Yergin has amassed a great collection of facts and brought them together well into a story which is a quick and interesting read. Definitely required reading to learn about the industry and the unique resource that drives it.

There are several problems with the book however. The first and most glaring is Yergin's proselytizing mission for neoliberalism. Everything neoliberal is good and everything else is denounced as bad. Neoliberal theories are applied as law throughout the book.

There is a gap in coverage of Soviet enterprises throughout the cold war. The typical work around for Yergin is to ignore that sector of the world with a description of what was going on in the "free world" instead.

Finally, the book also misses the importance of King Hubbert's work on peak oil. Given that oil was already well understood and resources well characterized at the time of publication, this is an oversight.

Still, despite the drawbacks, this is an important and recommended work. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I'm young enough that most of the history presented was new and quite enlightening, especially in terms of our modern day Iraq War. It's a dense read in that I kept wanting to go off and read other books as tangents in order to fully understand what was being presented, but, alas, there's only so much time in the day and way too much good stuff out there to read. I end up with that "I'm just scratching the surface" feeling. I have all this new insight, but man, it would be nice to read other related books in order to feel more balanced and confident with the material. ( )

Interesting history of the oil business and of oil supply and demand. ( )

2693 The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, by Daniel Yergin (read 8 Jan 1995) (Pulitzer Nonfiction prize in 1992) This a 1989 book and a wondrous one. It tells the story of oil from its discovery in 1859 in Pennsylvania through 1989. The story is a superbly interesting one, high in drama. I was especially struck by the account of October, 1973, a time of high excitement almost on a par with the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Yergin is an energy consultant, and was a lecturer at Harvard as well as a Marshall Scholar at Cambridge. The blurb on this book says: "After seven years of painstaking research and with unparalleled access to the sources, Daniel Yergin has written the definitive work on the subject of oil." For once, a blurb seems right. This was a great, great book to read. ( )

Its all about oil! Very well documented and written book on the history of oil usage and profiteers around the world and especially in America. ( )

After all these years, Yergin's book is still quoted as the definitive source of information on the oil industry. I read this book when it first came out and have referred back to it many times. ( )

I found this for $2.00 at a rummage sale at the pharmacy at Saline St. Joseph Hospital in Saline, Michigan. It's a first UK S&S edition. The ISBN is the same as the S&S U.S. edition, and no printing #s have been removed, but the price is lbs 20 net and the cover is distinctive.

In any event, for $2.00 this was a great buy, as this is still a definitive history of its subject. ( )

I have the one with the gold cover-still topical, Pulitzer winning book. Wish he would publish a PART II to keep up with recent developments -Gulf War Redux...also touching on what James Howard Kunstler spoke of in The Long Emergency.

Excellent!!!! Great for understanding the 20th century. Would recommend it as class reading at both high school and college level. ( )

Fascinating but long and sometimes heavy reading. ( )

"The Prize" is one of the most memorable books I've read. Simply put, it's the biography of Oil. And if you'll think about it for a moment, Oil has had a very fascinating life.

Mr. Yergin takes you on a global trip through history, touching upon virtually every human endeavor. From Rothschild to Rockefeller, from the “Seven Sisters” to Saud -- Oil has kept some interesting company. I would never have the audacity to even attempt such a far-reaching approach. Not only does it he accomplish it, Mr. Yergin keeps the entire journey utterly fascinating.

A truly great book.

Don Brown
http://gettheflick.blogspot.com/ ( )