Fuels Books

It is a very easy book to understand and can be usefull for those want only to know how the Bosch's EFI works. There are several photos and diagrams showing how to troubleshooting and service a real EFI.

I can't speak to the other Bosch systems, but anybody who owns a CIS Porsche and is interested in understanding (stock up on beer) and troubleshooting the Bosch CIS will benefit from this book. Since I bought this book for my SC with CIS, I now also have a Turbo with CIS, and so I expect this book to stay with me forever.

So, now you finally know how it is really made.. From the engineers of the systems, this is the definitive theory. It does not tell you how to increase your mileage, nor is it the best troubleshooting guide out there. The basics are really detailed and it makes you see how it works. Must have for Bosch FI cars (Jetronic/Motronic)

For anyone tinkering with an EFI engine, this book is great for learning the principles of operation. Even better if you've got a pre-1992 Bosch system because it goes through the components of these systems.

Starts with overall injection theory, explains the "families" of fuel injection, then how to troubleshoot problems. It finishes by talking about the implications of modifying your EFI engine. It's not a guide for how to get maximum power from Engine X, but it explains the benefits and limitations of the bosch systems for modified engines.

The naming of Motronic systems are confusing, but this is Bosch's fault as much as anything else.

A good general overview of the Bosch fuel injection systems but no diagnostic help for the ECM or ECU for the L-Jetronic. This is disappointing, you would think that these authors could tell you how to check the various functions of the control unit. If you want a light read with no real help, go for it.

I liked this book very much. I was ignorant about Hydrogen and I enjoyed Mr. Romm's book. Hydrogen is hype. I wanted to learn something about hydrogen and fuel cells and now I know enough that when I see these talking heads on CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNBC talking about fuel cells and hydrogen this and hydrogen that and a hydrogen economy, I know they are full of prunes and they've never read a book. I enjoyed the book and it was well written. But I can tell Mr. Romm, I am not worried about climate change. The lack of oil, natural gas and fresh water will kill us long before we have to worry about climate change. Regards, Keith Renick, Peachtree City, Ga.

The good; this book educated me on the promise and reality of hydrogen. Hydrogen (used for automobiles and even to power homes and businesses) hast the potential to seriously curb America's appetite for oil and to reduce carbon emmisions, but getting the technology affordable and scalable enough to distribute throughout the country is at least 20 and probably more like 30+ years away. Even then, the cost may still be higher than $3.00 gas is today, but that remains to be seen based on a number of known and unknown things about the future...

The not so good: a bit repetitive, and at times too deep technologically (of which the author warns about in the prologue)

If you are interested in alternative energy and its related issues like the United States' dependence on oil including the geopolitical impacts thereof, I would suggest reading a book that covers all energy alternatives (wind, solar, biofuels, nuclear, hydrogen, hybrid vehicles, etc.) and what the prospects for each are. Two books come to mind:

1. The Party's Over: Oil, War And The Fate Of Industrial Societies, and
2. The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century

These books are easier to read, more interesting and enable the reader to better understand how all technologies may or may not be the panacea for improving our dependence on foreign oil and improving the impact that carbon emissions have had on our environment. Another book that is fairly new but which I have not read, is ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, which speaks directly about alternative energy as it pertains to cars and the automobile of the future. I plan on reading this one sometime in 2008.

This book explains in clear no-uncertain terms why Hydrogen Cars will not happen in our lifetime, and explains what the realistic alternatives are -- namely biofuel plug-in hybrids. The author is an administration hydrogen insider and one who HAS made positive changes in other areas to help reduce the USA's global warming footprint.

How can you write a book on the promise of hydrogen fuel and leave out the true heroes - the international group of water fuel device inventors who patiently and skillfully developed, patented and publicly demonstrated their devices over the past 100+ years? What kind of cover-up is this? And to see all the positive reviews praising this work of apparent obfuscation! What a shame! It just goes to show that we have been very-well hoodwinked with regard to our alternative energy possibilities. We don't even know what they are! How else could it be that so many intelligent people, who seem to be "in the know", have never heard of:

Herman P. Anderson
Archie Blue
Bob Boyce
Yul Brown
Francois Cornish
C.H. and Henry "Dad" Garrett
Roy McAllister
Stanley Meyer
Francisco Pacheco
Andrijah Puharich
William Rhodes
Cliff Ricketts
Isaac de Rivaz
Ruggero Santilli
...and a host of others?

Isn't it about time we faced reality and admitted that the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen, is most readily available to us in our most abundant resource, namely, water? Let's stop denying the history of the successful use of this resource. See Water Car - How to Turn Water Into Hydrogen Fuel!

There are many well-intentioned people who advocate a quick switch to a hydrogen economy. This book is a must-read for them. While this book is pessimistic about the potential for a hydrogen solution to the energy issues we face, for me it is optimistic in that it allows us to get past a potential dead end and start thinking about other options that are more realistic at present. Before reading this book I thought of hybrids as a bait and switch to deflect attention from hydrogen cars. After reading this book, I realize that just the opposite is true. Hybrids are probably our best hope for now while hydrogen is a much hyped dream.

The next big boom will be free energy. Vijay, people want free energy and not cheap energy. Tesla proposed free wireless energy for the world which never happen. Micropower offers cheap distributed energy, not free energy. The motionless Electromagnetic Generator is a technology makes possible distributed free energy in massive quantities. Alternatives like ethanol, solar, wind, and fuel cell are expensive and produce insignificant amounts of energy. Why offer a marginal increase in available energy? People want free energy. The usage of this energy would be limited to their creativity, boundaries of logic, and available capital. Image a world where the consumer uses a 1,000 fold more energy and higher quality energy producing higher quality standards of life. People want more control of the energy generation and consumption behaviors. Technology stagnation can no longer be an adequate reason for high energy prices. Nuclear power will provide more energy. Utility companies had wait for regulatory permission to build the plant, factor in costs to finance monies, billions of dollars borrowed that raised the rates. Between 1969 and 1984 the rates rose 60 percent.

"Small is profitable", by Amory Lovins, is quoted, "Thus the grid linking central stations to remote customers had become the main driver of thoses customer's power costs and power-quality problems-which became more acute as digital equipment required extremely reliable electricity. The cheapest, most reliable power, therefore, was that which was produced at or near the customers..." Fuels cells have niched in reliable electricity near the customer, small power plants located near the customer. Fuel cell technology has been used to provide megawatt power for companies, provide backup power for computers, and small electronic devices. Fuel cell technology for automobiles, buses, and trucks remain cost prohibitive until the cost per kilowatt drops below 30 cents a kilowatt, it will be infeasible. Fuel cell technology for transportation does not make sense. "Progress has come only in fits and starts, but the trend is clear: the era of monopolization, centralization, and overregulation has started to give way to market forces in electricity." Micropower has been given a chance to blossom, prices are determined by markets not monopolies, and energy is serve the needs of ordinary people. "Forward -looking firms are already developing microgrids that can electronically link together dozens of micropower units, be they fuel cells or wind turbines." For example, Hydrogren uses 400 kilowatt, air-cooled phosphoric acide fuel cells to generate multi-megawatt systems, 6 - 30 megawatts.

However, centralized power production failed in providing free energy. Decentralized power produce is the solution either in the form of local community energy production using power micro generators or off the grid power generation, such as, home generators or home power plants.


Providing internet to poor nations does not remove poverty. Free energy removes poverty but providing increased mechanical work and logic to grow food, manufacture products, and entertain. Over a half a billion people have no access to electricity. Micropower is an attractive option, in such places. "One significant advantage of micropower is that is call allow generator owners to become producers as well as consumers- selling surplus electricity back to the grid when they do not need it."

Electric vehicles make the car an appliance. "Who killed the electric car" is a compelling story about how GM distorted customer demand statistics to scrap the EV1. Consumers wanted the EV1. The EV1 used Ovonic advanced battery technology to provide cruising speeds for adequate distances. EV hybrids could combine hydrogen reforming, battery, and an combustible engine. Even more significant are cars that run on water or air. EV1 cost 60 cents a mile to operate.


Vijay's book suggests that modern cars emit less population; gas will be the preferred choice of fuel for the next fifty years; energy is the biggest market in the world; fuel cells are doomed; electric vehicles failed to create customer demand; environmental green house crisis emphasis will emerge in politics and in the media; and micropower will not mean the end of giant power plants, instead, it will mean cheap power to areas without power. Vijay sees super Enron, "As energy markets liberalize, on-line energy-trading markets develop, and individual consumers win the right to select their energy suppliers, some people even see the emergence of virtual utilities. Microgrids would allow such firms to combine the individual efficiency of the micropower plants with the market power that is gained by bundling together their collective generating capacity."

Power to the People does present a particular point of view. Many people do not like to read books on very political topics like this unless it matches their view. I guess I'm that way as much as anyone, maybe more than most.

But while I do not agree with all that Vijay Vaitheeswaran says, I did enjoy this book. It's thoughtful, but entertaining. Cleverly written, but perceptive. Some of the comments that stick in my mind may not be the most important points in the book. (Vaitheeswaran's account of when he met Cindy Crawford and she said "the three words men most want to hear" was pretty funny.) But the thoughts in the book as a whole all hang together. They persuade, if not necessarily convince.

Contrast this with Internal Combustion, by Edwin Black, a book that I also read recently. His book draws on a wealth of research. And I agree with many of the principles he builds up from the facts. But Black's book ultimately does not hang together. Black draws basic conclusions from the facts that the facts do not support. The book's faults pull it down.

All in all, while I agree with much of what others see as faults in Power to the People, my opinion of the book as a whole could not be higher. It's a gem.

I almost didn't read this because of the title. In this day and age with many seemingly on the edge of reason I thought it was somewhat of an incendiary title.

I'm glad I did check it out - I loved it. This man is a seriously talented writer. The material is dense. Very dense. Lots of dates, places, people, times and tragic, infuriating, maddening events. It is rendered readable with Mr. Vaitheeswarans method of inserting ironic humor into the text just when your eyes start crossing.

I enjoyed the way he presented all of the sides that he perceives and the pros and cons for each one. Talking about the environment is a very emotional issue for some and I thought that he covered all of the bases well without making it sound like one particular answer is written in stone.

We have, at our fingertips such wonderful scientific advances. The trick will be to put them to use to solve the problems, not create more down the line from here. I think he pointed that out very well.

This book is as excellent an introduction to the topic of the future of energy as any book on the market. This statement, however, is more a reflection of the lack of alternatives to Power to the People as it is of the book's own strengths. To be certain, it is a well-written and smartly researched book. One would expect nothing less from a writer from The Economist. It's strongest point is to so thoroughly make the case for why the energy sector must change in the next decades. The pollution and inefficiency that the modern subsidization of the carbon-based energy economy creates harms global welfare. However, its greatest weakness is to skimp on the details as to how the energy sector should transform itself. This book does not go into how solar energy works, or what government policies concerning wind energy should be. In fact in doesn't even survey the prospects for renewable energy, by say, arguing that solar cells are the future. Rather it puts forth a well reasoned case that the days of carbon-based fuels must end, and that governments must stop the carbon subsidy and research alternatives. End of story. In fact its most interesting chapters don't concern energy at all but have to do with reconciling the philosophies of capitalism with those of environmentalism, as task that the author does quite well. A good starting point for those interested in the future of energy, but if you're looking for more specific forecast of how global energy production will or should be composed in the future, look elsewhere.

I expected something completely different when I read this book. I was expecting that this book would tell about different ways that the future would get energy to the people.

This book is nothing like that the first two thirds of this book is a diatribe on how everybody is using energy the wrong way. It tells that innovation and micro power is the wave of the future and condemns all government subsidies for energy. He does not explain why we will be going to micro power but says that's the way it is going to be.

I have to say I started reading this book and put it down for a while for the racist remarks throughout the book. It is told from an Indian viewpoint where he makes snide remarks about the British saying that the British East Indian Company was the ultimate in evil. He makes condescending remarks about the Americans not being smart enough to have back-up generator in Silicon Valley whereas in Bangalore India they have them.

He is obviously against nuclear power by making outrageous remarks about nuclear wastes not being safe for 100,000 years. I read nuclear renewal and the waste from the newer breeder reactors is a couple of 100 years and they will reduce that as time goes on.

He is all for the fuel cell and the book is very well written. He doesn't say how we are going to get the hydrogen that we will need and talks endlessly about the Kyoto Protocol like it was the only peace of legislation that mattered on global warming.

I thought there would be new ideas and processes for the future like biomass or solar chimneys. There is nothing new or insightful this book seems more like a list of grievances.

This submarine yarn in Bond's best effort in a very long time. I've read everything he's written, but I think he does his best job yet of integrating all the specifics of the technology, the excitement of the action and the fleshing out the characters. While there isn't a great deal of action in the front half of the book, Bond's characterizations and interesting descriptions of what could have been mundane submarine life kept the book moving. I loved this book for the first nine-tenths, but will admit the end was very ineffective. It was so out of character with the rest of the book, it seems unfinished, like Bond was way past deadline and the editor was saying it had to be finished today. The rest of the book more than offsets that minor peccadillo, however, and I heartily recommend this book.

This military procedural starts out slow, perhaps because it is too concerned with "procedure." We spend nearly a hundred pages before Jerry Mitchell, a newly assigned junior officer, actually puts to sea on the submarine Memphis, and far too much of it is concerned with bureaucracy and paperwork. Yes, some of it figures into the character development - Mitchell must fight for acceptance as he struggles to learn the ropes and cram for qualifying exams - but it was more than I wanted to know.

Bond's ear for dialogue seems wooden at times and his characters a bit two-dimensional - Mitchell the young striver, Captain Hardy the martinet, Foster as an embittered chief petty officer resenting the young Mitchell, Dr. Joanna Patterson as the heavy-handed environmentalist and feminist sent aboard by the White House to run a dubiously conceived mission drenched in politics. As the sub gets into its voyage, though, the novel picks up steam and the dialogue and characterization issues recede.

The Memphis has been tasked to nose around offshore sites where the Soviets dumped radioactive waste, where Patterson hopes to find evidence of worsening environmental disaster the President can use against the Russians at an upcoming summit. They have to sneak into shallow Arctic waters near the Russian island of Novaya Zemlya, using robot subs to investigate the dump sites. Mitchell meanwhile is the officer in charge of the sub's own robot, which has its own role in the mission.

Bond does a good job dramatizing the risks of submarine life, not only in combat, but during routine events which can quickly turn disastrous.

I have to agree with most of the reviews here. This book is an excellent read, and anyone who likes Tom Clancy will really like this book. However, the ending did fizzle. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't sync up with the intensity of the rest of the book. All-in-all, I felt it was well worth reading, and I plan to pick up other Larry Bond books in the future.

A good read but the ending faded to nothing. Looked like Larry wanted to wrap it up quickly. I was disappointed with the ending. THe story went along with a cracking pace but the subplot of why the weapons were there was a bit weak and lacked some punch.

USS Memphis is out of date technology, a war-weary rust bucket submarine that has served its country and is now scheduled to be de-commissioned. But the President, in a bid to collect political points at an upcoming conference with the Soviets, has ordered the Memphis to complete one last covert mission - to sneak into Russian territorial waters, to document an environmental nightmare and to bring home evidence of leaking fuel containers dumped on the floor of the Arctic Ocean by the Russians during the height of the cold war.

Commander Lowell Hardy, a CO whose unpleasant and impossible to please leadership style is rivaled only by Captains Queeg and Bligh, is saddled with a novice weapons officer. This is the very first assignment for Lt Jerry Mitchell, a former naval aviator who made a mid-career switch to submarines after his Hornet fighter crashed with the resulting injuries sidelining him forever from flight status. And to make matters worse, the president has ignored all naval submarine tradition and appointed two civilian scientists, female no less, to lead the mission from on board the submarine.

As if lurking around Russian territorial waters looking to score points and politically embarrass the Soviet government wasn't bad enough ... the mission discovers a secret far more deadly than it ever bargained for and provokes an armed naval response that is much, much more than the aging Memphis is capable of facing. The Russian fleet is determined to sink the Memphis and wipe out all evidence that she was ever there in the first place.

"Dangerous Ground" is a first rate techno-thriller that will have you turning pages just as quickly as you can manage. But as Larry Bond pointed out in the author's note preceding the novel, a techno-thriller ought to be much more than a compilation of technical data which anyone can find with proper research. In the case of "Dangerous Ground", Bond has done a superb job, not only with individual characterization, but also with a compelling description of submariner culture - their attitudes, their loyalties, their black sense of humour, their fears and their bravery.

A thoroughly enjoyable plot driven thriller supported by a wealth of technical and, of equal importance, cultural and character details. Well done, Mr Bond!

Paul Weiss

This book is excellent in some ways. The most useful section details the basics of biodiesel home brewing, transesterification, titration, testing, building the processor (pp. 59-98). The bulk of the book (pp. 5-58) concerns preliminaries - a history and (useful) description of the functioning of diesel engines, a section on growing one's own fuel, renewable energy. Then, the author shifts gears and discusses the SVO (greasecar or 'straight vegetable oil' approach) (pp. 99 -116). There are numerous disadvantages to SVO which are not discussed. The book closes out with a generalized section on troubleshooting (pp. 117-132). Then, a series of more or less useful appendices (pp. 139-62). All in all, the book is worth buying with lots of useful info.
Now - the caveat. Unless you have advanced pipefitting, plumbing, mechanical, and chemist skills - by all means - get 'hands on' instruction. Building and operating a biodiesel processor is not a book-learned skill - it requires the combination of trade-skills as listed. Methanol - one of the key components in the mixture is a highly flammable and dangerous fluid. Lye (POH) - another component can seriously burn, blind, or even kill you and must be handled with the utmost care. You must be trained in this. Glyceron, the by-product, is the glyceron which is found in 'nitro-glyceron' - go figure. Plus, even if you don't care much about yourself, there's a lot that can mess up your vehicle if you don't get it right. And I know you care about your vehicle, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this far.
There are a number of key issues not discussed in the book. The biodiesel community breaks down into two basic camps: 1) SOV (straight veg oil users - where the transesterfication process takes place within the vehicle) - a subspecies is the group that uses a 'solvent thinner' to achieve this process (mainly of historical interest) and 2) the home-brewers (those who build and operate biodiesel processors). My advice is to save the money you would spend on this book and access a class taught by a member of this community - namely, 'girl Mark', Maria Alovert. She is not only expert at making biodiesel (including disposal or reapplication of by-product) but she teaches workshops throughout the U.S. on a continuous basis. She may be accessed by searching on the machine you are operating now. 'Girl Mark' also produces excellent, precise written materials which deal with crucial subjects like the advantages of Potasium Hydroxide (KOH) over Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) for the entire process which Tickell's book does not. Brewing Bio is a complex - yet not undoable process. You want the best - for you and your vehicle.

The book is a good introduction to alternative fuels but for the svo conversion I found was not complete enough and doesn't have enough pictures and the diagrams are badly made. For the rest: recipes for biodiesel, and other it's good but still not much details. But anyway it's a must for anyone interested in the subject, being the only book available, but before doing anything ask around for more precise and recent advance in this technology.

Very helpful but quite thechnical...

This book is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in learning the basics of the renewable fuel bio-diesel.

Mr. Tickell does an excellent job in presenting the argument as to why, from an economic and envrionmental standpoint, our government should invest in renewable fuels. Job creation, reduced trade deficit, and the environment to name a few.

The most astounding bit of information I gleaned from this book is that the most promising future of bio-diesel lies in algea.

This book is worth the investment.

I purchased this book before starting a biodiesel project with a local community development group. After researching, designing, building, and operating a biodiesel processor for myself, I would not recommend this book. It promotes open reaction tanks, which would expose the user to toxic methanol fumes, and possibly splashing methodixe- a corrosive, flammable chemical used in making biodiesel. It also says that washing biodiesel is unnecessary, which could cause engine damage. When researching biodiesel, please be careful- use only closed methanol and mixing tanks (wash tanks aren't as big of a concern), and make sure to learn all about the safety aspects of the titration chemicals and the storage of methanol. Here's to happy, safe, "brewing"!

the book came in a timely manner. i have not had time to read any of it yet but will get to it on my next day off.

This book is great! It is easy to read and understand. It really helps you with the changes you might need to make in your organization and figure out why people act the way they do. This will prepare you for these reactions and how to handle them.

Many organizations change. Most try and plan it. Many fail. Many mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver as expected. Why?
Author Jeanie Daniel Duck cites the human element-how changing the corporate environment makes people feel. The author presents a five-stage framework for dealing with change called the "change curve." This change curve is designed for understanding and managing the human element of the change process. The five-stage process is as follows:

· Stage 1: Stagnation. This is the time that the organization can be depressed or demoralized. There is a general slowness, difficulty in making decisions, and a general lack of motivation.
· Stage 2: Preparation. Leaders of the change must accomplish the aligning and energizing of management around the corporate strategy and vision; articulating and detailing the plan; and generating a healthy dissatisfaction with the ways things are allowing for a genuine appreciation for change to come from within the workforce
· Stage 3: Implementation. Here the leader's ability to manage the expectations, experience and energy of the company is critical to the success of the implementation. The author recommends four methods to start this phase: test and deploy, build behavior first, use attraction to convert, and plan replication.
· Stage 4: Determination. This phase, marked with conflicts, clashes, failures, and minor successes, is only as successful as the degree to which top management stays involved and focused.
· Stage 5: Fruition. This stage is when the change is in place. This is a time to reward employees for their hard work. The company needs to move forward to avoid re-entering a period of stagnation.

The change monster made me aware of the stages of change in a company: Stagnation,
Preparation, Implementation, and Fruition. Ms Duck seems to be an excellent consultant from the stories I read. The book seems oriented towards Human Resources types as the title suggests. My background is Information Technology consulting, so I found I related too only a few of her stories. I would say her stories were interesting and demonstrated how companies move through change stages arriving at fruition. Ms Duck reminences on her experience and draws important conclusions and abstractions from her experiences. Some of her experiences seemed familar while a larger portion were not as concrete. I could see how large organizations profit from her holositic view of change.

I'm sure her wisdom should not dismissed. I've read Jack Welch's books and reflected on the quantifiable and scientific approach to change and can see objective change can appeal rationally; however, Ms Duck seems to have produced change through insight and dramatic effects a vast range of companies and types. She seems to have a gift for perception and insight into the inner dynamics of the people that make change happen in a company. Duck hand holds her clients through change stages and comforts them by imparting wisdom that allows her client to see a "better way". This "better way" seems to have dynamic impacts on the production of the company. Once the barriers are removed the company matures and reaches fruition.

All of us know how difficult results to initiate and moreover to undertake a true renovation of settled mental maps and old paradigms. As a matter of fact most of Managements pretend to reorder their organizational environment without primarily, undertaking an inner transformation.

This is an admirable and conspicuous essay what offers relevant clues and clever indications to undertake this breathtaking but fundamental attitude mental state. The essence of a continuous transformation implies a vital renovation ` s impulse from within ourselves.

An indispensable consult text in your personal library.

This book is the bible for using a resource that we have in endless supply to end our dependance on foreign oil, curb global warming and adapt to a new economy that will create jobs for our country. Big oil has made most people skeptics and this is not new technology or a new idea. It does work and would only be improved upon with support. Fuel would be half the present price, energy would be clean and renewable, and our agriculture system would be sustainable!

I have read this book cover to cover and it inspired me to start my own alcohol distillery. It will tell you how to convert your vehicle to E-85 which is %85 alcohol and %15 gasoline, which puts out only %13 of the harmful greehouse gases that %100 gasoline does, and only takes $1 per gallon to make and sells for about $1.50 to $2.50 all over the US. It will give you the full history of alchohol in the USA since the turn of the century. I will explain how hydrogen, coal, nuclear, and all other alternative energy sources work and why they pale in comparison to switching to alcohol. If you hate filling up your car with overpriced and planet warming gasoline then buy this book!!! It will give you the knowledge to join the alcohol revolution that is growing everyday all around the world.

This a awesome book. If your not open to sources of enegry that our farmers can make so we can keep our money at home, then just write the check and send all you money over sea's. I have read the book. I also make some of my own fuel now. People the country is being strangled by high enegry prices. Who care if you agree with the authors politic's or view or history . You missing the whole point. We need to put our enegry future back into the hands of the american people . Your freinds and neighbors. Would you not like to buy fuel from your local farmer for $3.00 a gallon , then he finds out you lay bricks, fix computers, trim trees , pays you for your services . We need to support our local ecomony regardless of your political affiliation. On the other hand just keep fighting with each other and pay the mega faceless corportion .

I've been interested in Ethonol production for a while. This book spells it out in excellent detail. A must have for the alternative energy set.

I work on the forefront of the biofuels industry for an engineering design firm that works with rising biofuel technologies. First let me says that I HAVE NOT read Mr. Blume's entire book. The sections that I have read, however, make some rather untrue statements. For example, in Myth #1 Blume states that oil has a negative net energy output, meaning that it requires more energy invested than it puts out. That means that it takes more than 1 barrel of oil to produce one barrel of oil. If this were true, then it would take more than one barrel of oil to extract one barrel of oil out of the ground and refine it. Realistically, the oil companies use the barrels of oil that they extract to produce and refine their oil. Let's use an example and say that it takes 2 barrels of oil to produce 1 barrel of oil. Where do those 2 barrels of oil come from? They come from the ground. Let's be clear on something. Whenever you extract oil from the ground, you are adding to your total output. Those 2 barrels are NOT energy investments. So when you need 2 barrels of oil to produce 1 barrel, you are extracting 3 barrels of oil and using up two of them for a net output of 1 barrel of oil.


Another untrue claim is that we can completely replace 100% of our motor fuel consumption. This is not true. The USDA and DOE published a report saying that we can displace about 30% of our motor fuel consumption using farmland and forest lands. At best we can displace maybe 40%. And realistically, the displacing probably won't happen for quite a while.

Like I said before, I have not read the entire book. Maybe the rest of uses sound logic and diligent research. Maybe not. Make sure you check your facts and do research. Many people make claims and state them as facts, when in reality, they did not do their homework. And make sure to do your homework on the things that I have said too.

Imagine that you are the next president and you want to make a major address about oil. You have all your advisors give you briefing papers and suggestions. That is the way "Freedom From Oil" reads. It has lots of good information, but it does get a bit repetitive at times. Overall, I found it very useful.

First off, if the US implemented an energy plan EXACTLY as described in this book, I think we'd be 1000% (yes, a thousand percent) better off than we are today in 10-20 years. If we'd implemented something like this 10 years ago, I hate to think how many fewer problems we'd have regarding oil consumption and the need to import foreign oil, "defending" the oil supply in the Middle East, etc.

NOTE -- I'd add global warming to the list, but after reading the book "The Chilling Stars" (recommended reading) I'm willing to take it out of the equation for now, though CO2 does far more harm than just warm the planet.

My only issue with the book is that it doesn't go far enough, suggests specific incentives to the big 3 auto companies that strike me as a bailout (rather than providing incentives for ANY company building cars of the future), and misses entirely in some areas (there's no suggestion of helping fund development of biodiesel from algae, as one example).

ALL THESE BOOKS ON OIL AND GAS ARE SAME STORY TOLD OVER AND OVER AGAIN. GOOD TO TALK ABOUT IT I GUESS. BUT...

FIRST, THE USA IS, ERR, COMMITTED TO THE DEFENSE OF ISRAEL. THE OIL IS THERE OR RIGHT NEXT DOOR. THE OWNERS OF THE OIL AND GAS DON'T LIKE JEWS.

SECOND, MOST OF THE OIL AND GAS DEPOSITS ON EARTH ARE CONTROLLED BY GOOFY RELIGIONS AND PEOPLE LIKE HUGO CHAVEZ.

THIRD, TO GET FREE OF OIL AND GAS YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE CHANGE THE WAY YOU LIVE. A LOT.

FOURTH, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO RE-DESIGN YOUR CITIES SO THEY ARE NOT CAR AND TRUCK DEPENDENT.

FIFTH, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO KICK THE OIL AND GAS INTERESTS OUT OF YOUR GOVERNMENT. THEY RUN THE CIRCUS...

SIXTH, TO DO ALL THESE THINGS YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE. LITERALLY. NONE THESE THINGS WILL CHANGE OR GO AWAY VOLUNTARILY.

SEVENTH, YOU HAVE TO START TODAY. YOU ARE ALREADY VERY VERY LATE...

I tend to steer clear and far away from any type of political book. My disinterest stems from the obvious bias and propaganda that these types of political figures tend to bring into their views and writing. The viewpoint and rambling on and on bores my racing mind. "Freedom From Oil" was written from a completely different perspective and point of view that it took me by surprise. I was fully engrossed throughout the entire book and often referenced previous views and opinions as I read through Sandalow's ideas.

The format of this book was written as fairly short, but highly detailed documents written to the next President of the United States by the various Directors and Secretaries within the President's office. Each perspective detailed the pros and cons of how to eliminate the United States' addiction to oil. The forward thinking approach brings in thinking from all factors which would affect the people and corporations of the US.

These views facing the problem of oil addiction include memorandums from the President, his Counselor, the Secretary of Energy, the National Security Advisor, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Economic Council, with several articles profiling American viewpoints.

Solutions to the oil addition problems are presented by the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Agriculture, the US Trade Representative, the Council of Economic Advisors, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Secretary of State. Additional viewpoints include profiles and ideas presented by American citizens. The range of solutions presented include Biofuels, Plug-in Cars, Fuel Efficiency, Coal, Hydrogen, Smart Growth, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and Diplomatic Strategy.

Finally, a compilation of all the problems, solutions and discussion is provided via a press release and "The President's Speech to the Nation." The format presented in this book not only held my attention but strengthened my belief that all Americans should work toward finding solutions to our current energy crisis and work toward using cleaner fuels and be willing to sacrifice convenience for what is best for not only the United States, but also the world.

In the heat of the 2008 Presidential campaign, voters in the United States think they are experts on what it takes to make a president. Though we voters may be deluded enough to assume that we know what we are doing, author David Sandalow has actually produced a book that seeks to address the issues various and sundry that pertain to oil.

In "Freedom From Oil: How The Next President Can End The United States' Oil Addiction" [McGraw Hill, 2008, 272pgs], Sandalow presents a series of actual policy papers, as if they were going to be handed directly to the next president.

The non-fiction book is broken into three parts in which he sets up the problem, outlines solutions and supports the final decisions. Then, he provides provides policy papers, memoranda to the president, frequently interspersed with profile pieces that illustrate aspects of the issue of oil and its place in our world.

It is a given that oil will eventually run out. It's more likely, though, that climate change will stop us from using oil before it runs out. Sandalow's recapitulation of the problem we face is suitably foreboding. The various solutions he raises, analyzes and sets into their places--in proportion to their ability to help us solve our energy problems--was sobering.

Sandalow shows how cars that are plugged-in are a great idea. They use energy at night when power plants face low demand. Sandalow presents the ideas of biofuels, ethanol, switchgrass and shows how these are not a panacea because of greenhouse gases. He describes the abomination of using liquefied coal--in which a huge amount of green house gases are released just to liquefy it. He reveals the shocking inadequacy of the hydrogen car. (Sandalow doesn't say hydrogen is hopeless but obviously from the book it won't be practical.) Throughout, Sandalow presents these presidential briefing, policy position and memorandum papers in a neutral professional tone, as if they really were about to be handed to a president.

As all of us watch the presidential primary season of 2008 and wait for the left-handed candidates--Barack Obama and John McCain--to be nominated, we are keenly aware of what is required to be a president. Therefore, we actually are quite qualified as garden variety voters [assuming you listen to NPR or watch some news] to assess these briefing papers. We know the issues and I must say it's refreshing getting some new facts to make my personal arguments keener.

To a reader used to a contiguous narrative, the rather disjointed table of contents and the early chapters comprised of policy papers was confusing.

This book is recommended because of the vast amount of digested information it presents in regard to the consumption of oil, our future energy situation and what to do about it.

As we fritter away time waiting for the next president, Greenland is sending rivers of melt from ancient snowfall down underneath the Greenland ice sheet, speeding it to the Atlantic. As we debate raising CAFE standards or bicker about gas taxes, Antarctica is cracking huge icebergs into the ocean.

[ Tom Hunter is a Manhattan-based writer ]

I purchased this book for the sweater on the front, which I have not had a chance to do yet. There are several items in this book that I would make. I did get to complete the wrap skirt and found that the measurements are incorrect. I made it for a small person and had to give it to a plus size person. I will be remaking it and adjusting the pattern.

I had a chance to thumb through this book and ordered it for the patterns that I saw in it. I completed the wrap skirt and found that the pattern measurements were incorrect. I made it for a small person and ended up giving it to a plus size person. I plan to redo it and adjust the pattern.

This is the kind of book I love to look at but somehow I never make any of the patterns within it. Other books inspire me to get my hook out right now but the projects in this book don't excite me (well, the stockings are exciting, but not something I'll make). I commend the designers for original, non-frumpy (for the most part) projects and the lovely photography certainly adds to the appeal, but this is one book that sits on my bookshelf.

Maybe it is because there are several sweaters presented. Sweaters are fine but not the only thing worth crocheting. Crochet dresses can be beautiful but I think they are fairly unflattering on the whole. Again, the stockings are interesting but not something I'm going to make. The Deco jewelry is worth a look but not exciting enough to warrant working in that small of detail work.

The idea is a good one; I just wish there had been a few more revolutionary ideas in Crochet Me.

This pattern book has been the "end all, be all" on many sites. However, it wasn't what I thought it would be - not that it's a bad thing. I thought it was all clothes for women, but it has a little bit of lots of things. I am not into little bits of lots of things, so when I buy a book I want it to be what I thought - women's clothes. I love the dress by Amy O'Neill Houck, but could have done without the stockings, the swirly sweater, the scarf, jewelry, or the toys. Not that they are bad - they are for younger people and I'm as old as dirt! Also, the patterns tend to be for flatter chested ladies, of which I am not one. That being said, they do try to make some amends by giving hints on how to remedy that. Of course, anything in tapestry by Carol Ventura is worth the buy. For me, however, the book lends itself for more toward gifts for others rather than something for me.

This book will help crochet to continue it's current "comeback" and take it to the next level! Reading about the designers and what inspired the creations in the book was interesting and reading the suggestions for making each crochet project your own was nothing less than inspirational! I look forward to using some of the things I learned in this book for my own crochet revolution!

'Flowers In The Dustbin' (published as 'Almost Grown' in the UK) is a significant work. While James Miller seems caught somewhere between the erstwhile rock journalist and the detached academic, it's mostly a very good read.

Miller is selective in his subject matter, but provides rich detail in that context, neatly exploring the emergence and evolution of the music and its recurring themes. He gives almost equal weight to the artists and the star makers (managers, promoters, producers and disc jockeys), always with due reference to the wider culture of the times.

(Some of the criticisms in the Amazon customer reviews are facile, to say the least. Miller did not set out to author an encyclopaedia, nor a comprehensive history of the music. Thus, no chapter on Brian Wilson or Stevie Wonder or Van Morrison or Joni Mitchell - pick your own personal hero.)

Miller makes plausible arguments about rock as a 'finished cultural form' and rightly suggests, to the chagrin of some readers, that the excitement and cultural dominance of rock in the 50s and 60s will not be experienced again. (Part of the excitement, of course, was simply novelty, which - by definition - can't be repeated.)

What's missing, sadly, is a sense of continuing affection for the music. Miller is jaded and largely disinterested in the music that once made his living. Nor does he seem to believe that, although musical boundaries have blurred, great 'rock and roll' music is still being made. Rock - in its myriad variations - is in great shape and the standard of musicianship has never been better. Jim should get out more.

This is an excellent book. Miller takes us to the behind the rock scenes where the real decisionmakers managed and provided our 'authentic' experience. Much of what we want from rock is pretty simple, just rhythm to dance to and some dreams to escape into. But rock's managers hyped it into so much 'more' than that. It's good and refreshing to read something that brings down the overblown edifice that rock is in many minds.

A key scene in the book is when a be-feathered 'hippie' Jimi Hendrix runs into a record exec who'd known him a couple years earlier as a 'normal' rhythm-n-blues guy. Jimi sheepishly explains, "It's for the show."

Miller probably should've given punk some recognition that it was intended as a rejection of the indulgent, decorated, overly pretentious rock of the early 70s and late 60s. Yeah, maybe a short chapter on the Ramones woulda been nice. But I can see the point that they never had a big impact, never had the numbers.

And as for criticism of Miller for stopping at the end of the 70s: I think that is perfect, since the rock 'culture' had really ended, split forever into multiple subcultures. In fact, the split had occurred in the early 70s, but Miller rightly marches on for several of the 'great hopes', the next Beatles, who never panned out.

All very interesting -- a very interesting look at rock and roll as a musical genre co-opted by "the industry" and ultimately rendered soul-less. Can you really call Elvis, Dylan, the Stones and the Beatles or even the Sex Pistols revolutionary when they are being used to generate billions by the establishment against which they were supposedly rebelling?

Not very rock and roll -- where the hell is Brian Wilson, arguably the greatest writer and producer of rock/pop music of his generation. Pets Sounds gets the one-off treatment in a list with Blonde on Blonde and the Byrds Fifth Dimension. Never mind that a 24 year old kid in California wrote, arranged, recorded and produced this MASTERPIECE by himself (instead of having the wiz, George Martin and his orchestra behind the works like another well known band).

Miller is a great writer, and he conveys an authority about the history of early rock'n'roll that is impressive, but his authority falls off a cliff when he goes past 1975. He has no time for anything recorded after the death of Presley, which means that he essentially snubs everything in the last generation (or more) of popular music.

Don't be fooled by the subtitle. Even if the book is supposedly about the "rise" of rock music, it is even more about the author's opinion that the music died off as soon as it "peaked." While I can understand the point of view, especially as I get on in years and cringe at most of what I hear on the radio, to imply that rock music died in 1977 is the height of absurdity, not to mention a willful ignorance of history.

...

This whole book is obviously one man's perspective and I didn't agree with all of it, but I respect Miller's choice of emphases and do understand his feeling that rock "died" a long time ago. His is a thesis that is at least internally consistent and does seem to hold together, although admittedly he is free to cherry pick the rock "historical moments" that make it thesis work.

Any reader is going to find points of disagreement here. I always heard that "Rocket 88" was the first real rock song and I had never even heard of Wynonie Harris. I would have thought that the British blues-rock scene would have merited a little more attention. I would have teased the Deadhead readers about the bloated excess of their idols after about 1973.

Most of all I would have given a lot more attention to the downtown New York scene of the mid to late 70s that included the New York Dolls, Neon Boys/Television, the Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, Talking Heads and so many other bands and personalities. These people invented punk music and also revitalized rock music. There was an enormous underground music scene throughout the late 70s, through the 80s and into the early 90s wherein music was issued by independent labels, played on college radio stations and listened to in small clubs all around the United States. Different college towns successively took centerstage and one or two of their local bands went richocheting onto the national scene, only to be gobbled up by the corporate music industry (R.E.M. is exhibit A) or to implode as their music-first principles collided with corporate unit-moving "principles" (too many examples to mention).

Where Miller sees one long arcing rise and then an inexorable decline, I see shorter-term cycles. The music industry that we live with right now seems very much like the one that existed between Elvis's induction into the Army and the arrival of the Beatles in the US. Record-making companies hold the reins and one-hit wonders of minimal musical talent make insubstantial music that challenges nothing except perhaps good taste. Miller rightly laments the fragmentation of the once-united youth audience, but it possible that the internet may in the near future allow young people to make an end-run around the corporate shibboleth and "get together one more time".