Eyes devouring The Prize
Oct. 12th, 2009 08:25 amCurrently reading The Prize by Daniel Yergin, a potted history of the development of oil about the globe. It's a book that keeps on getting referenced by various people as I've maintained this resource depletion kick of mine, and Waterstones had it, so clearly it was destiny that I should so procure.
It's quite good, although it's obviously trying to strike the balance between depth and length, so some of the stuff (particularly about Standard Oil's business practices early on) is rather glossed over (indeed, you almost get the impression that Standard Oil didn't really do anything wrong, when other sources contend that actually they were downright nasty).
Does make me wonder afresh at how dynamic the late C19 and early C20 were - such change, passion and progress. Anyway, that's the book that's currently occupying my evenings at Castle Fox :-)
It's quite good, although it's obviously trying to strike the balance between depth and length, so some of the stuff (particularly about Standard Oil's business practices early on) is rather glossed over (indeed, you almost get the impression that Standard Oil didn't really do anything wrong, when other sources contend that actually they were downright nasty).
Does make me wonder afresh at how dynamic the late C19 and early C20 were - such change, passion and progress. Anyway, that's the book that's currently occupying my evenings at Castle Fox :-)
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