Out of Gas – The End of the Age of Oil (Norton Paperback)

Our rate of oil discovery has reached its peak and will never be exceeded; rather it is certain to decline—perhaps rapidly—forever forward. Meanwhile over the past century we have developed lifestyles firmly rooted in the promise of an endless cheap supply. In this book David Goodstein professor of physics at Caltech explains the underlying scientific principles of the inevitable fossil fuel shortage we face. He outlines the drastic effects a fossil fuel shortage will bring down on us. And he shows that there is an important silver lining to the need to switch to other sources of energy for when we have burned up all the available oil the earths climate will have moved toward a truly life-threatening state. With its easy-to-grasp explanations of the science behind every aspect of our most urgent environmental policy decisions Out of Gas is a handbook for the future of civilization.