Reddit mentions: The best energy & mining industry books

Not OP, but I asked the same question years ago and I compiled this list:

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1. This is the best book on the subject that I've read. It is as fair to both sides as one can be. In fact, I came away with a better understanding of how and why the Palestinians feel the way that they do after reading the book.
   
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2. The Arab Spring. This is a great journey through all of the countries affected by The Arab Spring. It helps understand where we are now.
   
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3. The Prize. Technically, it is the history of the oil industry. As you should expect, it covers a lot of ME history, too.
   
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4. Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS This book helps you understand how radical ISIS really is compared to AQ.
   
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5. Michael Oren has two good books: Six Days of War and Power, Faith, and Fantasy. Despite Oren's affiliation with Israel, his books are fair and interesting reads.
   
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   A book on the fall of the Ottoman Empire is another good place to start. I have not read this one yet. I've heard that it is a good read.
   
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I don't know of any that compare, but, the Napoleon's Buttons is SUPPOSED to be good.

http://www.amazon.com/Napoleons-Buttons-Molecules-Changed-History/dp/1585423319/

Other books, engineering related, that I liked are:

Norm Lieberman's Process Troubleshooting books, the guy cracks me up!

Working Guide to Process Equipment (3rd edition probably cheaper): http://www.amazon.com/Working-Guide-Process-Equipment-Fourth/dp/0071828060/

Process Equipment Malfunctions (not as good as the other one, some overlap, but still worthwhile, and covers more breadth for individual issues): http://www.amazon.com/Process-Equipment-Malfunctions-Techniques-Identify/dp/0071770208/

The Prize (mentioned above): http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1439110123/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/188-3799228-4803548

The Quest (Follow on to The Prize): http://www.amazon.com/Quest-Energy-Security-Remaking-Modern/dp/0143121944/

Oil 101: http://www.amazon.com/Oil-101-Morgan-Downey/dp/0982039204/

The Mythical Man Month (Not engineering directly as it pertains to software, but, projects and project management are huge in engineering, though this book is timeless): http://www.amazon.com/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineering-Anniversary/dp/0201835959/

Piping Systems Manual (You can NEVER know enough about pipe!): http://www.amazon.com/Piping-Systems-Manual-Brian-Silowash/dp/0071592768/

Pumps and Pumping Operations (OMG it is $4, hardcover, go buy now! This book is great... did you know OSU didn't teach their Chem E's about pumps? I was flabbergasted, gave this to our intern and he became not a scrub by learning about pumps!): http://www.amazon.com/Pumping-Operations-Prentice-Pollution-Equipment/dp/0137393199/

Any good engineer needs to understand MONEY too:

The Ascent of Money: http://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/dp/0143116177/

It's Nial Fergesuon, who has had his own series of dramas and dumb stuff. The Ascent of Money has a SLIGHT libertarian tinge... but it wasn't bad enough that I didn't enjoy it. I consider it a history book, and he attempts to write it like one.

Have fun!

Book Description

Authors Freeman, former utility CEO, and Parks, an electricity industry journalist, explain how making the transition to an all-electric, all renewable society by 2050 is practical and achievable. An energy infrastructure powered by the sun and wind & running on electricity, for all our energy needs, will be reliable, cleaner, safer, and cheaper.

Review

"This is a timely and engaging educational book about America's energy future. It rightly focuses on the cleanest and most efficient types of energy and transportation... It amplifies the vision that an electric America powered by clean, renewable energy will produce significant health, environmental, and cost benefits with little downside. I highly recommend this book for lay audiences, students, and those in the energy sector who would like to be kept up to date in this rapidly-changing field." - Mark Z. Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University

[Early release copies of the book available now] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0996174729)

Many here may not be aware of the totality of Elon's comment at the World Energy Innovation Forum (7 minutes worth), hence I'm posting it here - the link starts at him discussing this issue for 7 minutes, or you can read an article with quotes from his discussion.

If you want to understand his position, I recommend watching this great 5 minute video where Elon talks about this issue here.

I think a problem with the Guardian article is that it doesn't mention Elon's assertion that fossil fuel subsidies are around Six Trillion dollars a year. (IMF estimate of 5.3 Trillion dollars below)

More sources:

Article discussing the controversial LA Times article
and the original source for that video

LA Times article which Elon was complaining about

Guardian piece on the IMF Study

IMF Study

New to reddit and couldn't help but throw caution to the wind and jump in.

IMHO markets are enormously powerful at organising and achieving outcomes - if the price signal reflects the true cost of that resource or product or service (ie a price on carbon) govt. can step aside and let the market figure out HOW to solve the problem of climate change caused by carbon.

Lobbying in politics impairs many market forces and this is a very good example of such. For example, 99% of studies between 1991 and 2012 are making a case for climate change (source: slate ), and yet we still have a significant portion of the population denying this. A Drexel University study from Jan 2013 has determined that there are 91 climate change counter-movement (CCCM) organizations with a total income of more than $7 billion over the eight year period 2003–2010, with an annual average income exceeding $900 million, whose role is to counter the scientific arguments of climate change. More is reported about this in the Guardian, with further reporting about dark money in Scientific American. An anecdote of this would be that a town hall is held, and there is a few people walking around with megaphones broadcasting their opinions, drowning out the overwhelming consensus of hundreds of people in the meeting.

If you're interested in this climate change denial campaign by many companies standing to benefit from delayed climate change action, check out the documentary film Merchants of Doubt. More is covered about this film here.

Note also Elon's comment regarding externalities. Externalities are an inherent problem in markets that we need to deal with more effectively if we are to have an efficient market, and not have it damaging the society. By dumping carbon into the atmosphere there is a damage to the environment, and unless this is priced into the cost of the activity, product or service, it's an externality. We may deny or refuse these costs right now, but they will definitely be felt by our children and their children and successive generations if/when fossil fuels have run out and our atmosphere and environment is unable to support the life that exists today.

Useful in the discussion and the future energy market is a book Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation: How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030 by Tony Seba
and/or this presentation he gives describing the likelihood that solar/battery will drive fossil fuels into obselence in the next decade or two - while Govt policy can drive this, the power of the market forces and projected future prices may very well achive this outcome.

Let's discuss more facts and data.

Edit: formatting and link added

edit: more links added

edit: rephrasing, and then more rephrasing

> You mentioned our GDP. 2/3 of our GDP comes from consumer spending.

Consumer spending and the output of the economy is impacted by how much people have to pay for gas, heat, oil, etc ENORMOUSLY(think about how much the average citizen spends on gas throughout a year and then think about them spending that on other things). Like I said you are uneducated in subject matters that are essential to comment on these matters and you are going to go on as if you aren't. All while arguing a position no analyst in the world would(hyperbole).

https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/dp/0143116177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466453148&sr=8-1&keywords=Ascent+of+money

https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466453203&sr=8-1&keywords=The+prize

Read these two books and you will have a clearer picture of this macro picture I was referring to and you will understand how absurd your position is. The ascent of money was made into a pbs documentary, albeit a 4 hour one. It doesn't do the book justice though.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/

The Prize was a Pulitzer Prize, non fiction book that will educate you on oil and why the middle east is important.

https://careers.state.gov/work/foreign-service/suggested-reading
Click on the suggested reading list on that page.

To get the whole macro picture I was referring to, read these books. You may want to start with their recommended International Relations textbook. These are books the State Department recommends you read if you are going to negotiate and do diplomacy on behalf of United States government(pretty hardcore stuff).


Best of luck with your studies/investigations and enjoy the rabbit hole, it really is an eye opener into another world that is not really discussed in the media.

i said that he didn't need to have any business knowledge, his fortune was made off of a technology that none of his competitors had, which gave him an absolute edge - it's like being able to buy stock at a 50% discount and then sell it at full value on the open market.

one of the last things i mentioned was that fred koch was a great businessman and chemist - my intention was to insinuate that failure was nearly impossible under that set of circumstances. he was in an almost constant legal battle with the enormous e&p monopolies of the time, he brought his technology to the ussr when he couldn't use it stateside, and he created the platform for an oil services/technology company in probably the best time in early american history to do so. he was booming while the stock market was crashing and his innovations in using lighter napthas to create more gasoline out of the same amount of crude oil made rock island oil into the empire that it is now.

if i'm being candid, i wasn't expecting to be asked for sources since people post complete bullshit here all the time, and my original post is clearly littered with my opinions and isn't intended to be an academic exercise..

i'll give you a list but you might have to go to the library or hit up amazon

sons of wichita - dan schulman (the book's alright but gives insight to the early generations of the koch family rather than brothers)

oil 101 - morgan downey (describes the oil industry from top to bottom in a digestbile and interesting way, totally recommend if you're even sligthly interested in learning about the industry - describes cracking as it relates to refining business)



you can easily google the history of koch industries too, as well as excerpts from the books.

Start with The Prize. If you want to understand the economics of oil you need to understand the history of the business, the player's, the Middle East (especially Saudi Arabia) and the Caspian.

These are some great books to help you understand the industry better:

The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich

The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea

Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power

The Seven Sisters: The great oil companies & the world they shaped

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century

The Handbook of Global Energy Policy

Investing without prior knowledge of the industry is inherently risky. It is important that you are not placing "bets" on these companies, but rather you are speculating. Speculating requires research and in finance provides a premium for taking on extra risk. Gamblers take on risk without the potential for extra reward. I have a solid (but in no way am I an expert) knowledge of the energy industry, so here are my tips:

1. Avoid oil sands companies (COS, SU) like the plague. There are a large amount of oil sands companies located in Canada, but the production and refining is not profitable in the current market. I believe the break-even point for oil sands is approximately $50 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude is currently floating around $35, with low expectations for the future. As well as this, producing synthetic crude is notoriously bad for the environment if you are concerned with socially responsible investing.
   
   
2. Invest $1,000 in a combination of PWT, IMO, HSE, CVE, ECA, and CNQ. Do your research and figure out what companies have competitive advantages in their operations and decide why you believe they will be successful in the future. Most of the above are integrated O&G companies, so you will need to understand the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments. I am confident that a majority of O&G companies can be bought for cheap in the current market and will provide growth in the long run.
   
   
3. To hedge the risk from your exposure to solely the oil industry, invest $1,000 in a diversified ETF. See this list for examples. Again, you will have to do your research here to figure out what you want to be exposed to and what kind of returns you want.
   
   I understand that you want to experiment with investing, but this strategy will give you the opportunity to learn about investing while reducing your exposure to industry risk. Your single picks may lose money, but as long as you learn where you went wrong you are provided a net benefit. As short-term to medium-term investing requires finance savvy, I would recommend always holding over a long-term.
   
   Also, if you are interested in learning about the oil industry, I would recommend reading Oil 101, The Prize, and The Frackers.
   
   Good luck!

I havn't watched this doc yet, but if you're curious to read in depth into this topic, and it's truly fascinating. I can't recommend the book The Prize enough. It's a great read and you'll see how modern power was shaped well into the 20th century.

Confirmed the conclusion? What about the published books confirming it was more than a decade earlier? And from people who..you know....know geology and stuff! I was sweating it back when it happened according to the experts, but one of the lines in Ken's book is that if we make it through the first 10 years, we should be good to go towards better and happier times. The good news is, its been 12, real gasoline prices resemble the early 70's again, and Ken was right!

https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Oil-View-Hubberts-Peak/dp/080902957X

Nice! I have added both to my reading list! The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power sounds really interesting, I have been looking for an older book on the Oil Industry... those greedy bastards always make for a good read! I have found it hard to find books on Oil (or many renewables for that matter) that don't have a little slant.

[Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite For Energy ] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393931536/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_R02xCbQ1V4B98) looks like a really good in-depth read as well. I think the title of the book sums up an uncomfortable truth about humans in general. I also find that books that take a more general overview of energy have less of that "rah rah" in one direction or the other.

I linked them so others could find them easily!

Well, it shouldn't be surprising that fundamentalist interpretations of Islam have won out over progressive ones. Recognize that the United States has historically supported and funded Islamic theocracies. From Carbon Democracy:

>As a rule, the most secular regimes in the Middle East have been those most independent of the United States. The more closely a government is allied with Washington, the more Islamic its politics. Egypt under Nasser, republican Iraq, the Palestine national movement, post-independence Algeria, the Republic of South Yemen, Ba’thist Syria–all charted courses independent of the United States. None of them declared themselves an Islamic state, and many of them repressed local Islamic movements. In contrast, those governments dependent on the United States typically claimed an Islamic authority, whether ruled by a monarch who claimed descent from the Prophet, as in Jordan, North Yemen and Morocco, or asserting a special role as protector of the faith, as in the case of Saudi Arabia.

There used to be plenty of secular left movements in the Middle East and Africa during the Cold War, situated in the Islamic culture that dominated these areas. But they got crushed by superior funding from the USA and its Islamic allies. Small wonder, then, that reactionary Islam continued to fill this ideological vacuum.

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

"[...] The Prize, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Founded in the 19th century, the oil industry began producing kerosene for lamps and progressed to gasoline. Huge personal fortunes arose from it, and whole nations sprung out of the power politics of the oil wells. Yergin's fascinating account sweeps from early robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, to the oil crisis of the 1970s, through to the Gulf War."

As other commenters have noted, this is a picture of Hisashi Ouchi, one of the victims of the Tokaimura criticality accident which killed two people. The dogged efforts of the doctors to save his life, despite having very little medical precedent and history with which to work, are documented in great detail in the book A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. As the of the book indicates, he died after 83 days, most of which were spent in coma. I purchased the book several years ago and, though the subject matter is sad, it is an absolutely fascinating account of exactly what happens when someone suffers lethal radiation exposure.

A reviewer of the book on Amazon summed up the situation as follows:

"The gentle and amiable patient did not realize for several days that he was what is termed a "walking ghost". While he appeared to be fine for a while, all of his cells were damaged and his death was certain. Pain medication to make him comfortable when symptoms arose would have ordinarily been the only intervention while awaiting the inevitable, but in his case the hospital staff and his family did not tell him that he received a lethal dose and maintained that fiction almost until the day he died. The doctors kept giving him transplants, transfusions, skin grafts, injections and cardiac massage -- a heroic effort overall -- to keep him alive until maybe something would actually help. Since severe radiation sickness is not common, these folks had no real idea what they could do and dealt with symptoms as they arose. And arose. And arose. The fact that Mr. Ouchi survived for months is nothing short of amazing, but perhaps honor and hope came at too high a cost: his incomprehensible CONSCIOUS suffering."

Here is the book on Amazon, if you are interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Days-Radiation-Sickness/dp/1934287407

As were Bush, Reagan, and numerous other high ranking US officials, both military and civilian. There have long been close links between Riyadh and DC. For good reason.

The House of Saud, while now a convenient boogeyman for those with no sense of even recent history, has provided not just oil for many decades when there were inadequate supplies in North America (and Europe), but more importantly has been a key ally in the gulf, a place where instability is the natural state, and where Wahhabism especially would rapidly fill a power vacuum.

Is Saudi Arabia an ideal ally? No. We have many differences with them. But they are far better than the alternative. Through taking donations from the Saudis, Clinton was shoring up an important relationship while furthering the impact of her family foundation.

So you can criticize Clinton's relationship with the House of Saud, but see how quickly Trump cozies up to them.

I guess in summary, two things. One, these things aren't black and white, as cute as it may be. And second, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

For more detail you can read the following:

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Kingdom-Modernists-Terrorists-Struggle/dp/0143118277

https://www.amazon.ca/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123

A book on novel writing.

Anything be Jared Diamond.

The Prize.

If he likes Mac, a subscription to MacWorld.

It's like I'm listing off everything my husband likes. :-P

> economically viable for me without endless government assistance

I agree with that only to an extent. The current grid, the nuclear plants, and other energy infrastructure were largely built with government assistance. Nuclear plants usually depend on government-guaranteed loans, plus no private insurance companies will cover their liability for a nuclear incident so the taxpayers are the insurer of last resort if there is a problem. Plus the taxpayers are often stuck with decommissioning costs. Much of our grid and its energy infrastructure was built with government funds and assistance. We do need the energy, after all.

So while I agree that the case offered for wind and solar should be economic rather than green, at least for messaging purposes, we have to make sure we're acknowledging that public investment into our energy infrastructure has been ongoing for about a century. If we're expecting solar and wind to go it alone with zero public support, that is a departure from how we've developed our infrastructure for a very long time.

For the stuff I said about nuclear above, I got the info from chapter 6 of Tony Seba's book Clean Disruption. I really didn't realize how much the government had financed the nuclear industry over the years. But, like I said, we do need the energy. I also recommend the book The Grid for perspective of how long the government has been paying for this infrastructure.

This is the latest sector report from RethinkX, the think tank founded by entrepreneur and technology theorist Tony Seba who literally wrote the book on the Clean Disruption of energy and transportation.

A few highlights of our findings from the report:

Industry Impacts

• By 2030, the number of cows in the U.S. will have fallen by 50%. Production volumes of the U.S. beef and dairy industries and their suppliers will be cut by more than half.
  
• By 2030, the market for ground beef by volume will have shrunk by 70%, the steak market by 30% and the dairy market by almost 90%. The markets for other cow products (leather, collagen, etc.) are likely to decline by more than 90%. In total, demand for cow products will fall by 70%.
  
• By 2030, the U.S. dairy and cattle industries will have collapsed, leaving only local specialty farms in operation.
  
• By 2035, demand for cow products will fall by 80%-90% and U.S. beef and dairy industry (and their suppliers) revenues, at current prices, will be down nearly 90%.
  
• Farmland values will collapse by 40%-80%.
  
• The volume of crops needed to feed cattle in the U.S. will fall by 50% from 155 million tons in 2018 to 80 million tons in 2030, causing cattle feed production revenues, at current prices, to fall by more than 50% from 60 billion in 2019 to less than $30 billion in 2030.
  
• All other livestock industries including fisheries will follow cattle and suffer similar disruptions, while the knock-on effects for throughout the value chain will be severe.
  
  Food Cost Savings:
  
  
• The cost of modern foods and products will be at least 50% and as much as 80% lower than the animal products they replace, which will translate into substantially lower prices and increased disposable incomes. The average U.S. family will save more than $1,200 a year in food costs, keeping an additional $100bn a year in Americans’ pockets by 2030.
  
  Jobs Lost and Gained:
  
  
• Half of the 1.2 million jobs in U.S. beef and dairy production (including supply chain), along with their associated industries, will be lost by 2030, climbing toward 90% by 2035.
  
• The emerging U.S. modern foods industry will create at least 700,000 jobs by 2030 and up to 1 million jobs by 2035.
  
  Land Use and Environmental Impacts:
  
  
• Modern foods will be far more efficient than animal-derived products: Up to 100 times more land efficient, 10-25 times more feedstock efficient, 20 times more time efficient, and 10 times more water efficient than industrial livestock. They will also produce an order of magnitude less waste.
  
• By 2035, 60% of the land currently used for livestock and feed production will be freed for other uses. These 485 million acres equate to 13 times the size of Iowa, an area almost the size of the Louisiana Purchase. If all this land were dedicated to maximize carbon sequestration, all current sources of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions could be fully offset by 2035.
  
• U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from cattle will drop by 60% by 2030, on course to nearly 80% by 2035. Even when the modern food production that replaces animal agriculture is included, net emissions from the sector as a whole will decline by 45% by 2030, on course to 65% by 2035.
  
• Water consumption in cattle production and associated feed cropland irrigation will fall by 50% by 2030, on course to 75% by 2035. Even when the modern food production that replaces animal agriculture is included, net water consumption in the sector as a whole will decline by 35% by 2030, on course to 60% by 2035.
  
• Oil demand from the U.S. agriculture industry (currently 150 million barrels of oil equivalent a year) will fall by at least 50% by 2030.
  
  Health & Food Security:
  
  
• Nutritional benefits could have profound impact on health, particularly conditions such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes that are estimated to cost the U.S. $1.7 trillion each year. The way they are produced should also ensure a sharp reduction in foodborne illness.
  
• The modern food system will be decentralized and therefore more stable and resilient, thereby increasing food security.
  
  Geopolitical Implications:
  
  
• Trade relations and geopolitics will shift due to a decentralized food production system.
  
• Any country will be able to capture the opportunities associated with a global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

If you were a man (or a woman - there were a lot of women in the California Gold Rush) in California (I can't speak to other places in the international mining frontier), you would have two choices with your nugget (or, more likely, your gold dust). It could be traded for goods in the area where you were working. Or you could make it to an assayer or bank in one of the established communities nearby. There, you would receive the $16 per ounce minus a commission. That is assuming your gold had good color.

The gold from Gold Canyon in the Western Great Basin (which would become the Comstock Mining District after the strikes of 1859) produced a pale gold, which only fetched $12 per ounce because it was apparently mixed with some other metal. That other metal turned out to be silver, which traded at 1/10th the value of gold, or about $1.60.

A good source on mining in this early period of the Comstock is Grant Smith's History of the Comstock. For the California Gold Rush, I recommend this.

This is a key point in the renewable energy debate. No rational world power will give up on oil when it's required to win WWIII. This book is a good summary, but it's like Starcraft, you have to control the resource expansions to win.

hey I read that! Matt Simmons ended up being dead wrong about peak oil, but otherwise I enjoyed the book. But The Prize by Daniel Yergin is the king of oil books - it is brilliant.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=04AERX02B4996WQXBJA0****

> We can't consume our way out of climate change.

I don't want to be completely dismissive of your statement (I know your heart is in the right place), but there is a strong argument that, paradoxically, consumption is exactly how we're going to solve climate change, because the more solar and wind are bought, the more the price goes down and the more lithium ion batteries are bought, the more the price goes down.

The fossil fuel and ICE car industries are being disrupted by cheaper renewables and electric vehicles, and it could be happening much more rapidly than anyone thinks. Please see this book if interested, by a Stanford professor who has researched this subject very deeply:

www.amazon.com/Clean-Disruption-Energy-Transportation-Conventional/dp/0692210539/

Any book you pick up is going to be good, but my favorite reads are Butte specific, since Butte played an outsized role in the early history of the state and everything that happened in Butte was big for the time.

War of the Copper Kings by C.B. Glasscock is about how the three Copper Kings ran mini-enclaves and controlled the government and courts of the state, waged literal wars underground, and the labor and corporate battles that played out for 40 years before Anaconda won the pot.

Fire and Brimstone by Michael Punke which covers the deadliest hard-rock mining disaster in US history, in which 167 men lost their lives. It's very well written and researched.

I haven't read this one yet and while it may not be up your alley, The City That Ate Itself by Brian James Leech is a more recent history of Butte and covers the social and economic impact of open-pit hard-rock mining on the community it consumes.

I hope you read some of these and enjoy them!

> those panels can't serve the evening peak once the sun has gone down.

CSP plants that use thermal tech do that just fine. Clean Disruption does a good job of explaining the issues with Nuclear as a renewable source if you're interested.

I'm not against nuclear personally, but there are strong economic arguments against its use (which is a shame because chucking up a bunch of them would be great in an ideal world).

Ohh! You should definitely look into The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin.

It depicts the history of the global petroleum industry from the 1850s through 1990.

Its extremely well written and an incredibly powerful part of human history.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123

> We weren't talking about evidence, only motive.

Here is both. Have you heard of the Afghanistan oil pipeline? I would hope you know about the one built recently in Iraq.

There is some evidence that America could have had an economic motive for replacing the government in Afghanistan. Did this influence America's decision to invade Afghanistan and replace the government?

Oil pipeline?

The Afghanistan Oil Pipeline was a project proposed by several oil companies to transport oil from Azerbaijan and Central Asia through Afghanistan to Pakistan or India.



The Afghanistan oil pipeline project was finally able to proceed in May 2002. This could not have happened if America had not taken military action to replace the government in Afghanistan.

3rd November 1998 - attacks stop US oil pipeline:Up to 80 cruise missiles were fired at Afghanistan and Sudan in August An American-funded training project in Afghanistan has closed down as a result of the US cruise missile attack on the country in August. The programme was funded by the American oil company, Unocal, which was once hoping to be involved in building a gas pipeline across the country from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.BBC News,

"US attack closes US project", 3 November 1998.)

BBC News, "Race to unlock Central Asia's energy riches", 29 December 1997.
"American oil companies, together with Pakistan, have shown strong interest in an alternative route that would carry Turkmen gas, via Afghanistan, to the Pakistani port of Karachi."
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/analysis/43219.stm)
...
The Guardian, The new Great Game, 20 October 2003.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/oct/20/oil

Lutz Kleveman (2003), The New Great Game, Atlantic Monthly Press.


AMERICA DEPLOYED MILITARY FORCE TO INSTALL AN "INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED"(I.E. PRO-AMERICAN) AFGHAN GOVERNMENT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1556588.stm

The American-driven invasion of Afghanistan swiftly captured of the country's capital Kabul, enabling the removal of the former Afghanistan government and the establishment of a new government.

Afghan capital, Kabul, conquered by U.S.-led invasion force, November 2001.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1654182.stm

U.N. Conference discusses future of Afghanistan, November 2001.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1662487.stm

U.S. Congress in Washington debates future of Afghanistan, November 2001.

[U.N. appoints leader of new Afghanistan government, December 2001]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1693379.stm)

U.S. Government, State Department website documents installation of new Afghan government.

United Nations website documents installation of new Afghan government.

I highly recommend this book if you want to get into the details as to why that is. The CFR has controlled every presidency since Woodrow Wilson.

If you want to go even deeper, this book is fantastic.

Adding /u/FlyThai since I think he'd be interested.

If you're serious, start here for understanding Energy. Then something much more light weight about Oil

Then you can read light edutainment like The Prize with more gain.

Hm, no video for me. Here is the description from https://www.amazon.com/Saudi-America-Truth-Fracking-Changing/dp/0999745441:

​

>The technology of fracking in shale rock -- particularly in the Permian Basin in Texas -- has transformed America into the world's top producer of both oil and natural gas. The U.S. is expected to be "energy independent" and a "net exporter" in less than a decade, a move that will upend global politics, destabilize Saudi Arabia, crush Russia's chokehold over Europe, and finally bolster American power again.

>
>Or will it?

>
>Investigative journalist Bethany McLean digs deep into the cycles of boom and bust that have plagued the American oil industry for the past decade, from the financial wizardry and mysterious death of fracking pioneer Aubrey McClendon, to the investors who are questioning the very economics of shale itself. McLean finds that fracking is a business built on attracting ever-more gigantic amounts of capital investment, while promises of huge returns have yet to bear out. Saudi America tells a remarkable story that will persuade you to think about the power of oil in a new way.

​

Robert Rapier's Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil is probably the most level-headed book out there -- an excellent read for both beginners and people with a higher energy IQ: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Plays-Energy-Options-Peak/dp/1430240865

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power by Daniel Yergin.

This is a non-fiction narrative masterpiece about more than just the oil industry, but about the driving forces that have shaped the world we live in and the world we will live in. If you want to understand how the 20th century was shaped through the prism of those shaping forces then I recommend reading this book.

The Prize by Daniel Yergin is a great history of the O&G industry.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1439110123/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/188-3799228-4803548

I just finished reading The Prize and I can't recommend it enough for someone interested in the boom and bust cycle of oil. The oil industry makes a perfect case study for how interrelated feedback loops can surprise even the most informed expert.

"The Prize" by Daniel Yergin is a long but fun place to start. Bit more historical.

If you really want to know, you should read Prize - The Epic Quest for Money, Oil and Power. It's basically a parallel history book of the last 150 years and helps explain geopolitical motivations and power struggles, almost all of which are either started by or kept up because of access to oil.

Which is to say, security of and access to, oil is as much as a priority to our national interest as having an anti-missile defense system.

Nice, here are some more.

https://rbnenergy.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Oil-101-Morgan-Downey/dp/0982039204

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/24870/falling_short.html

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2470

http://www.igu.org/sites/default/files/node-page-field_file/IGU%20-%20World%20LNG%20Report%20-%202014%20Edition.pdf

There is the occasional subreddit food-for-thought, like this

Just got this for xmas, but haven't read it yet... supposed to be good

Oil 101 by Morgan Downey is a good overview of all parts of the industry. I recommend reading that before getting in depth with other resources recommended here.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982039204/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2jZWDbFH6N89N

Osama bin Laden was not acting at the direction of the Saudi government. I believe O. B. L. had been disowned by his own family, the Saudi royal family and had had his Saudi citizenship revoked.


The Road to 9/11: A Brief History of Conflict in the Middle East

Meeting Osama Bin Laden

House of Bush, House of Saud

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

Go read history books instead of copying out-of-context newspaper quotes -
US interest in the mid-east started in ww2 - FDR signed an alliance with Saudi Kind that stands to this day. Israel was not even a country back then.

The US army does not fight wars for Israel - even though Israel does benefit from some of those - and Israeli politicians like to take credit for having influence in the US (does not mean they actually do).

The Israeli army on the other hand did fight a war purely for the US - in which 3000 of its soldiers died (equivalent to US casualties Vietnam in terms of relative population size) and many more injures - it was in October 1973 and it was a war in which the US administration demanded Israel does not strike early even when Egyptian and Syrian forces were massing at its borders. The reason? US wanted the Suez Canal - and Egyptian president promised to give it if US "gives" him a victory over Israel.


TL;DR

Read/Watch The Prize - understand the importance of oil to (American) strategic thinking post ww2. Stop thinking things in the world have reason X or nation Y behind it - it's simplistic wishful thinking. World is complex, though cookie.

The Prize by Daniel Yergin

This is the history of oil. I felt like I saw the word in a very different way after learning how oil had been so important to so many crucial moments of modern history. You will come out of the book seeing modern politics in a very different light.

I just picked up a copy of The Global Oil and Gas Industry: Management, Strategy, and Finance from the library. It's been a fascinating look into the business side of the field and the various incentives of the major players.

As a more personal aside, I think that The Prize is a really interesting book; however, it is not truly focused on engineering but more on the impact of the "most influential industry in history."

There so many specialized books out there about the O&G life-cycle. Oil 101 is definitely a place to start. Aside from that, understand the step of the O&G life-cycle that your project will focus on and do a deep dive as needed. Ex: Is it exploration, appraisal, development, production, abandonment, etc.?

Few books I would recommend besides Oil 101,

1. Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling & Production - https://www.amazon.com/Nontechnical-Petroleum-Exploration-Drilling-Production/dp/1593702698/
   
2. Deepwater Petroleum Exploration & Production: A Nontechnical Guide - https://www.amazon.com/Deepwater-Petroleum-Exploration-Production-Nontechnical/dp/1593702531/
   
3. The Global Oil & Gas Industry: Management, Strategy and Finance - https://www.amazon.com/Global-Oil-Gas-Industry-Management/dp/1593702396/

I'd be interested to know if /u/RightWingVisitor has quotes from GM execs/employees stating their displeasure with having to make EVs. If so, that would be a significant pivot from what I read in The Powerhouse, which spends a fair bit of time describing GM planning their first modern EV. According to that book, the primary reason they waited as long as they did to bring an EV to market was essentially that they were waiting for a better battery chemistry, which eventually failed to materialize.

The answer to the headline question is no, a thousand times no.

Even Citi's vice chairman Robert Rubin was blind to e.g. 'liquidity puts' on massive off-balance sheet liabilities, which drastically changed Citi's economics to put in mildly. If Citi doesn't understand their own balance sheet, what chance have you got?

Even Warren Buffett sometimes gets blindsided. For instance, Amazon's cloud is eating IBM's lunch of running corporate IT departments and data centers, commoditizing what used to be a high-ticket, high-margin service business.

Even Warren Buffett puts a lot of stuff (most stuff?) in the too hard pile. Especially Warren Buffett.

You don't have to understand how to drill an oil well (although it helps, see e.g. http://amzn.to/24hNwlw , http://amzn.to/1sIYV22 ). What you have to understand is whether we're going to keep drilling oil wells, whether the guys who own and drill wells are going to keep needing Halliburton, and whether Halliburton can keep earning, growing and making a good return on capital re-invested.

Look into nontechnical guides that will give you a broad look into the industry and help you understand it without going into the finer details that can be difficult to grasp. Check your school's library as well, often times they will have them available.

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Nontechnical-Petroleum-Exploration-Drilling-Production/dp/1593702698

or this: https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Gas-Industry-Nontechnical-Guide/dp/159370254X

such an excellent, quick and uplifting read this book was http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Days-Radiation-Sickness/dp/1934287407

There's a book available through amazon about it. Interesting read.

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Days-Radiation-Sickness/dp/1934287407

Daniel Yergin's The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

Historical account of the oil industry, which is particularly relevant in today's markets.

The first place to start is with The Prize (https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123) to get a sense of historical context.

The Prize: http://www.amazon.com/Prize-Quest-Money-Power-ebook/dp/B004T4KKSA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374704067&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Prize is also relevant here. It spends an extensive amount of time on this event.

Great book. it did change my point of view on several things relating to Oil and the Oil business.

For his point on energy, the USA's huge oil production capacity for the last 100 years has given us a real competitive advantage against other countries. One could argue that our country's ascendance to sole world power was completely due to the our access to cheap energy. For instance, look at the role access to fuel played in the second world war.

We have always been one of the largest oil producers in the world. Even today US companies basically control the world oil market as middle men (I highly recommend Daniel Yergin's book for a long but informative read on this subject.). However, the fear is that we will soon lose our cheap energy advantage and become dependent on foreign oil... it maybe true that right now the US consumes a lot of domestically produced oil, but the writing on the wall says that will not be the case forever.

Oil 101 has good reviews.

Don’t take my word for it:

Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation: How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692210539/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_zk.7Ab6XXDYSB

Learn about Shale Gas, OPEC, and what recently has been happening to the price of crude oil I'm certain they will ask about that.

This is also a great book
http://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1420766548&sr=8-5&keywords=oil+and+gas

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Days-Radiation-Sickness/dp/1934287407

Here's a book detailing the 83 days that doctors and nurses struugled to keep this man alive. Amazing book. They were pouring nuclear material from a steel bucket into a large metal container. The material went critical (bright blue flash/radiation). He did not turn into the hulk.

[Oil 101]
(https://www.amazon.com/Oil-101-Morgan-Downey/dp/0982039204)
isn't bad. [Masting the Grain Markets] (https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Grain-Markets-Profits-Really/dp/1477582967) also isn't bad. Neither will teach you everything you need to know, that will only come on the job.

This is also a great book that was written by a doctor who happened to be there during the 83 days. Very haunting to read the details in which he describes Ouchi.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1934287407/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=JFZESI2L2NUJ&coliid=IUK73YX4RJWDE

Edit: Just realized OP already listed the book. Sorry about that.

By 2030, it's likely that almost all new vehicles sold will be electric. See http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Disruption-Energy-Transportation-Conventional/dp/0692210539

EDIT: I guess ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers pay people to downvote things in the environment forum lol

I haven't read it yet but Oil 101 was recommended to learn about the Oil industry.

I'll never forget reading The Prize by Daniel Yeargin. He simultaneously tries to tell you about how Standard Oil was some unstoppable monopoly...while also telling you about how Branobel was eating away at their monopoly. They got to something like 30% before Stand Oil got trust-busted. So trust-busting only came after Standard's market position was already eroding.

Basically if you are from the EU (or China, or whereever that's not the USA) and you want to by crude you will have to pay in USD as most countries will only sell in USA. Therefore you have to buy USD then buy your oil, this creates demand for the dollar and keeps it's price up.

The ME countries (read as the twats in charge of them) would typically end up with more USD than they knew what to do with in their own country and would start spending elsewhere, typically on US products.

That's the TL:DR of it, though if your interested in the oil industry and it's history i'd really recommend The Prize though there is a youtube series as well here but i haven't watched that.

Oil on the market is what they call 'fungible'. What that means in practice is that all the oil on the export market acts like it all goes into one huge wholesale pool, and from there is divided up by customer. So it really doesn't matter where the oil country A is produced. All the suppliers are getting the market price.^1 And since most of the oil that one nation can import from another nations is exported by an OPEC nation,^2 picking one over another really has no impact on the earnings of any of them. The reason being is that the production capacity of exportable oil isn't that far greater than the import demand. It is larger, which is why OPEC keeps trying to convince its members to restrict output. But it's not so much greater that any of the exporters could be cut out of the system.

So for example the US refuses to buy from Iran. Fine. Iran sells to India and China instead. And the US buys the same amount from Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, others. It all just washes out.

The importers lack the threat of simply collectively boycotting imports. For their economies are far too dependent on imported oil to function on a day to day basis. Importers attempt to limit imports by high taxes to discourage use, or by maximizing domestic production, or regulations to discourage use. But those policies only very slowly change energy consumption patterns.

For a history of oil production, see Pulitizer Prize winning book The Prize by Yergin.


^1 Just to keep things from getting confused on this, not all oil is created equal. Some is of a quality which is easier or less costly to refine into usable products. Some comes from locations that are far less costly than others to produce. Some are in locations which makes export much more economically viable due to geography.

^2 Back in the heyday of OPEC, The Soviet Union wasn't the major oil exported that Russia is now. And Canada wasn't exporting like they are today either. And US production was in a relative low spot because the easy stuff had been pumped, and advanced extraction methods like fracking hadn't been invented yet. But Russia's interests more or less align with OPEC's interests. So they aren't really lining up to help the importing nations. And Mexico and Venezuela have long term production problems due to not properly investing to maintain their capacity. So as a whole OPEC's bargaining position is a poor one currently.

Oil 101 for any of you autists who want to learn more about pricing. the global supply and how it all works.

https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123

; Or, what happens to oil-dependent communities and countries since 1880

Try getting a book and reading it. This one looks good.

If you guys wanna read about it:

https://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Days-Radiation-Sickness/dp/1934287407

It's a long read, but it's thorough - http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123

https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123

Daniel Yergin's The Prize covers this and more. You can find the TV series based on it on YouTube:

• Our Plan
  
• Empires of Oil
  
• Black Giant
  
• War and Oil
  
• Crude Diplomacy
  
• Power to the Producers
  
• The Tinderbox
  
• New Order of Oil
  

[Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-ebook/dp/B004T4KKSA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1335199674&sr=1-1)

Tal vez esperabas algún link para una versión "gratuita", pero yo la compré después de haber leído preview que te da Amazon, te aseguro que te vas a enganchar con las primeras páginas.

Si no tienes Kindle, descarga la aplicación para PC, mac o móvil.

The Prize: http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123
All you ever wanted to know about the last century but had no clue it happened

Here, read this to answer your questions related to oil trap
http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123

He was sure to die from being exposed to heavy doses of radioation, so they wanted to study the changes going through his body. There was a book written about it.

/r/SecurityAnalysis maintain a decent reading list.

The following is taken from it:

History

• A History of Financial Speculation - Edward Chancellor
  
  
• A Short History of Financial Euphoria - Kenneth Galbraith
  
  
• Barbarians at The Gate - Bryan Burruough
  
  
• Irrational Exuberance - Robert Shiller
  
  
• Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis
  
  
• Manias, Panics and Crashes - Charles Kindleberger
  
  
• Money of the Mind - James Grant
  
  
• Oil 101 - Morgan Downey
  
  
• The Box - Marc Levinson
  
  
• The Prize - Daniel Yergin
  
  
• The Big Short - Michael Lewis
  
  
• The Great Crash of 1929 - Kenneth Galbraith
  
  
• The Panic of 1907 - Robert Brunner
  
  
• The Predators Ball - Connie Bruck
  
  
• This Time Is Different - Rogoff & Reinhart
  
  
• Too Big to Fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin
  
  
• US Bank Deregulation in A Historical Perspective - Charles Calomiris
  
  
• When Genius Failed - Roger Lowenstein
  

Here's subsidies for oil, not to mention all the money that goes into diplomatic/military intervention protecting interests of which I'm sure you're already probably aware. Also, fossil fuels power so much of our economy, so that selective government spending/rights protection also applies to power companies, manufacturing companies... hell really any company that uses fossil fuels more than the average person. Or how bout the grants and subsidies for telecom companies... not to mention the massive government infrastructure spending? Are those not entitlements? How about something as simple as a concert venue that uses public security forces more than your average person. That's a "right" that's selectively applied.

The point is, no matter what, your definition of "rights" are always selectively applied. I'm not even arguing that the above examples are bad things. I like having a regulated telecom infrastructure, and I like the fact that having that infrastructure employs lots and lots of people. I like having security. Hell, I don't like the fact that our gov fights wars in the middle east, but I do like burning fossil fuels that keep me warm and power machinery and electricity. However, if you're just going to justify your position on some philosophical platitude about "rights," I'm sorry but there's no way you can be consistent unless you advocate complete and radical overthrow of the system.

The first video is just a summary of Tony Seba's most recent book, which is well-cited. As I said, I have some small issues with the details, but the general picture is accurate: it will be cheaper to produce electricity 24/7, including overcapacity and storage, with solar than with any fossil fuels everywhere except the high latitudes by 2030.

The key assumptions this case makes are that 1) Swanson's Law will continue to hold in driving the cost of PV lower for at least 15 more years, and 2) the assumption that battery storage will continue to follow its current curve of around 8% improvement per year (although Tesla's gigafactory is likely to put us slightly ahead of the curve starting in 2017).

If you want to argue against the 2030 projection, you have to argue that one or both of those assumptions is wrong. Few people are doing so, including most notably the utility sector which is already withdrawing fossil-fuel-based generation capital investments in high-insolation areas like California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, etc.

I recommend you read a book called "A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness".

It's the story of Hisashi Ouchi, a nuclear infastructure engineer that was exposed to extremely high dosage of radiation during a severe criticality accident, effectively destroying his DNA. He lived for 83 days, if you can call it living.

You're a fucking dumbass.

Within the first TWO TO FOUR MONTHS of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki,[1] with roughly HALF of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day.

During the following MONTHS, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness. In a U.S.

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Days-Radiation-Sickness/dp/1934287407

"fairly quick" eh? Shut the fuck up.