Oil on the Brain

From the days of the 1970s OPEC oil embargo to the recent spikes in gas prices, and the constantly evolving and volatile situation in the Middle East, it seems everyone has “oil on the brain.” Yet, despite the fact that our daily lives are inextricable from oil — the U.S. alone burns through 10,000 gallons of gasoline a second, or three gallons per person per day — many of us have only limited knowledge of the substance often referred to as liquid gold.

In Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline, Lisa Margonelli trains a journalist’s eye on the industry that drives our economy. Knee deep in the politics, chemistry, economics, and culture of petroleum, Margonelli draws on interviews with gas station owners, truckers, drillers, oil billionaires, NYMEX employees, members of the Niger Delta, Iranian workers, Venezuelan villagers, and Chinese automobile designers to bring new understanding to the substance that many of us take for granted.

A review in the San Francisco Chronicle (2/4/07) declares:

Surprising nuggets…come by the fistful in “Oil on the Brain,” Lisa Margonelli’s illuminating, entertaining stories of “people who oversee oil’s long journey to our cars.” Starting at her neighborhood filling station, she scurries up the pump like Alice down the rabbit hole, to discover and chronicle the delivery trucks, refineries, drilling rigs, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the oil market and, most tellingly, the voracious consumers, who daily go about changing the world with as much concern as they give that hidden penny.

At this D.C. book launch event, Skip Laitner, former EPA official and expert on climate change and energy consumption, provided opening remarks and moderated a lively question and answer session.

Participants

• Lisa Margonelli
  Irvine Fellow, New America Foundation
  Author, Oil on the Brain (Nan A. Talese)
• John A. "Skip" Laitner (opening remarks)
  Visiting Fellow and Senior Economist
  American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)