"Oil on the Brain" is a smart, surprisingly funny account of the oil industry--the people, economies, and pipelines that bring us petroleum, brilliantly illuminating a world we encounter every day.
Americans buy ten thousand gallons of gasoline a second, without giving it much of a thought. Where does all this gas come from? Lisa Margonelli's desire to learn took her on a one-hundred thousand mile journey from her local gas station to oil fields half a world away. In search of the truth behind the myths, she wriggled her way into some of the most off-limits places on earth: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the New York Mercantile Exchange's crude oil market, oil fields from Venezuela, to Texas, to Chad, and even an Iranian oil platform where the United States fought a forgotten one-day battle.
In a story by turns surreal and alarming, Margonelli meets lonely workers on a Texas drilling rig, an oil analyst who almost gave birth on the NYMEX trading floor, Chadian villagers who are said to wander the oil fields in the guise of lions, a Nigerian warlord who changed the world price of oil with a single cell phone call, and Shanghai bureaucrats who dream of creating a new Detroit.
Deftly piecing together the mammoth economy of oil, Margonelli finds a series of stark warning signs for American drivers.
"Oil on the Brain" is a smart, surprisingly funny account of the oil industry--the people, economies, and pipelines that bring us petroleum, brilliantly illuminating a world we encounter every day.
Americans buy ten thousand gallons of gasoline a second, without giving it much of a thought. Where does all this gas come from? Lisa Margonelli's desire to learn took her on a one-hundred thousand mile journey from her local gas station to oil fields half a world away. In search of the truth behind the myths, she wriggled her way into some of the most off-limits places on earth: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the New York Mercantile Exchange's crude oil market, oil fields from Venezuela, to Texas, to Chad, and even an Iranian oil platform where the United States fought a forgotten one-day battle.
In a story by turns surreal and alarming, Margonelli meets lonely workers on a Texas drilling rig, an oil analyst who almost gave birth on the NYMEX trading floor, Chadian villagers who are said to wander the oil fields in the guise of lions, a Nigerian warlord who changed the world price of oil with a single cell phone call, and Shanghai bureaucrats who dream of creating a new Detroit.
Deftly piecing together the mammoth economy of oil, Margonelli finds a series of stark warning signs for American drivers.
""Oil on the Brain" is hugely enjoyable, compulsively readable, and
brilliantly reported. I feared reading a book on oil would be akin
to being told 'eat your carrots.' But from page one, Lisa
Margonelli made oil into brain candy, and kept it so till the
end."
--Po Bronson
"Lisa Margonelli has a rare and precious talent. She has drawn a
wonderfully readable portrait of the fascinating and surprisingly
little-known human face of Big Oil."
--Simon Winchester
""Oil on the Brain" could be called "The Petro-economy for
Dummies"--and especially hardcore dummies like me who insist on
being entertained as well as educated. From the corner gas station
to the oil fields of Nigeria, there couldn't be a better traveling
companion than Margonelli. She's fast, fearless, funny, and a
brilliant observer."
--Barbara Ehrenreich
"Very few people are smart enough to tackle a subject as
complicated as world oil, and of those people, I would wager that
not one of them could do it with the humor and crackle and delight
that Margonelli brings to bear. If you drive a car, you must read
this book, but please not at the same time."
--Mary Roach, author of "Spook "and "Stiff
""Margonelli's approach is quirky but comprehensive, informal but
rigorous: Margonelli has a facility with numbers and an easy way
with policy, and the narrative passages here, lightly first-person
and often funny, help make accessible the facts of our dependence
on oil....Daniel Yergin's magisterial book "The Prize" remains
unsurpassed as a modern history of oil. But" Oil on the Brain,"
kaleidoscopic, accessible and focused on our present quandry, is a
timely sequel."
--Ted Conover, "The New York Times BookReview
"""Oil on the Brain "is an original, open-minded look at a subject
about which everyone has an opinion.""
--Publishers Weekly "(starred review)"
""Filled with rich history, industry anecdotes, and politics,
Margonelli's book brings a deeper appreciation of the complicated
and often tenuous process that we take for granted every time we
fill up our tank.""
--Booklist
""[Margonelli's] approach is quirky but comprehensive, informal but
rigorous. . . . [K]aleidoscopic, accessible, and focused on our
present quandary."
-"New York Times"
"[I]lluminating, entertaining..."
-"San Francisco Chronicle
""Margonelli invites us to leapfrog the rhetoric, dry statistics,
and dire pronouncements about oil in order to truly understand
it."
-"Fast Company
"
"An especially welcome addition to literature . . . [Margonelli]
gives us witty tales about her misadventures as well as loads of
gossipy details."
-"Ms. "magazine"
"
"Whether you agree with [Margonelli's] conclusions or not, they
will make you think twice next time you fill your tank."
-"St. Petersburg Times
""A fascinating drive."
-"Atlanta Journal Constitution
""The structure of Margonelli's narrative is unexpected, even
daring, as she works backward along the demand-supply chain."
-"St. Louis Post-Dispatch
""Margonelli does a masterful job of humanizing [oil's] passage
from underground to pump handle."
-"Houston Chronicle
"
" "Oil on the Brain" is hugely enjoyable, compulsively readable,
and brilliantly reported. I feared reading a book on oil would be
akin to being told 'eat your carrots.' But from page one, Lisa
Margonelli made oil into brain candy, and kept it so till the
end."
--Po Bronson
" Lisa Margonelli has a rare and precious talent. She has drawn a
wonderfully readable portrait of the fascinating and surprisingly
little-known human face of Big Oil."
--Simon Winchester
" "Oil on the Brain" could be called " The Petro-economy for
Dummies" --and especially hardcore dummies like me who insist on
being entertained as well as educated. From the corner gas station
to the oil fields of Nigeria, there couldn't be a better traveling
companion than Margonelli. She's fast, fearless, funny, and a
brilliant observer."
--Barbara Ehrenreich
" Very few people are smart enough to tackle a subject as
complicated as world oil, and of those people, I would wager that
not one of them could do it with the humor and crackle and delight
that Margonelli brings to bear. If you drive a car, you must read
this book, but please not at the same time."
-- Mary Roach, author of "Spook "and "Stiff
"" Margonelli's approach is quirky but comprehensive, informal but
rigorous: Margonelli has a facility with numbers and an easy way
with policy, and the narrative passages here, lightly first-person
and often funny, help make accessible the facts of our dependence
on oil....Daniel Yergin's magisterial book "The Prize" remains
unsurpassed as a modern history of oil. But" Oil on the Brain,"
kaleidoscopic, accessible and focused on our presentquandry, is a
timely sequel."
--Ted Conover, "The New York Times Book Review
"" "Oil on the Brain "is an original, open-minded look at a subject
about which everyone has an opinion." "
--Publishers Weekly "(starred review)"
"" Filled with rich history, industry anecdotes, and politics,
Margonelli's book brings a deeper appreciation of the complicated
and often tenuous process that we take for granted every time we
fill up our tank." "
--Booklist
"" [Margonelli' s] approach is quirky but comprehensive, informal
but rigorous. . . . [K]aleidoscopic, accessible, and focused on our
present quandary."
- "New York Times"
" [I]lluminating, entertaining... "
- "San Francisco Chronicle
"" Margonelli invites us to leapfrog the rhetoric, dry statistics,
and dire pronouncements about oil in order to truly understand
it."
- "Fast Company
"
" An especially welcome addition to literature . . . [Margonelli]
gives us witty tales about her misadventures as well as loads of
gossipy details."
- "Ms. "magazine"
"
" Whether you agree with [Margonelli' s] conclusions or not, they
will make you think twice next time you fill your tank."
- "St. Petersburg Times
"" A fascinating drive."
- "Atlanta Journal Constitution
"" The structure of Margonelli's narrative is unexpected, even
daring, as she works backward along the demand-supply chain."
- "St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"" Margonelli does a masterful job of humanizing [oil' s] passage
from underground to pumphandle."
- "Houston Chronicle
"
"If you drive a car, you must read this book, but please not at the
same time."
--Mary Roach, author of "Spook "and "Stiff"
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