Suggested Reading 9
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Suggested Reading Sheet Ideas for Where to Go Next... 9 Version 1, March 2007. Produced by the Free Range Energy Beyond Oil Project 50p http://www.fraw.org.uk/ebo/ [email protected] (where sold) The purpose of the Free Range Energy Beyond Oil Project is to raise awareness about the issue of Peak Energy. However, rather than re-invent the wheel we prefer to integrate our efforts with the body of work that already exists on these and related issues. For this reason we have produced this guide to the many other books that exist on the peak energy, climate change and other related issues in order to help people find the information/inspiration that they need. In creating this list we are not suggesting that you read everything on it, and nor are we saying that every book on this list is good and useful addition to the public's knowledge of the peak energy issue. The purpose of this list is to give an outline of the range of books that are available. The list has been assembled from titles suggested by contributors to the Energy Beyond Oil Project (who between them have quite a few thousand source books to draw upon) and contains books that they feel able to recommend (be- cause they found them helpful, interesting, or shocking!). Most of these books are available from bookshops, although a number are now out of print and can only be found from second hand booksellers or junk shops. The on-line version of this guide contains links to where you can find these books. However, ideally you shouldn't buy the book – it's far cheaper and resource efficient to borrow it from a public library (many of the books, even those out of print, are avail- able via inter-library loan). If you wish to buy book then Amazon and other booksellers will stock most of the titles, es- pecially the American books. However we would recommend that you use: The Green Shopping Catalogue (http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/) – call 01730 823311 for a catalogue; CAT Mail Order (http://www.cat.org.uk/) – call 0845 3304592 or 01654 705959 for a catalogue. Abbreviations used below: P/B, paperback; H/B, hardback; S/H, second hand/rare book seller (i.e., out of print) Peak Energy and Economics The following books deal with the issues of peak energy and/or the economic and social problems inherent within our current pat- terns of energy use. As well as looking at peak oil, some also look at the issue of environmental limits more generally. Energy Beyond Oil Richard Douthwaite, 1999 (revised A book on peak oil, written for eco- Coming Saudi Oil Shock and Paul Mobbs, 2005 edition) nomists, on the implications that a the World Economy Matador, ISBN 978-1905237005, Green Books, ISBN 978- downturn in oil supply has for the Matthew Simmons, 2005 £15.99, P/B 1870098762, £12.95, P/B world economy. Wiley, ISBN 978-0471790181, Reputed to be the first major book An excellent, compelling review of £15.99, P/B Half Gone: Oil, Gas, Hot Air and on peak oil in the UK, it outlines the problem of "growth", and the For those really into peak oil, Sim- the Global Energy Crisis how the UK energy economy reasons why the pursuit of growth mon's book clearly outlines the Jeremy Leggett, 2005 works, the problems that peak en- has driven us to the point of envir- problem – the Middle East does Portobello Books, ISBN 978- ergy will create, and the alternative onmental collapse. not have the oil that it claims, and 1846270055, £8.99, P/B options will have to adopt. without action by western govern- Before the Wells Run Dry: Ire- An interesting review of the inter- ments we never will know how Powerdown: Options and Ac- land's Transition to Renewable locking issues of energy depletion much they really have left. tions for a Post-Carbon World Energy and climate change, although the Richard Heinberg, 2004 Richard Douthwaite, 2003 solutions (mainly, more renew- Blood and Oil: How America's Clairview Books, ISBN 978- Green Books, ISBN 978- ables) are open to interpretation. Thirst for Petrol is Killing Us 1902636634, £10.95, P/B 1843510376, £9.95, P/B Michael Klare, 2005 The End of Oil: The Decline of In the follow-on book to The Party's One of the first studies of national Penguin Books, ISBN 978- the Petroleum Economy and Over, Heinberg looks specifically at energy descent as a means to 0141020037, £8.99, P/B the Rise of a New Energy Order how the only realistic options of ad- meet the problems of energy de- A rather depressing book that ex- Paul Roberts, 2004 apting to resource depletion is a pletion and climate change. amines the relationship between Bloomsbury, ISBN 978- progressive "powering down" of Americas need for energy and its Limits to Growth: The 30 Year 0747570813, £8.99, P/B the economy of the developed foreign policy – and how energy Update An examination of how energy de- world. depletion is driving them to ever Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers pletion will dissemble our modern greater extremes. The Party's Over: Oil, War and and Dennis Meadows, 2004 lifestyle, and the how possibilities the Fate of Industrial Societies Earthscan, ISBN 978-1844071449, for alternative energy sources will The Long Emergency: surviving Richard Heinberg, 2003 £14.99, P/B still require significant change. the Converging Catastrophes of New Society Publishers, ISBN A MUST READ. Updating the Club the Twenty-First Century Out of Gas: The End of the Age 978-1905570003, £12.99, US of Rome's original report 30 years James Howard Kunstler, 2005 of Oil book, P/B ago, the book outlines the multifa- Atlantic Books, ISBN 978- David Goodstein, 2005 Heinberg's seminal book on peak ceted limits to future growth – not 1843544531, £12.99, P/B W.W. Norton, ISBN 978- oil and what it means to the future just oil, but other resources too. Kunstler's exposition of the peak oil 0393326475, £8.00, US book, P/B of the American state. problem for the USA – not quite The Final Energy Crisis A book on the end of oil that fo- "end of days", but certainly a bleak The Growth Illu$ion: How Eco- Andrew McKillop and Sheila New- cusses on the energy issue rather view of the peak oil problem. nomic growth has Enriched the man, 2005 than economics or politics. Few, Impoverished the Many Pluto Press, ISBN 978- Hubbert's Peak: The Impending Twilight in the Desert: The and Endangered the Planet 0745320922, £15.99, P/B World Oil Shortage Kenneth S. Deffeyes, 2003 (re- 2005 (the jury's still out on that until Ernst von Weizsäcker, Amory B. economics cannot adequately vised edition) we get a couple of years more Loving, L. Hunter Lovins, 1998 value the environment (it doesn't Princeton University Press, ISBN data). Earthscan, ISBN 978-1853834066, send the right price signals!), and 978-0691116259, £11.95, US £16.99, P/B hence why the theories of econom- The 2030 Spike: Countdown to book, P/B The Club of Rome's report on in- ics cannot hope to accommodate Global Catastrophe A memoir and commentary on the creasing eco-efficiency – but as a the protection of the environment Colin Mason, 2003 geological issues from the Prin- counter point, instead of seeking to as part of their operation. Earthscan, ISBN 978-1844070183, ceton academic who actually increase our wealth, why not avoid £18.99, H/B Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The worked for a while with M. King getting any wealthier than today Mason, a former Australian senat- Unusual Suspect in the quest Hubbert. and cut consumption by a factor of or, outlines the six constraints that for Clean and Enduring Energy four instead? Beyond Oil: The View from threaten to disrupt the status quo Mark Jaccard, 2006 Hubbert's Peak over the next few decades – 1) en- You Can't Eat GNP: Economics Cambridge University Press, ISBN Kenneth S. Deffeyes, 2006 ergy depletion, 2) population as if Ecology Mattered 978-0521679794, £14.99, P/B Hill and Wang, ISBN 978- growth, 3) climate change, 4) food Eric A. Davidson, 2001 An (incredibly) optimistic book 0809029570, $13, US book, P/B supply, 5) water supply and 6) in- Perseus Books, ISBN 978- about the future of oil and gas pro- Deffeyes updates his views on the ternational conflict over nos. 1 to 5. 0738204871, £13.50, US book, duction which takes the highest arrival of peak oil, and states that P/B projections for oil and gas produc- Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, the peak will arrived around late An excellent investigation of why tion as if they were a certainty. Halving Resource Use Climate & Environment These books deal with the issue of climate change and other pressing environmental problems. Capitalism As If The World Mat- Burning IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report High Tide: How Climate Crisis ters George Monbiot, 2006 later this year. is Engulfing Our Planet Jonathon Porritt, 2005 Allen Lane, ISBN 978- Mark Lynas, 2005 An Inconvenient Truth: The Earthscan, ISBN 978-1844071920, 0713999242, £12.99, P/B Harper Collins, ISBN 978- Planetary Emergency of Global £19.99, H/B George looks at the need to man- 0007139408, £8.99, P/B Warming and What We Can Do A book that contradicts it's own age carbon emissions by overhaul- Looking at the issue of climate About It thesis (page xiv, 3rd paragraph) – ing energy use in the UK (unfortu- change from the people actually Al Gore, 2006 Porritt fails to reconcile the deep nately, although he almost gets experiencing its effects rather than Bloomsbury, ISBN 978- contradiction at the heart of his there, he doesn't delve into the the theoretical or research argu- 0747589068, £14.99, P/B message..