The Prize
The Prizerecounts the panoramic history of oil -- and the struggle for wealth and power that has always surrounded oil. This struggle has shaken the world economy, dictated the outcome of wars, and transformed the destiny of men and nations. The Prizeis as much a history of the twentieth century as of the oil industry itself. The canvas of history is enormous -- from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm.
Stats for nerds
36recommend
112mentions
42people
2008–2026years
71% recommend29% neutral1% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- "The Prize" by Daniel Yergin is the goto history of oil & gas industry worldwide
... but it (and TFA) still can't explain to me a 100$/barrel premium captured by diesel refineries recently !
- In a very different vein, I have read a number of books recently that feature a surprising amount of "scam and schemes":
- The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, about the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. A lot of people were scammed into settling the high plains by railroad salesmanship and other "real estate" scams.
- The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown. A book about the harrowing Donner Party. Scamming and scheming are what draw them out to that expedition.
- The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. WW1 history but it boils down to the scheming of various men in the respective countries.
- The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, Daniel Yergin. The oil rush from America to the World. Scheming features prominently to say the least.
- For the ones interested, there’s a fascination book on the history of oil. The Prize, by Daniel Yergin [1].
- For anyone interested in learning that history, I cannot recommend highly enough Daniel Yergin's book The Prize (1990), and its companion PBS series of the same title (1992).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prize:_The_Epic_Quest_for_...>
That recommendation comes despite the fact that Yergin is an unapologetic booster of the petroleum industry. The simple fact is that he's written an exquisitely researched and detailed history of oil in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the tremendous changes it produced. This includes ample coverage of oil development throughout the Middle-East and North Africa (and of course, elsewhere).
- Thanks for the info.
On The Prize, it's really phenomenal, and that's from someone who disagrees pretty strongly with Yergin on his general cozyness to the petroleum industry and enthusiasm for its future prospects. As a history the book is a brilliant work, there's an accompanying PBS/BBC miniseries, and the wealth of information contained (and number of head-turning new-to-me revelations) can't be briefly described. If you're into that sort of thing, I'd also recommend as much of Vaclav Smil as you can stand, though would suggest starting with Energy and Civilization, a look at human history through the lens of energy.
The octane ratings you give are about what I recall from Yergin's description (if that's where I first heard it, again, somewhat vague decade-plus recollection).
My understanding of diesel ignition is somewhat informed by WWII-era triple-expansion steamships, which burned bunker fuel, that requiring a lot of heating (utilising spent steam) just to get it flowing toward the boiler, then again getting toasted immediately before going into the burners. External combustion, obviously, but the challenge of getting a very nonvolatile fuel to burn left an impression. That engine room visit left an impression as well....
Otherwise, appreciate the additional knowledge, it fits pretty well with my own weaker understanding. Interesting especially about cetane. Looking that up, the name comes from Hexadecade, a/k/a C16H34, or a sixteen-chain hydrocarbon (double the carbon-atom count of octane, a/k/a C8H18).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecane>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetane_number>
And for octane: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating>
- "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power" by Daniel Yergin
