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Summary: Oil makes the world go 'round
Review: Daniel Yergin does a marvelous job of describing the history, politics and importance of oil in the world economy, from its relatively quiet, dusty beginnings, through a global crisis, and into the present. My parents both read "The Prize" and continue to re-read it. You should too.
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Summary: From 'Rock Oil' through to the 'Age of Oil'...
Review: ...'Hydrocarbon Man' rocks on. 'Rock Oil' and the 'Age of Oil' are two descriptive phrases that Yergin uses to 'bookend' his epic story - 'The Prize'. He starts with a vignette about how rock oil - a black, sticky substance found in the backwoods of northwest Pennsylvania and used as a folk medicine came to be made into an illuminant (kerosene); one which quickly supplanted whale oil, camphene and 'town gas' (a distillate of coal) as the preferred means of lighting one's home. Yergin concludes with the prospects for the future of us -'hydrocarbon man' as we continue with our dependancy on oil.From the opening pages it is clear that Yergin is an authority on the subject. We have not travelled more than 10 years along the 150 year history of oil and yet we have already learnt it's origins, it's ancient and alternate uses, the products it was competing with, and we have met some of the early inventors, entrepreneur's and explorers. There are three themes that Yergin develops throughout the book. Firstly, the story of oil is the story of capitalism and modern business. The province of Fortune 500 companies, multinationals and the underpinning of wealth in the industrialized west. Certainly, from as early as the late 19th Century, with the emergence of Standard Oil as the first multinational company (a subject Yergin devotes a fair amount of time to),- it's hard to refute this claim. Yergin does recognize that the late 20th Century was less oil lubricated and more computer chip driven, and it's obvious to all of us that this trend will only intensify in this century. Indeed from the time the first edition of 'The Prize' was published (just before the Gulf War) and even since this edition came out in 1993 -things have changed quite a bit economically. In 1990, seven of the top 20 Fortune 500 Companies were in the oil industry. Today you have to extend the search further, and even then only come up with Exxon-Mobil, Enron, Chevron and Texaco. The second theme he highlights is the role oil had in strategic global geoplolitical decicions and disasters. He lays at the feet of 'oil politics' the Japanese decision to bomb Pearl Harbour and Germany's invasion of Russia. Typically in a classic example of the irony that history is famous for, the eventual defeat of these two empires was also due to oil (actually the lack of it). There are of course other more recent strategic oil wars - what was the Gulf War and the unprecedented United Nations stand against Iraq if not a defense of the 'blood supply' for industrialized nations? This revised edition of the book makes it quite clear that Iraq if successful in it's swallowing of Kuwait, would have been the most powerful nation in The Persian Gulf. The third theme is more sociological and forces us to deal with questions not of history but of our future. Yergin states that we have become a 'Hydrocarbon Society' and thus we are 'Hydrocarbon Man'. What characterizes us as this new species? Basically that our cities, politics, economics, values - in fact almost all things material and of importance to us are lubricated with a concern about oil. This used to be seen as a universal good - but no more, There are some of us, Mr Yergin says, including himself, that are concerned about this dependency - It's impact on our behavior, our health and our environment and our ability to sustain our way of life. I agree with other reviewers in that more could have been said on some issues such as alternative energy sources, the economic and environmental arguments for and against our continued reliance on oil and the spin off activities and other associated industries such as plastics and chemicals. But, in fairness to Mr Yergin, there is so much that you can and should say, especially when you find that it is taking you over 800 pages to say it. For me, as a history book on the oil industry, it's certainly long enough but more importantly - good enough.
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Summary: Definitive -- Yet Accessible -- History of the Oil Industry
Review: The Prize follows the major developments in the oil industry, from its inception with the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company through the Gulf War. The Prize well deserves the praise it has received. Yergin's research and knowledge of the history of the oil industry are obvious and make this a great historical work, yet the length and the abundance of detail do not impinge on the readability of the book. Among many insightful sections of this book, I found the chapters on the role of oil in the Second World War to be particularly interesting. After reading other books about the battles of that war, it was useful to learn something about the logistics behind those battles. It is unfortunate that this book is already a decade old. In his epilogue, Yergin touches on the Gulf War and the effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world's largest oil producer in the late 1980's, but this was not quite history yet when he was writing The Prize.
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Summary: A Good History Book!
Review: An excellent history of the oil industry. This book civers fron the first oil find until today. It well documents the impact that oil has had on the world in the past as well as today. The formation of some of the biggest industrial concerns in the history of the world a covered in this book as well. The author also explains the dominant role of the Middle East in the oil industry picture. This is a very informative and readable book even if it is long. This book is a good writing on a subject that is hard to write about. This book also does a good job describing the makeup and breakup of the Standard Oil Company. Be sure to read this book.
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Summary: A book not about oil, but how oil changed mankind.
Review: I am a chemical engineer in the oil industry and this book intrests me for obvious reason, but... This book is about the impact oil and mankind has had on each other. Oil has shaped the world economy and power structure in business and goverment since it was first drilled for in Penn. This book is more about the intrigue than technology. The goals of this book is to show how man hads become to depend on oil without knowing it. How oil has shaped history, warfare and peace. I have had several friends who are not engineers say that they have loved this book. No hard science background is needed. Yergin is weaves a story of people and their fasination and fixation to control the worlds supply of oil. THE PRIZE is the perfect title.
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Summary: This book hits a gusher
Review: While "The Prize" purports to be the history of oil, it could just as easily be in part a history of every major human undertaking of the last century or so. As Yergin stresses, little that has been achieved in the 20th century could have been achieved without it. Starting with the initial discoveries during the mid-nineteenth century and culminating with the Gulf War, this is a sweeping story in the mode of David McCullogh's "The Path Between the Seas." Yergin is a insightful and talented writer and the book reads like an adventure story. Along the way, he very much gives an important history subject its due.
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Summary: Insight into the World of Oil
Review: An excellent read. One of the most factual yet interesting books I have read in a long time. This book is a must not only for people interested in the Oil industry, but for anyone vaguely interested in politics, world economics or travel. It explains events from the beginnings of oil discoveries, the development & growth of the internal combustion engine through related issues of the second world war an the invasion of Kuwait. Read and enjoy
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Summary: This is an excellent source about the history of oil.
Review: Since I chose oil futures as a term paper topic for my graduate investment class, I really wanted to get a strong background on how oil became such a powerful commodity since it was discovered back in the 1800s. This book gives an in depth history from Standard Oil to OPEC. You see just how powerful oil is when it comes to politics, and you will understand why our gasoline prices were approaching $2.00 a gallon in March. Yergin truly deserved the Pulitzer Prize for his seven years of research. This book is excellent.
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Summary: Informative, interesting and enjoyable (if you are into oil)
Review: Whether you like this book depends on whether you already have an interest in oil. As an energy analyst, I find the book engrossing, particularly its explanation of the role that oil played in many of the world's major conflicts over the past century. The author also provided backgrounds and highlights of the key personalities who played a role in the history of oil. This helped to make the book far more readable and entertaining than your average history book. However, there is one caveat: for readers who are not in the energy industry or already have prior interests in oil, the book may not prove as interesting.
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Summary: One of the best social and economic history books ever!
Review: If you want to learn about the impact that oil has had and still has on the world--read this outstanding book. It has an enormous amount of wildly interesting andecdotes and history of the movers and shakers in the world of oil. It reads like a novel-I couldn't put it down. Great book to take to the beach. Covers social, political and economic history-one of the best history books ever written on any subject!
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