Oil

Smil's short guide starts from the claim that oil is the lifeblood of the modern world. Without it, the publisher's description says, there would be no aeroplanes, no plastic, no exotic produce, and a global political landscape that few readers would recognise. Humanity's dependence on oil looks set to continue for decades to come, which is precisely why Smil thinks a plain account of what oil actually is has become necessary. The book is written as an introduction for the general reader rather than for specialists, and it is packed with facts drawn from across the subject. Its coverage runs the full length of the story, from the discovery of oil in the earth through to the controversy that surrounds it today, taking in the physics and the economics of the resource along the way, and reaching as far as its likely effect on future generations. The publisher describes it as a well-balanced, concise and readable synthesis of oil-related facts and history, and notes that this edition has been fully updated. The description is unusually brief and nothing has been added here beyond what the page states.

Written from the publisher's page for the book at Oneworld Publications.

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