5 comments about Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage.

1. Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage is not an easy read, but it is an important one if you really want to understand why some knowledgable people are trying to warn us about the end of cheap oil. The author, Kenneth Deffeyes, is thoroughly grounded in his material on both the academic and the professional level, having literally grown up in the oil field, worked for some of the largest oil companies in the world, and having taught at Princeton University. He also has the more unique qualification of having actually studied under and worked with M. King Hubbert himself. The problem with his book, however, is that it is written as if presuming that the reader already has some background in both geology and statistics. At less than 200 pages, it is not a particularly long book, but it is rather dense in places, leaving the reader frequently wishing he could interrupt the lecture and ask questions before moving on.
   
   That said, there is much to be gained from reading this book, even if you only truly absorb a quarter of what is being said. Deffeyes goes into great detail on why oil is found where it is and on the history of oil exploration and production, but most significantly he shows how it is possible these days to know whether there is or isn't oil to be found in a given area and why today there is only one area left in the world where a significant oil field could still be found (the South China Sea). And why, even if found, would not be enough to postpone the day of reckoning for more than a few years.
   
   He also goes into detail showing how Hubbert made his uncannily accurate projection of when US domestic oil production would peak (in 1956, Hubbert projected that US production would peak in 1972 -- the actual peak year turned out to be 1970) and of how this method has been used to project when world oil production would peak (2003). This is where a knowledge of statistics comes into play, and one wishes that the editors had urged him towards some further clarifications for the lay readers. But nonetheless, you can still see how the projections have been made and the supporting evidence for why they need to be taken seriously.
   
   This book was published in 2001. The peak year projected in the book for world oil production was 2003. It is worth noting that the cost of oil has more than doubled since that projected peak year. Deffeyes' most compelling warning about our situation comes at the end of chapter seven: "This much is certain: no initiative put in place starting today can have a substantial effect on the peak production year. No Caspian Sea exploration, no drilling in the South China Sea, no SUV replacements, no renewable energy projects can be brought on at a sufficient rate to avoid a bidding war for the remaining oil. At least, let's hope that the war is waged with cash instead of with nuclear warheads."



2. This is obviously a well-researched book and perhaps even well-written, but it is a tough read indeed!
   
   I bought this book in order to better understand "Hubbert's Peak" and the issue of oil and the impending oil shortage predicted by so many analyst.
   
   The author does a very good job of explaining Hubbert's peak - in the first chapter of the book no less. But after that it was rough sailing and I found my interesting waning as Deffeyes discussed oil traps, drilling methods, and rate plots.
   
   So I ended up skimming those chapters and jumping to the portion of the book dealing with the future of fossil fuels, alternative energy sources and a new outlook. Unfortunately, the pickings were a bit slim, with the author devoting only 16 of the books 189 pages to these topics.
   
   There are probably better books out there for the layman interested in learning about the world's impending oil crisis.



3. I have read a few other books about the oil industry, which brought this book my way. The book provides a lot of interesting insight into why/where oil fields exist, the exploration, drilling, etc. Hubbert's Peak provides a substantial education and not just trivial facts about the size and flow rates of the biggest Saudi fields. This is a great book if you ever wondered why oil is abundant in some places, but non-existent in others.



4. Taking a trip? Need a gift for that engineer or alternative-energy-green friend? Then get this book! For the professional AND the layman, Kenneth Deffeyes spans various disciplines with a good sense for explanation and storytelling. Quite a feat.
   
   He starts with the origins of the oil business and knows what he is talking about. He makes statistics colorful AND engaging. His graphs are primo and easy to understand when he wishes to hammer home a point.
   
   Deffeyes recounts Marion King Hubbert's sage predicition from the 1950s that oil supply and production has limits. And we had better learn about these limits, fast. No easy answers. Helluva history lesson in readable form. Makes one wants to read other book on the oil industry.
   
   As a country and a culture, we've been riding the riches produced by the bounty of past eons. Our oil epoch will be just a blip on the long history of the earth and humanity. Read it and weep, or feel joyful. Your call.
   Deffeyes lays out a coherent argument: the road ahead will not be all high speed and straight. We are in for some rough times and it is best that we engage in a realisitic national debate NOW.
   
   He saves his best for last: meticulous explanations as to alternative energy sources. About time! Some have merit, most have gaping holes that will never payback their true energy investment. His section on "tar sands" is sobering and convincing.
   
   Anyone who drives a car or lives in America oughta read this book.



5. So you went to the pump today and you'd like to complain about the price of gasoline? In Massachusetts it was $4.03/gal (82 euro cents/L). [In Belgium they're laughing at our complaints since they paid $9.18/gal!] We're running out of oil and need new forms of energy. In fact, we've known about it for 30 years. I know we haven't done anything about it because we've been to involved with things of vital national interest (Whitewater, American Idol, blaming high unemployment on women in the workforce, finding ways so that the ultra-rich can leave all of their money to their no account kids, making ketchup a vegetable in poor kids' lunches, defending states' rights - unless it involves same sex marriage, Survivor, making sure today's immigrants don't get the same chances your great-grandparents did, defending South Carolina and Mississippi's right to continue flying symbols of rebellion against the United States, how to ignore black people stranded in a hurricane, how to prevent soldiers from getting adequate health care or a college education, instant replay, flag burning, sex in the Oval Office and, finally, how best to undermine national security: "by outing CIA agents or by ignoring memos stating that the US will be attacked? Oh, we'll just do both").
   
   Now real American politicians realize these are the things most Americans want; but among the things that don't affect their lives, gas prices is near the top of that second tier. Gas prices - like all other prices - are ruled by the law of supply and demand. Demand has increased in recent years as nations like China grow and need more energy. Further, Americans - forgetting the mileage on their Chevy Caprice during the Oil Embargo - are insistent on driving gas-guzzling SUVs that get 13 mpg (18.1L/100km).
   
   Supply, meanwhile, is decreasing. US reserves are being used faster than new discovery (and, have been since the early 70s). There was a decrease in supply after Hurricane Katrina when gas refineries were damaged. Further, in the nation with the second largest oil reserves, the Coalition of the Willing decided to expand the American Empire. While that war was officially declared over in May 2003, for some reason supplies from Iraq are still slow to recover.
   
   But, the largest constraint on supply is its very finiteness. There are only 2.1 trillion or so barrels of oil in the world and we've used about half of them. In the 1970s, geologists and economists determined that the world oil production would peak in the early 2000s. In this work, Deffeyes argues that it will be in 2004 (the book was written in 2001). After that the production will decrease and price increase - thank the gods that didn't happen.
   
   Despite its probable correctness, this book is awful! Deffeyes spends most of the book showing how oil goes from undiscovered to discovered to drilled to recovered. Then he writes a brief chapter in which he determines by his own math when peak oil will happen. Most of it is academic arguments over exact dates between 2004 and 2009 and whether to use a normal bell curve or a logistic bell curve. He then stymies alternative fuels as too far into the future and says we'll just have to live with high-energy prices for ten years. If you really want to know about Hubbert's peak and oil production read the wikipedia article "Peak Oil"; its way more informative!

2 comments about Wills' Mineral Processing Technology, Seventh Edition: An Introduction to the Practical Aspects of Ore Treatment and Mineral Recovery.

1. Its a readable book for being technical, its information is mediocre though. Work out examples and pictures very useful in understanding information.



2. This comprehensive book focuses on beneficiation methods. These include crushing, grinding, comminution, froth flotation, dense medium separation, etc. Parts of this book are quantitative, and suggested Excel spreadsheet formats are provided.
   
   There is a relatively sophisticated introduction to the economics of metal recovery. For instance, when tin occurs within easily-accessible alluvial deposits, as little as 0.01% tin (that's a mere 100 ppm) is commercially exploitable. In contrast, when tin occurs in veins that require deep mining to reach it, a minimum level of 1.5% may be necessary to make it worth getting (p. 4).
   
   Considering their increasing importance in recent years, there is little attention devoted to the rare earth minerals. However, the table provided on the polarity of minerals (p. 270) includes some commonly REE-bearing ones (e. g. apatite, monazite). Likewise, the table provided on the electrical behavior of minerals (p. 367) includes the same two minerals.
   
   Virtually all mining operations involve the production of mine waste. Apropos to this, there is a helpful chapter on methods of dealing with mine tailings.

4 comments about Thermodynamics in Materials Science, Second Edition.

1. As is evaluated by many university teachers. It's very good to be a textbook for the beginners or a reference book for the advanced.



2. I have been using this text for a solid state thermodynamics class I am teaching. The manner in which it is organized and structured allows one to sequentially build understanding of the complicated concepts of thermodynamics one layer at a time. For example, from the table of contents one can see a progression from the concepts of thermodynamic equilibrium to one component, multiphase systems, to multicomponent, single phase systems, then to multicomponent, multiphase systems, etc. Each chapter builds upon those that preceded it, and then becomes part of the foundation for those that follow. This organization makes it much easier for the instructor to teach this difficult subject, and I think easier for the student to comprehend it. My only objection is how phase diagrams are introduced in chapters 9 and 10. I think the presentation of the "structure of phase diagrams" in chapter 9 is confusing without the material in the first section of chapter 10. All, in all, I think this is the best undergrad text for thermo in materials science.



3. This is a wonderful, well-written text in thermodynamics for undergraduates and graduate students as well. The unique feature of this book is the logical approach utilized for handling equilibrium in systems of varying complexity, which I believe is superior to many of the conventional approaches. Also unique is the procedure developed by the author for deriving relations between state variables. The problem sets are quite useful and should be very helpful in understanding the subject. A solution manual I believe is also available to instructors. What this book lacks for an advanced graduate student in this field, is a comprehensive treatment of solution models and more practical applications using many of the excellent thermodynamic software and databases currently available. I would hope with enough encouragement by readers (and publisher) that these topics will be included in a future, perhaps thicker edition. Many of the non-traditional topics in thermodynamics such as defect chemistry, capillarity, electrochemistry or external fields are also introduced in the text and can be quite useful too.
   I had the privilege of attending this course (and others) taught by the author and would strongly recommend getting hold of the taped lectures for this course if available.



4. I used this textbook (taught by the author) as an undergraduate, and again as a clarifier in graduate school. Not only is Dr. DeHoff's book clear and logical, it dovetails nicely with the highly regarded, and more advanced, materials thermodynamics textbook by Claude Lupis. Perhaps this is because both professors spent time at Carnagie Mellon University.

   Now that Dr. DeHoff is retired, I hope that he writes an additional version of this book. He should fix some errors in the problem sets, and perhaps extend a few topics. More solution models, and a more detailed treatment of other thermodynamic plots. A discussion of the measurement of thermodynamic data would also very useful.

   DeHoff and Lupis make a great combination for materials thermodynamics, along with a kinetics text like Schmalzreid.

3 comments about Applied Statics and Strength of Materials (4th Edition).

1. This book presents complicated problems in an easy to follow step by step manner. Calculus is not required to work the problems. An excellent reference or text.



2. This book is very well organized and easy to read, however it has no solutions in the back. Without solutions it is very difficult to understand a text like this.



3. Man this is a book. What a freakin textbook. Good transaction. Excellent timing on this purchase. Dude got it to me within a week of the sale. Super awesome.

5 comments about Fabric Glossary (4th Edition).

1. I was a little disappointed that all of the pictures were blackand white. In order for this book to be useful to me, I would have topay [approx. $20.] plus shipping and handling to get the actual swatches used in this reference book.

   The text seemed to be very thorough and all fabric types are covered. For the price, I would have expected color photos of the swatches since it is difficult to judge texture from black and white. If you don't mind investing [more money] for the swatches, you'll be happy with this book.




2. Fantastic book! One that is extremely useful and one that I take everywhere with me. Perfect for new designers acquiring fabric sense. I know several firms where this book is a staple reference guide. A+++++



3. I received this book in a timely manner and it's in great condition. thanks.



4. It has places to attach sample of fabric so you can feel, touch, and learn about them. It is organized alphabetically which is nice if you know what fabric you are looking for. It should have an extra source to look up by the weave of fabric.



5. Okay. Remember those old sticker books? This is sort of like that, one swatch of fabric at a time, except you're not licking them...Sound tedious? Sort of, but the process of putting the swatches on the correct pages/descriptions is great tactile exercise. This is a good reference, and the suggested uses will help to keep you from making a really bad choice for a given project. A drawback to this book is that it gets a huge bulge in the middle, making it difficult to shelve or stack with other books and materials.

5 comments about Fluid Mechanics for Chemical Engineers with Microfluidics and CFD (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall International Series in the Physical and Chemical Engineering Sciences).

1. Here is a book that is concise, comprehensive and to the point. The authours are meticulous with the math and present a wide variety of chemical engineering applications of fluid mechanics. The book is surprisingly easy to follow and is highly recommended for any systematic study of the subject. The language is clear and succinct and the layout is pleasing.



2. I have a good chance to study this course with Prof. Wilkes at Petroleum and petrochemical college, Chulalonkorn University in Thailand. This book is very useful for me because it's easy to understand and clear in every step. For example,some part of the fluid mechanics, I think it's very difficult for me to understand in the past(in bachelor's degree) but when I study this book, it make me clear and easy. I think this book is suitable for the beginner than the others that I met before.



3. I think that this book is an indispensable guide for fluid mechanics. It is easy to understand and it lets you progress with your pace with its solved examples. And one can excel in fluid mechanics by solving the suggesred problems of the book. This book not only helps you to understand the concept mathematically but gives the physical meanings of the problems.



4. This is the worst text book I have ever used. I used it for an independent study class and my professor agreed that the topics were not rigorously explained. In addition, frequent assumptions were made without explination and referals were made to "lecture notes," which is, of course, useless if you aren't taking this man's lecture.



5. This is a simple basic book about fluidics. Not complex equations.
   Not a heavy mathematics. Contain useful information about technology process with fluids - bubbles and two phase flow.
   Published in 1998 has relatively old information about everything.
   Positive side - has a small chapter (20 pages) about
   MatLab PDE Toolbox for solving fluid mechanics problems.
   No connections with COMSOL at all or any kind of simulation.

5 comments about Essence and Alchemy.

1. This book is the best concise description of how to make perfumes an and colognes. Mandy Aftel loves her subject and is a real expert, and it shows.
   
   If you are interested in making colognes, perfumes, soaps or lotions, buy this book. Or if you are just interested in perfumes and the different essential oils, also buy it.
   
   Highly recommended!



2. I bought this book for information on how to make natural perfume, and was not disappointed, but what makes it so compelling is the elegance of the writing. Very evocative, really steeps you in the world of fragrance.



3. This book is a very authoritative treatment of the subject, but that's not what makes it great. Aftel's passion for her subject, conveyed in lyrical, sensuous writing, is incredibly contagious.



4. Essence & Alchemy was a really wonderful adventure in reading. From the history of perfume to the process, old and new, involved in extracting essences, to the follow-along steps to creating your own perfume, I found this book to be entertaining and informative from the first page to the last. The comparison between perfumery and alchemy was insightful. The illustrations were charming and fun. I learned a lot and was engaged the whole way through! Highly recommended to any fan of unusual nonfiction subjects.



5. Easy to read and really full of useful information done in a wonderful and passionate style.
   It gave me a solid grounding in the how and why of aroma. Plus it is great fun to read!

4 comments about Fairchild's Dictionary of Textiles.

1. This is a great unique book for all textile related persons, it gives in details the perfect meaning of all the words used in todays textile field. I think this book is must for all textile related persons.



2. This book is great. I don't think I've ever gone to it and not found the word I was looking for. I wish it had a bit more pictures of some of the fabrics and such. But still, it is very good and there isn't one week that goes by that I don't reference it for one reason or another. I especially like that it offers origins of some textile words which is always interesting and helpful to know.



3. We work in the fashion industry, and this dictionary is very useful w/ lots of words. A great help anytime! Great price, too, @ Amazon!



4. I highly recommend this dictionary if you work in the fashion or textile industry. I refer to it very regularly and often use it as back-up when writing fabric descriptions in marketing material. The references are up to date and include many branded yarns, manufacturing techniques and fabric finishing terms.
   
   5 ***** Worth buying

3 comments about Oil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank.

1. I read this book as part of a review group associated with the petroleum industry. I have over twenty years of experience in the refining industry, so most of the information this book contains in that regard held little new information. However, it's important to point out that the book also didn't contain any misinformation. My experience with production and trading is limited, so I picked up a great deal of information on those aspects. If you are not familiar with the oil and gas industries, and would like to know the "how and why" of them, I would recommend this book highly. The author not only discusses domestic (US) production and supply, but also foreign areas, such as Nigeria. In short, I think this book represents the broadest, and easiest, source of information a lay person would find useful as a starting point for exploring an industry that affects all our lives.



2. OIL ON THE BRAIN is a survey of virtually every facet of the oil market and industry, from gas station to national policies. The author spends time at each segment, collecting information, interviewing the players, and experiencing whats happening.
   
   The book is well written, interesting, and provides a detailed overview of our friend gasoline.



3. Especially relevant in these days of high gasoline prices, this book is everything you ever wanted to know about gasoline. It starts at the gas station and traces back to distributor, refinery, oil rigs, etc. all the way back to the countries that supply our crude oil. The book was first published in 2007 - before prices soared. It provides a thoughtful discussion of the mechanics and politics of gasoline. It is a
   "must-read" for everyone who complains about the high cost of gasoline

1 comments about The Structure of Materials (MIT Series in Materials Science and Engineering).

1. I had an opportunity to use this text book in one of my classes and found the material within the book confusing for the most part. There are NOT many examples worked out following the explanations of complex equations and their applications -- I feel this leads to a rather limited understanding of important concepts. I recommend looking elsewhere for a crystallography book if you have an option.