The Prize - Daniel Yergin

Simply put, this book is the story of our modern times, told through the lens of the discovery of oil. From the first discoveries of 'rock oil' in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania in the 1850s up until the present, the book follows the growth of the fossil-fuel-based energy usage paradigm and the ways in which fossil fuels revolutionized transportation, warfare, and everyday life.

Thinking back to pre-oil times from the contemporary vantage point, it is amazing to imagine the entire world riding horses, hunting whales for lamp oil, and burning coal in stoves to heat their homes. In the middle of the 19th century, trains and ships still served as the principal means of mechanical long-range transportation. Without jet fuel, the planes of the world would cease to fly. The author discusses 'Hydrocarbon Man' and equates him with the people of modern times- and it's true, right now the world depends heavily on fossil fuels and the nations which produce them.

The book takes a very comprehensive look at the history of oil, particularly in regions such as the United States, the Middle East, Latin America, and Southeast Asia but also in the North Sea, Russia, and Central Asia. Saudi Arabia and Iran figure as main players, as do the United States, and, at various times in history, Great Britain and the Soviet Union.

However, some of the most compelling segments of the book center heavily on World War II, in which the energy-starged Axis powers sought to gain hegemony over oil-rich regions in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In particular, the accounts of the German drive for Stalingrad and development of coal-to-oil technology as well as the frantic efforts of the oil-starved Japanese empire to develop alternative energy sources by digging up the forests of Japan and boiling the roots of trees still stick out in my mind. The detailing of the complex politics of international oil consortia and OPEC also establish a framework for understanding the foundations of the oil industry as it exists today.