Editorial Review:
Science tells us that an oil crisis is inevitable. Why and when? And what will our future look like without our favorite fuel? 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 earth's 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.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
the end of oil  2008-08-07
A simple easily read and understood description of the mess we are in written by one of the great teachers of the modern era. The only problem with this is getting it across to the people that matter. We will all end up in the desert on shank's pony if nothing sensible is done. Alternatively knee deep in horse manure.
Out of Gas 2008-07-06
I enjoyed this book very much. It's short and sweet and to the point. Mr David Goodstein is a physics and looks at the world in a test and measurement type of way. Many people will get mad if you try and warn them about peak oil. It's my understanding even today some people believe the world is flat and that we never went to the moon. The facts are simple. Population growth and global car production are growing faster than our ability to suck oil, minerals and other natural resources out of the ground. Regards, Keith Renick, Peachtree City, Ga.
Engines and Oil  2007-07-11
Exactly what I had hoped to read in the first 1/4 of the book and the last 1/4 of the book. A good discussion of the status of our oil supply and the prognosis for the future based on current and probable future demand.
My only problem with the book, and this seems to not have been mentioned in previous reviews, is that the author devotes about half of the book to the science of thermodynamics and the design of engines. This is a good basic review on about the junior high level of physical science but it is not the reason that I had picked up the book.
The author is a scientist and has written books on thermodynamics which may be the reason he feels it is important to devote about half the book to this subject. This does give you a good understanding of why it is so difficult to come up with alternatives to the powerful gasoline engine. I would have appreciated more information on the status of oil reserves in Mexico, Iran, Russia etc. in addition to what he had discussed on Saudi Arabia. These countries figure importantly in the future and are not covered in depth in this book.
In genereal this is a good book but I felt the need to read more on the subject after completing it.
out of gas 2006-11-10
This book asks the question "How long can the worldwide oil economy last"?
The answer: "Not very long". The age of oil is fast coming to a close. What will replace it? Well, immediately reduce consumption of remaining carbon based fuels and other products or learn to reuse them. Many tons per capita in carbon based waste in landfills must be lowered NOW!
Long term solutions must include moves to renewables and sustainable uses. The great "nuclear furnace in the sky" can provide over 50% of the earth's energy needs with today's technology without much change in North American lifestyles. To accomodate a population of 6+ billion at such levels would require 3 or 4 more planets like the earth. We ain't got 'em. So, what is one alternative to this growing probem? - get rid of a huge portion of the current population! One way or the other, the planet will fix itself and restore balance. Simple... if we don't do something soon, the planet WILL. Our choice?
Succinct, focused, readable  2006-09-10
For those of you who are just getting interested in the subject, David Goodstein's Out of Gas is the book you want to read first. I have read several books on the impending energy crisis, including:
Deffeyes, Kenneth S. Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak (2005)
Heinberg, Richard. The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2nd Ed., 2005)
Huber, Peter W. and Mark P. Mills. The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy (2005)
Leeb, Stephen and Donna Leeb. The Oil Factor: Protect Yourself--and Profit--from the Coming Energy Crisis (2005)
Simmons, Matthew R. Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy (2005)
and I can say that Professor Goodstein's modest, short and very much to the point book is as good as, if not better than, any of those five. He introduces the subject in a clear and no nonsense way and includes a lot of background information essential to understanding how energy works and why we are about to face a crisis. For readers who are expert on the physics and technology of heat engines and entropy, this book will be a little too basic in part. But even for such experts, Goodstein is essential reading because not only does he understand the science of the energy crisis, he understands the politics. Especially edifying is the material in the Postscript. Let me reference a few ideas:
OPEC (a cartel, as Goodstein explains, patterned after the Texas Railroad Commission which was the cartel that controlled oil production in the US before our supply peaked) likes to maintain prices within a range, "partly in order not to discourage demand for oil, but also to prevent investment in alternative fuels." This we know, of course. But Goodstein adds, "The implied threat is, if you invest money to develop a competitor to oil, we will flood the market with cheap oil and wipe out your investment." (pp. 126-127)
This explains in part why we have been so slow to develop alternative sources. Investors are afraid. However, as Goodstein explains, if OPEC no longer has "excess pumping capacity" to flood the market, theirs becomes an empty threat. Notice another point here: not only are OPEC countries tempted to overstate capacity so that by OPEC rules they are allowed to pump more oil, they are induced to lie about their reserves to scare potential investors away from alternative energy sources. In fact the entire oil industry itself "has a very strong incentive to deny any looming shortage of oil." In other words, to overstate their reserves. Another reason they overstate their reserves "is to keep down the price of oil properties they would like to acquire." (p. 127)
Goodstein also explains why "reserves to production" (R/P) numbers have stayed about the same for many decades and why many experts say we still have forty years of oil left, same as we have had for most of the twentieth century. Quite simply "proven" reserves are reported as "whatever fits the current needs" of the company. (p. 128) It used to be the case that under-reporting was good since it kept the price of oil from plummeting. Now the real danger is to acknowledge that a company doesn't have much oil left. This will cause their stock price to plunge, which is what happened to the Royal Dutch Shell Group "when it was forced by outside auditors to reduce its claims of proven reserves..." (p. 129)
Goodstein's take on the various alternatives to oil, including coal, shale oil, nuclear energy, renewables, etc. is very much in concert with the opinions of other experts. We will be using more coal, dirty as it is, and more nuclear energy, and natural gas. These are the three main alternatives. Not long after we run out of oil we will run out of natural gas and then coal and then even nuclear power plants will grow cold for lack of uranium, which if used to supply energy at the current rate of consumption will be depleted in five to twenty-five years. (p. 106)
Goodstein explores wind and solar and makes it clear that in the long run--if we and civilization are going to make it to the long run--we will have to develop the technology to exploit these renewable sources. This will require a huge investment. We will need the political leadership and will to make the kind of commitment that President Kennedy made in putting a man on the moon. Goodstein believes that solving the energy problem will require the same sort of formidable and creative technology as did the space program. He adds that "Unfortunately, our present national and international leadership is reluctant even to acknowledge that there is a problem." (p. 123)
It is essential that we make the commitment to develop alternatives fuels and we make that commitment NOW because (1) we will need the oil we have left to make the thousands of petrochemical products we will continue to use; (2) we need to free ourselves from dependence on the oil producing countries; and (3) there is an outside danger that the continued burning of fossils fuels will trigger a runaway greenhouse catastrophe that could lead to sterilizing the earth as has happened on Venus. Note well this horrific downside--far worse than any "nuclear winter"--and note too we could go past the point of no return without even realizing it, and be left with no way to stop the meltdown.
Bottom line: "The challenge is enormous but the stakes are even larger. If future generations are to thrive, we who have consumed Earth's legacy of cheap oil must now provide for a world without it." (p. 131)
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