Every American's Little Handbook of OIL

(Fits in pocket, priced at less than a gallon of gasoline (early 2008 price that is)

General Description
We Americans use lots of oil (about 7 billion barrels per year), yet most of us know precious little about the substance—Like, what exactly it is, how it forms, why it is found where it is, and how the price varies (I guess we know a lot about how the price varies, so maybe why is a better question to answer). 

We hear a lot of talk about oil (especially from politicians) and yet we (and most of the politicians) never had any real education about oil – What most Americans (or most anyone else in the world for that matter) know about oil has been mostly hear-say. We need a better background of understanding about oil – This little handbook provides just that.

Why a Little Handbook on Oil?
This little book provides a lot of bang for the buck – it happens to be fun and entertaining too—It will not take weeks or months to read, just a few moments really. You can read it as a passenger in a car (no reading and driving please), read it on the train, read it inside another book, etc. There are plenty of good 400+ page books on oil – we don’t need to start there – Let’s start here, with a little handbook on oil that gives the basics on oil that have been either never really layed out for most people, twisted by rumors, or never were of concern or interest until recently. My goals for this book are that it is:

Author’s personal notes
I remember a statement made by an oil company executive and geologist at the 1998 Geological Society of America meeting in Toronto – he said something to the effect of “We geologists are doing a lousy job of preparing the public for the upcoming oil shock…”  That stuck with me.

I guess this little book is my contribution to the conversation. Is the book perfect? No. But I think as a country so dependant on oil, we all need to start the oil conversation with some basic understandings of the subject!