Crude: The Story of Oil

by Sonia Shah

Book Overview

Crude is the unexpurgated story of oil, from the circumstances of its birth millions of years ago to the spectacle of its rise as the indispensable ingredient of modern life. In addition to fueling our SUVs and illuminating our cities, crude oil and its byproducts fertilize our produce, pave our roads, and make plastic possible. "Newborn babies," observes author Sonia Shah, "slide from their mothers into petro-plastic-gloved hands, are swaddled in...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583226257
• ISBN13: 9781583226254
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Interesting, Fast and Educational

Anyone interested in, or hoping to get a job in the oil, natural gas, or coal industry should read this book. I recently graduated from college and have taken a job with an oil and natural gas exploration company and found this book fascinating! I wish I would have read this as a freshman geology major instead of a senior! This is not some "oil is evil" biased book, nor is it pro-drilling, it simply presents many facts in a fairly unbiased way.

"Crude"

I highly recommend this book to everyone. First Ms. Shah's extensive research and cross-referencing is impressive and adds a lot of credibility to the work. Second, for someone tackling an issue as polarizing and sensitive as oil, Ms. Shah presents a remarkably cool tone through the book, although I think her opinions are clear. The book does not antagonize anyone, as some activisty books tend to do. What I also loved about this book was that it gave comprehensive treatment to the story of oil, focusing not just on the environment, or on geopolitics, or on capitalism, rather addressing each in turn, which made it tremendously educational and multi-dimensional. Ultimately I would judge the book by its impact on me. And I can safely say that ever since I read "Crude" I've been looking at the world a little differently - and that for an author is a remarkable achievement.

Crude: The Story of Oil

I must say Sonia Shah has done a masterful job of covering the history and geography of oil very succinctly and brilliantly in such a slim volume. This is a good book on oil for those beginners who want to understand the politics and the economics of oil. As Daniel Yergin has said: oil has brought out both the best and the worst of our civilization over almost a century and a half and it has been both boon and burden. This is very well captured by her in her book. Those who want to or need to know something about oil in a hurry should find this book very helpful.

Great for background information, but a little too preachy near the end.

Shah's review of the history of petroleum is very engaging and entertaining. An excellent read for anyone interested in where their gas comes from. A little too light for those keenly interested in foreign policy and politics, but they were probably not her target audience. I have one qualm with the second half of the book, which tends to sound a little bit too preachy and alarmist. I think a couple more pages regarding global warming would have been very helpful, but overall I don't think I should complain; Shah's Crude is a very well-written survey of the oil industry.

an eye-opening guide to international politics

Reading Shah's provocative introduction to the political economy of the oil industry, I was struck by the fact that a truly comprehensive history and analysis of oil's place in 20th century politics would be a massive tomb with a word count up there right along side the OED. And even then the analysis couldn't possibly be conclusive because this drama continues to unfold. It also struck me that it's nearly impossible to write anything about this complex, politically charged subject that won't offend someone. I imagine this is precisely why oil is such a compelling topic. Those reviewers who got hung up nitpicking over every minor detail in Shah's text may have missed the point. An engaged reader is unlikely to ever experience a perfect book. Congratulations for finding something to quibble about. I found my own points of contention with Shah's narrative, but on the whole I thought the arguments were well supported and persuasive. For me this short, crisply written little book was an excellent primer to the elaborate web of social, history, and political issues that surround our continued dependence on oil. If you are looking for an exhaustive, laboriously detailed narrative, you might look for another book on this subject. But if you're not interested in that sort of heavy-duty treatment, you're in luck. For non-specialists like myself, Shah's book offers an ideal way to enrich your understanding of oil's place in contemporary global politics. And it's a lot of fun to read, too!