Oil on My Mind.

In Today's New York Times (sad to say, this has become my local paper, where I find out more about what is going on in my backyard then I do from my "local" papers) There is a book review of Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli. It explores where dino juice really comes from, a brief history and politics of what we so rely on. Gas is now over $3 here in the bay area, sadly between the housing implosion, there's going to be a whole lot of hurting going on around here.

It sounds like a more light hearted sequet to Daniel Yergin's The Prize which I just moved to another shelf in my house yesterday. The book review is full of interesting facts. Did you know that the average American uses three gallons of gas a day! I wonder if that is just auto gas, or does it cover equivalences of heating, cooking and electricty gas as well?

A very timely book, but not with a hopeful prognosis. When I go to work, I see that people don't get it, and these are the people who are the better and more educated, it's business as usual. Oil is to us, as water is to a fish, and any transition will be incredibly difficult. (Just ask the fish). Peter Ducker, the famed management professor, once talked about the future that has already happened (such as demographics - if you have a spike or drop of babies 20 years ago, you're dealing with it 20 years from now, the question is how not whether). Are we in a future that has already happened?

It's interesting that Daimler's horseless carriage would own the world. Did you know that Mercedes was the name of the daughter of the supplier who created the spark plug?