Succinct, readable and spine-chilling polemic on our post-fossil fuel future.
From the publisher's announcement:
Science tells us that an oil crisis is inevitable. Why and when? And what will our future look like without our favorite fuel?
Our rate of oil discovery has reached its peak and will never be exceeded; rather, it is certain to decline-perhaps rapidly-forever forward. Meanwhile, over the past century, we have developed lifestyles firmly rooted in the promise of an endless, cheap supply. In this book, David Goodstein, professor of physics at Caltech, explains the underlying scientific principles of the inevitable fossil fuel shortage we face. He outlines the drastic effects a fossil fuel shortage will bring down on us. And he shows that there is an important silver lining to the need to switch to other sources of energy, for when we have burned up all the available oil, the earth's climate will have moved toward a truly life-threatening state.
With its easy-to-grasp explanations of the science behind every aspect of our most urgent environmental policy decisions, Out of Gas is a handbook for the future of civilization.
"A book that is more powerful for being brief....[Goodstein] is no muddled idealist. And his argument is based on the immutable laws of physics."-Paul Raeburn, New York Times Book Review
"What will we do then, when oil and gas are no longer enough? David Goodstein lays out the clear truth of the problem in this book. It should be read and reread by anyone who expects to live past 2010."-Rick Smalley, Nobel laureate and Hackerman Professor of Chemistry at Rice University
"An eye-opener....[Goodstein] never preaches, but neither does he pull any punches."-San Francisco Chronicle
David Goodstein, vice provost and Frank J. Galloon Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor at the California Institute of Technology, is the author of Feynman's Lost Lecture, among other works. He lives in Pasadena.