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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
A call to action, 23 Feb 2006
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Do not read this book if you want cheering up. Do not read it if you are easily disturbed. But if you want the unvarnished truth about the reality of the energy and climate crisis, this one of the best sources around. Packed with facts and figures, it is an authoritative account of how on the one hand we at the “topping point”, the point of “peak oil”, when the market are about to go into panic stations over a shrinking supply of the resource that keeps the wheels of the global economy turning, while demand for that resource is rising. And on the other hand, Leggett explains how the burning of that resource is about to bring us catastrophic climate change. Jeremy Leggett is ideally placed to tell this story, having worked at the heart of the oil industry, and then jumped tanker, to work as chief scientific advisor to Greenpeace. Once you have read this book it is unlikely you will ever view our profligate energy consumption the same again. It will probably scare you into urgent action. It did me! “Half Gone” is a story of two halves, firstly about global oil reserves, and secondly about the climate disaster that is looming from our addiction to oil. Reserves have been exaggerated by the oil producing nations and the oil companies, because for a variety of reasons it has been in their short term financial interest to do so. The same nations and industry have been among the fiercest opponents of action to limit damage to the world’s climate, which Leggett also documents in convincing detail. “Half Gone” contains some remarkable facts. Did you know for example that in the 1930s, the American oil company Chevron joined forces with General Motors to buy up the suburban electric railway around Los Angeles, and then closed it down to create dependency upon their products? Plenty of fuel there for the conspiracy theorists! Leggett highlights the fact that one of the biggest players in deciding when we wake up to climate catastrophe is going to be the trillion dollar insurance industry, which uses risk analysis as a basis for its calculations. A threat to the insurance industry would undermine the whole global economy, which is a bit sad for those of us hoping to find a pension left for us at the end of our working lives. When the oil runs out and climate catastrophe strikes, all the assumptions on which we have based our daily lives for decades, will come tumbling down. Having scared the life out of the reader, the book tries to end on an optimistic note, suggesting what needs to be done. However by this stage, the reader is likely to conclude that it will be too little, too late. Visitors to the online green newspaper "Eco" http://www.ecozine.co.uk will find ideas about some of the action that can be taken to avoid the worst case scenarios. “Half Gone” is a major contribution to the debate about Peak Oil and Global Warming, with over 300 references and notes, and is recommended reading.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Half gone, 4 Jun 2007
This is a fantastic look at oil peaks and future energy supplies. As typical for Leggett, it is written very clearly and is completely engaging. It has the potential to change the way you view your dependence on oil and on how you live in the world. Most books of this nature tend to leave you feeling a little hopeless and depressed, but I'm delighted to say this isn't one of them. Jeremy Leggett manages to give you all the information you could need in an entertaining and informative way and leaves you feeling invigorated to go out there and make a difference. If you like this I highly recommend his other book, Carbon War, about the Kyoto agreement.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
"One of the greatest scientific scams of the modern age", 30 Jan 2006
These words concluded an article on global warming by Melanie Phillips, columnist on the London Daily Mail, published on 13 January 2006.Ms Phillips is not alone in suffering from a delusional state on this issue, as you learn from this book. Geologist Jeremy Leggett recounts that Colin Campbell and Chris Skrebowski - both with oil industry backgrounds - organised a seminar in July 2004 to warn members of the UK Parliament about the coming depletion of oil. In 2004 there were 659 MPs in the House of Commons, of whom a mere three attended. In Part One he details the run-up to what he calls "the topping point". Like other writers on this issue, he argues that it lies somewhere between 2005 and 2015. He is pessimistic about the discovery of new oil fields - the peak year for oil discovery was, he claims, 1965 - and he is also pessimistic about what he calls "unconventional" oil, such as shale and tar sands. Like other writers he believes they will demand at least as much energy in recovery as they will offer. The second part of the book is a detailed examination of global warming. He cites the view of Sir David King, the UK government's Chief Scientific Adviser, that global warming is a greater threat than any weapons of mass destruction. He poses the question: how much warming, how much danger? and forecasts that, at current rates, CO2 concentrations will reach 700 parts per million, as opposed to the 300 ppm in the 400,000 years up to the beginning of the last century. By this scenario global temperatures are set to rise by the so-called "hockey stick" curve. He again quotes Sir David King as believing that 550 ppm is way above the danger threshold. The author then goes on to list the "sleeping giants" which will be triggered by these rising temperatures: methane-hydrate destabilization - launching billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere - the shut-down of the Gulf Stream; the melting of the Greenland ice cap, and other dire news. The catalogue is exhaustive (and depressing!) before then going on to examine "How we got into this mess", and he concludes that, after 1990, there was no excuse for inaction. Finally, in "What can we do about it?" we get the do's and don’ts. First he argues we CAN get plentiful renewable energy - that’s the good news, but the bad news is one of time: we've left it too late! Among the guilty, who seemed as if they knew what was happening, our friend in Downing Street. The man who outlined what needed to be done in 2003; the man who seemed to realise that nuclear power wasn't an option. Jeremy Leggett was at the 2003 meeting when Blair launched the results of the last UK energy review. He is not impressed with the follow-up, or lack of it! Second, he warns against the trap of going for the nuclear option, which he dismisses comprehensively. Like other, he wishes to see “selfless collective thinking” from the international community. You will be unsurprised by his pessimism on this score. “The most probably outcome,” he writes, “is that the world will drift on in overall collective denial.” But he ends by reminding us of the case of Woking, in Surrey. It cut its carbon emissions by 77 per cent! There will need to be a lot of Wokings before too long, if we are to pull through. Johan Hari, columnist for the London paper The Independent, concluded a typically trenchant piece on climate change by asking the $64,000 question: “What we choose to do about these scientific warnings will answer a fundamental question about human beings. “Are we a rational species, capable of understanding the damage we are doing and acting in our own self-defence - or are we addled hedonists, too high on our fumes to see the truth?” If you read one book this year on what James Lovelock has called the world’s “morbid fever”, try this one. It is truly comprehensive.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
For everyone who thinks 'business as usual' is a great plan, 17 Feb 2007
This is a thorough, well-written introduction to Peak Oil. Leggett is a great writer and inspirational thinker. If you need convincing that we can't go on like this, read this book. If you need to convince others, read it and make some notes. I can't recommend this too strongly.
If I have a criticism it's that the book is perhaps more cheerful than it ought to be. Other 'coming catastrophe' books have left me full of dread, this one points in the direction of a technical fix. I don't think this is intended, but the contrast with say George Monbiot's 'Heat' is very strong.
Don't let that dissuade you though - this deserves to be read by everyone.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Managing our Future - Reactive or Proactive, 22 Jan 2006
This is a very unsettling book. Oil and gas are going to run out, but the reaction of many readers may be 'what can I do', or 'they'll find a replacement'. But if we take that line then we accept that someone else is in control of our future, and our children's future. We can all make a difference by getting our politicians to engage with the issue and we can all make individual choices about our lifestyle. This book should worry the reader, but the reader must use that concern to make a difference. The message is serious but it should prompt us to action. Read this book and get others to read it.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Brilliant, 4 Jun 2007
This is a fantastic look at oil peaks and future energy supplies. As typical for Leggett, it is written very clearly and is completely engaging. It has the potential to change the way you view your dependence on oil and on how you live in the world. Most books of this nature tend to leave you feeling a little hopeless and depressed, but I'm delighted to say this isn't one of them. Jeremy Leggett manages to give you all the information you could need in an entertaining and informative way and leaves you feeling invigorated to go out there and make a difference. If you like this I highly recommend his other book, Carbon War, about the Kyoto agreement.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Essential reading., 19 Nov 2006
Half Gone deserves the widest possible readership. It has two things going for it that make it different from other similar books:
Firstly, this maybe the only book that successfully ties together the different strands of the Peak Oil and Climate Change arguments, along with their economic implications and suggestions about what can be done about it. These are separate problems on the face of it but they will probably both reach a crisis point over the next few years and paradoxically one (Peak Oil) may give us the economic impetus we need in society to address the other (Climate Change). I cannot imagine a better discussion of the complexities and interactions of these issues (political, economic and scientific) than is found in this book.
The second major strength of Half Gone is that it's so well written. Jeremy Leggett is a scientist by training and it shows; Half Gone very clearly argued and reasonable in tone throughout. It communicates the knowledge and understanding of the author and is a pleasure to read.
The message of Half Gone has serious implications for us all, whether we are worried about the price of fuel, stock market investments or biodiversity. In short, buy it, read it soon and act accordingly!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Detailed and yet immensely readable study of Peak Oil and global warming, 12 Dec 2008
Half Gone is a book of two halves: one part Peak Oil debate to one part global warming issues. It attempts to connect the concept of a "topping point" in our oil production with what this means for our planetary environment (similarly, Michael Ruppert's Crossing the Rubicon attempted to connect Peak Oil to the 9/11 attacks and the "war on terrorism.") In taking this twin track approach, Half Gone is mostly successful.
The author, Jeremy Leggett, was a lecturer in earth sciences at Imperial College, where he researched oil source rocks and consulted for various oil corporations. Disturbed at the implications of climate change and the role the fossil fuel industries play, he switched sides and became the UK Chief Scientist for Greenpeace for seven years. Therefore, he has worked both sides of the fence and has good connections with industry figures and those on the activist side.
The first (and probably strongest) part of the book discusses Peak Oil: how oil is made, found, produced, how the topping point in production can be calculated with any reasonable degree of specificity and when this will most likely occur (the years 2008-2010, give or take a couple).
The second half analyses the evidence and implications of global warming, how we got into this mess in the first place and what can we do about it (renewables or 'solarisation' not a regress back to 'coalification' or nuclear).
Where this book differs from most of the other literature on the subject is that it is immensely well written. Jeremy Leggett is an engaging writer, cramming his book with facts, figures and references but never threatening to overload the reader with data, or overwhelm the reader with a sense of fatalism and helplessness. Despite the precarious situation that we find ourselves in, Leggett shows us the precipice of insufficient fossil fuel supplies and then pulls us back, showing us how can have a soft landing from the impact of Peak Oil, rather than a hard crash; it'll be difficult but not impossible.
If you've never read a book on Peak Oil, I'd recommend Half Gone as your starting point. If you have, you'll still find plenty of stimulating ideas and fresh research. Passionate but not pompous, informed but not condescending, Jeremy Leggett has written a fine book that adds real expertise to what should become agenda item number one in a global debate.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
a wake up call for everyone, 23 Nov 2005
By A Customer
I think this book is a chilling wake up call and should be read by everyone. Spells out what is happening to our planet because of the selfserving power of the oil lobby, but it isn't just doom and gloom. The strength of the book lies in the persuasiveness of Leggett's thesis and in the solutions that he proposes.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Going, going, gone. And my is isnt it getting hot in here., 28 Dec 2005
Eye opening and a little unsettling. Easy to read and informative. Get others to read it and others after that. You neednt agree but the time has passed for keeping our heads in the sand. If George Bush can read I suggest that he gives this a go.
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