PowerSwitch

Ok, what are the essential books related to peak oil that we should all have in our libraries?

This is what I read in 2004 and 2005.
http://www.vitaltrivia.co.uk/my-reading-list/

Long Emergency
Last Oil Shock
The Party's Over
Collapse
Upside of Down
Last Light
World Made by Hand
Reinventing Collapse

Best of these to my mind are Reinventing Collapse and Last Oil Shock, though all are a worthwhile, sometimes entertaining read.

Off the top of my head now (in no particularly order) I'd say my "Desert Island" PO books (and other media are:

The Party's Over - Heinberg
The Upside of Down - Homer-Dixon
Re-inventing Collapse - Orlov
The Hirsch Report - Hirsch et al
The Collapse of Complex Societies - Tainter
Powerdown - Heinberg
Albert Bartlett's talk on the exponential function - link in my signature
What a Way to Go - DVD
"Peak Oil - Believe It or Not?" - Nate Hagens
The End of Suburbia - DVD

[edit - just remembered this one...]

Eating Fossil Fuels

[quote="clv101"]

A little tangential to Peak Oil but I've recently read The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Misha Glenny's McMafia. Both say useful things about how the world works.

biffvernon wrote:A little tangential to Peak Oil but I've recently read The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Misha Glenny's McMafia. Both say useful things about how the world works.

You mean you read non-PO stuff!!

I haven't heard of The Black Swan. Have just read the reviews on DODGY TAX AVOIDERS. Interesting!

IMO, there are two different types of non-fiction peak oil book:

The first tells you the technical details - how oil wells work, how it aggregates over areas (& the planet), how we are close to the edge of the peak (Simmons, Campbell)

The second tells you part of that, together with what the possible effects of the peak will be (Heinberg, Kunstler, Orlov)

Once you're convinced that its going to happen, you have to move on to what may actually happen in society. Most "non-fiction" authors are loathe to make concrete predictions that will doubtess prove false - but personally I want as wide a range of predictions to consider as possible. That leads you onto post-peak and post-apocalypse fiction, which may give you some hint of what the future may hold, and what will be useful.

Hence:

Post Peak Fiction
World Made By Hand - Kunstler;
Retrieving The Future - Seymour;
Last Light - Scarrow;
The Pesthouse - Crace (probably post-peak)

Post Apocalypse Fiction
The Postman - Brin;
Earth Abides - Stewart.

To complicate matters further I did once hear advice (might even be on this site somewhere) to read no more than 3 (three) books about PO, by which time you'll likely have picked up about 98% of the message...then go on to practical-type stuff (organic gardening, motor-bike assembley, solar HW for beginners etc).

I personally would not bother with any PO fiction...but then I'm not a big fiction reader generally.

Sounds fair, after reading the Last Oil Shock and Long Emergency my eyes tend to glaze over as soon as I start reading similar stuff.

I also have Peak Oil Survival which is a good how to book about clean water and sewerage etc. IMHO

RenewableCandy wrote:To complicate matters further I did once hear advice (might even be on this site somewhere) to read no more than 3 (three) books about PO, by which time you'll likely have picked up about 98% of the message...then go on to practical-type stuff (organic gardening, motor-bike assembley, solar HW for beginners etc).
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This is why I haven't bought the Orlov book. Is it really worth shelling out the money and spending hours reading it for a slightly different point of view?

My preparation as regards to finances and emergency food and water is good. My self sufficiency is non-existent.

dudley wrote:

RenewableCandy wrote:To complicate matters further I did once hear advice (might even be on this site somewhere) to read no more than 3 (three) books about PO, by which time you'll likely have picked up about 98% of the message...then go on to practical-type stuff (organic gardening, motor-bike assembley, solar HW for beginners etc).
.

This is why I haven't bought the Orlov book. Is it really worth shelling out the money and spending hours reading it for a slightly different point of view?

My preparation as regards to finances and emergency food and water is good. My self sufficiency is non-existent.

I found Orlov's point of view quite unique and it is a very funny read. His isn't really a peak oil book, rather a comparison of the USSR and the USA.

I must say I'm tempted by Kollapsnik because of his evil s.o.h. and because I'm at least tangentially familiar with the 2 countries he's talking about.

And I've really only read 2 PO books so far: Party's Over, and Half Gone.

Is it really worth shelling out the money and spending hours reading it for a slightly different point of view?

YES ... that's what you are paying for ... that mystery snippet which expands your consciousness.

The 'standard' stuff is what you have to wade through to find these gems.

I will happily pay £20 for a book which contains just one life enhancing sentence or concept.

Vortex wrote:

Is it really worth shelling out the money and spending hours reading it for a slightly different point of view?

YES ... that's what you are paying for ... that mystery snippet which expands your consciousness.

The 'standard' stuff is what you have to wade through to find these gems.

I will happily pay £20 for a book which contains just one life enhancing sentence or concept.

Absolutely. Not all of the books I've read that have been prompted by my original peak oil moment are about peak oil. That has been one of the good things about the journey.