technology has advanced from merely examing the surface features through to 3D & 4D (time) seismic mapping of oil provinces. And the book is very readable too.

The second book is a bit older - Campbell's "The Coming Oil Crisis" which I ordered from Amazon last March and had to wait until last month for delivery. Published in 1996 it gave a head's up on the situation we are experiencing now. Campbell gives a good coverage of conventional vs non-conventional oil which is an issue which is fudged by the various energy authorities worldwide.

If you want to learn a bit more of the lengths that vested interests will go to protect their patch, read something like Jeremy Leggett's "The Carbon War". This covers the lobbying and bad science that corporations underwrite, to fudge issues and buy time to water down any proposals that would impact their operations.


And by the way, after being quite sceptical when I first stumbled across PO, I am now convinced from the material I have reviewed (and its consistency) that PO will happen sometime this decade.

Finally I have just this morning finished Heinberg's "Powerdown" and agree 100% with his views regarding population issues. I will be lending this book to family members to try to give them an idea as to what is coming down the pike.
Unfortunately I have found many people do not want to know as it interfere's with their "I've got a busy life" syndrome.

[PhilBiker]

I read Heinberg's first book and liked it until the last chapter which went way off the deep end with wacko leftist ideology.

The best book I've read on the subject by far is James Howard Kunstler's The Geography Of Nowhere: The Rise And Declineof America'S Man-Made Landscape. It's more a USA specific critique of suburbia and how we got where we are, but Kunstler's keenly aware of Peak Oil and it shows.

[PhilBiker]

Forgot to mention, the best thing about Kunstler's book is the humor. It's a real hoot, which is really nice with such a serious subject.