Rating: 
Summary: Top notch
Review: This book is a complete and thorough history of the most important natural resource. Its reach is unequalled. From the beginning of the industry in western Pennsylvania to oil's modern strategic importance, the book is simply awesome in scope. Yergin does an excellent job of telling the story and backing it with plenty of source information and footnotes. After reading this book, I see World War II in a completely new way. Oil as a strategic resource has changed the face of warfare. I always knew this, but couldn't tell you exactly why. After reading this book, I can tell you why. I loved the history of the Germans' and Japanese efforts at synthetic fuels productions. This book also contains a good chapter about the Iran-Iraq war, a topic that has been relatively difficult to find good information on. If I was forced to make one critical comment about this book I would say that I would have liked to have had one chapter describing some of the basic technical processes involved in refining oil. But with such a long and informative book, I suppose everybody could list "one" more chapter that they would have liked. Read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A chronicle of the price of oil and oil discovery
Review: This is an accomplished work detailing the story of oil from the mid nineteenth century to the end of the gulf war. I found the story riveting up until the end of the second world war. The book loses it's grip on the significance of oil in history here. The focus shifts to oil prices, markets and many far too broad issues for a reader to easily ingest and understand. I found the details of the Middle East conflicts muddled and lacking a clear insight. The grasp on history slips into uncertainty. Possibily not all information is available to the author due to national security however he omits to say if this is so and the picture can be confusing. By contrast the first half or so of the book has a clear grasp of the story being told. Significant individuals are singled out and the narrative proceeds with a natural development of human proportions. The forces at work are clearly expressed and conveyed. Some flashes of this story telling ability appear later in the book but as the story goes global and more up-to-date the sureness of touch is lost. The reader really needs to want to read about oil price fluctuation in order to enjoy this latter part of the book.
Rating:
Summary: A PULITZER
Review: DANIEL YERGIN'S THE PRIZE, A PULITZER !!!
WAITING FOR THE VIDEO ON DVD......
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Book on the Worlds Most Important Commodity
Review: This book is one of those rare non-fiction books that is simultaneously huge, broad, very deeply researched and annotated, and emminantly readable. Daniel Yergin has detailed, in broad strokes, the entire history of the Oil Industry from the first discovery in Titusville, PA to the invasion of Iraq. What makes this book good is its easy and flowing storyteller style in detailing very complex political and socio-economic world affairs. What makes it a great book and a bestseller is the epic nature the book takes on. The subtitle 'Epic Quest," sounds a lot like an editorial decision to sell books, but it is quite accurately descriptive of the book's evocative power. One really gets a sense of global struggle, and Yergin's focus on the stories of individual people gives the book a very intimate feel to it. Hense 'Epic Quest.' Sounds silly, but read the book and you'll understand.
Rating:
Summary: What an education!!
Review: As an engineer who has worked in both exploration and refining, I would have to recommend this as required reading for anyone who works in the oil and gas industry. Several years of working in the industry have given me a knowledge base, but nothing like the education Yergin gave me in The Prize. This book looks at the history of oil from its beginnings in Pennsylvania, the Standard Oil Trust, the middle east and all the other major discoveries that laid the foundation for the world's largest industry. The most interesting part of the book I found to be the major part oil and its supply played in both world wars. I had no idea what a crucial factor it was in instigating and ending the wars. What an amazing book!! It may be a bit long for those who are not familiar with the industry. But even so, for anyone with a thirst for knowledge about the world we live in, it will be extremely entertaining. Well deserving of a Pullitzer Prize when it was written.
Rating:
Summary: Petroleum History Information
Review: This book is one of the best around for historical information on the petroleum industry. It is put together in a very good chronological and logical manner that links many events and things together with each other through their common link of petroleum. It has a great deal of information on many of the leading petroleum producing nations of the world. Overall, it is a book that makes very enjoyable reading on the history and development of the petroleum industry and its importance in politics and economics. I would have given this book a five star rating if it had including much more information and deserved attention on the country of Canada and its petroleum industry since it is one of the biggest suppliers of petroleum to the United States. Also, mention of the diesel engine in its relationship as a solution to higher cetane vs octane fuels as found in early discovered petroleum is another important fact. It is hoped that if the author writes a revised version of his book that these things be considered.
Rating:
Summary: The Prize: Wow! As soon as I finished, I started again
Review: I can't use anything but superlatives for this tome. As soon as I finished it I started again. Yergin, now the president of the VERY influential private energy group CERA does an outstanding job of researching and explaining the major energy trends in the history of oil. A herculean task.... Yergin knocks it out of the park. A MUST READ.
Rating:
Summary: Timely
Review: An extremely comprehensive and educational book covering a topic that everyone, worldwide, should be familiar with, especially given current events in the Middle East. I loved this book. Basically, this book covers the entire history of the oil industry! The story begins with the engineers who found the undistilled rock oils in places like Pennsylvania and ends in 1992 after the Gulf War had ended. It documents how the industry evolved during that time period, how events such as the introduction of the automobile changed it, and how eventually it came to figure largely in world politics. The many people whose lives were intimately intertwined in oil are all mentioned: the engineers, the oil company execs, the sheiks, the kings, the presidents and the prime ministers. Fascinating story. I want to see the movie (PBS documentary)!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book! But needs to be updated!!!
Review: This book is no doubt a great book, and the most comprehensive history of the oil industry. I hope the author updates the book every 25 years or so because once again this industry is going through another cycle. Also a lot of previously classified documents are becoming publicly available such as in 2004 the British released papers stating Nixon was willing to occupy OPEC oil fields with military force because of their embargo.
But the book does have faults mainly with Daniel Yergin put way to many of his opinions in this book (maybe that is inevitable). For example he says in the Epiloge that Iraqi soldiers commits certain crimes while in Kuwait, that information is know known to be completly wrong, so i hope the next printing of this book updates that. Also he says that Saddam Hussein had ambitions for Arab-conquest, maybe he is right but i feel his opinion is wrong...it would have been nice if he said that was his opinion, and another possible ansewer excists for him trieng to take over Iran and Kuwait.
Also this book does a great job of telling the story of Saudi, Iran, and Venezuala. But much is desired with Iraq, Libya, the North Sea, and Nigeria.
Maybe i am demanding too much from this book, it is already a 800+ page book.
I found the best way to complete it is: read one chapter a day, so you will finish it in about a month....it takes disipline but it worked for me.
This is a must read, everyone in high school or college should be required to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful, important, exquisitely informative, and loooong.
Review: You should get a PhD in Hydrocarbononics (not a real word) for reading this book. Everything you could possibly want to know about Oil; its physical origins, the technologies that helped fuel the need for it, the people and nations that brought it (at great risk, turmoil, and drama) to the market, and its influence on domestic and world politics (which range from "important" to "imperative"). Very well written, D. Yergin takes the time to tell a story with each important chronological step. Many of the stories are quite interesting, and certainly highly detailed. I would warn people with ADD, or little time, to be careful of this book. It's quite an investment of time, but in my opinion, well worth it. Enjoy...
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