Diversions / The bookshelf
Books
Energy, ideas, and the books that stay with us. A working shelf for the oilfield and the wider world.
On the desk
What We’re Reading Now
Energy and Civilization: A History
A broad history of how energy sources and conversion technologies have shaped civilization.
Smil follows the changing ways people capture and use energy, from muscle and agriculture to fossil fuels and electricity. It puts the oilfield’s daily work inside a much longer story.
Why this belongs on the shelf
The value is in the scale of the question: how much energy a society can use, what it can accomplish with it, and what changes when its sources change. For readers who work with oil, gas or water, it offers a wider frame for the decisions in front of us.
Beyond the printed page
Autographed Collections
A signature turns a widely shared work into a record of a particular encounter. A date, an inscription, a conversation at the signing table: the value is often in the story of how the book came into your hands.
What makes a signed copy worth keeping
Keep the context with the book: where it was signed, when, and any photograph or correspondence from the occasion. Provenance, condition and rarity can matter to a collector; a personal inscription can make a copy worth keeping even when its greatest value is to you.
Coming Soon / A conversation
The Boom Stack
Joseph Cope and Christian Lombardini discuss the books that shaped us, for better or worse.
The ones we return to. The ones we argue with. And the ones that changed how we see the people and work around us.
The enduring shelf
Classics
Energy histories alongside philosophy, faith and the practical business of living.
The Bible
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power
As a Man Thinketh
Energy and Civilization: A History
The Science of Getting Rich
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Tao Te Ching
The E-Myth Revisited
The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
More from the shelf
Energy Myths and Realities
Energy: A Beginner’s Guide
The next chapter
Coming Soon
For the working desk
Energy Reference
Five reference selections spanning reservoir behavior, petroleum chemistry, processing, engineering fundamentals and energy history.
Petroleum Engineering Handbook, Volume I: General Engineering
A comprehensive technical reference on fluid and rock properties, petroleum economics and general engineering fundamentals.
Handbook of Petroleum Processing
A desk reference for refinery processes, equipment and the chemistry behind petroleum processing.
Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering
A foundational technical text on reservoir behavior, material balance and recovery.
The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum
A detailed treatment of petroleum composition, characterization, refining and product manufacture.
Energy and Civilization: A History
A broad history of how energy sources and conversion technologies have shaped civilization.