Oil Notes [Paperback]

Rick Bass (Author), Elizabeth Hughes (Illustrator), John Graves (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1995

Rick Bass brings a lyric imagination to the oil geologist's craft. Digging for oil is a way of digging deep into human experience, a subterranean exploration of self. And nothing escapes this writer's eye or imagination. 20 line drawings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The young man invites his girlfriend to a picnic lunch: he takes her to the park, plugs his microwave oven into a lamp standard by the tennis courts, and provides her favorite sandwich. Bass, author of The Deer Pasture and award-winning short stories, displays equal imagination and intelligence in these journal-form entries. Relating oil with life--certain that neither will last forever--he reflects on his relationships with his family and his work. Bass tells us how a landowner gets paid for an oil well; he discusses state laws for the gas and oil industry ("brutally fair") and introduces a drill crew. He rescues a pair of abandoned puppies from the roadside, spends a weekend well-sitting. With the awareness and eye of a naturalist and a writer's gift with language, he offers a low-key, upbeat work that celebrates youthful energy and optimism.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

RICK BASS is the author of many acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. His first short story collection, The Watch, set in Texas, won the PEN/Nelson Algren Award, and his 2002 collection, The Hermit's Story, was a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. The Lives of Rocks was a finalist for the Story Prize and was chosen as a Best Book of the Year by the Rocky Mountain News. Bass's stories have also been awarded the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award and have been collected in The Best American Short Stories. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Southern Methodist University Press (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087074383X
• ISBN-13: 978-0870743832
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,513,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I almost missed out..., December 6, 2000

By 

"aubrigail" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oil Notes (Paperback)

...on reading one of my new favorite books, Oil Notes. I was not interested in reading a book about oil. Fortunately, after much convincing, I read the book and loved it. It is a beautiful book about Bass's passion for life, the outdoors and geology. It is my favorite Rick Bass book by far, and it has a permanent place on my book shelf. Don't make the mistake that I almost did...buy it, borrow it or whatever...Just don't miss out on this wonderful book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Geologists Relates, October 16, 2001

By 

Jake (Martinsburg, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oil Notes (Paperback)

Oddly enough, I was far from home doing field work in North Georgia when I found Oil Notes in a little bookstore. I am a geologist. However, unlike Rick Bass my job was to look for fresh drinking water, not oil. I found time to read his book between logging boreholes and setting wells. By the time I was finished I (with the book) I had a renewed interest and spirit in my profession and in the environment around me. Rick Bass found a way to express in words, the excitement and passions associated with being a field geologist, environmentalist and a man in love.

Oil Notes is a fantastic book, and Rick Bass is an equally outstanding author. I have since read everyone of his books. He vividly defines his feelings and passions in everything he writes about, be it drilling for oil or studing wolves.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oil and Life, February 29, 2004

By 

"llees" (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oil Notes (Paperback)

Rick Bass, a petroleum geologist and environmental activist is known for his knowledge of the earth and oil. The book, Oil Notes, written by Bass, gives the readers the feeling that they are petroleum geologists. Bass allows the reader to understand what he is referring to and how everything on an oil rig works. At first glance or first read, the reader might think that the book is solely about oil. But as the reading goes on, the reader finds out differently. Oil Notes is not only about oil; it is an analogy for life. Bass also uses searching for the number one oil field, the one that will make someone rich, as an analogy for a man trying to find his place on earth.
Throughout the book, many facts that are in oil exploration also coexist in life. For example, Bass claims that "Nothing lasts. Old seas are buried" (42). Not only is Bass talking about the soon to be scarcity of oil, he is talking about life. No matter how much you try, you will not live forever. Rocks do not last forever; eventually they become stones, pebbles, and eventually sand. That is the same with life. Life does not last forever. Unfortunately, death is inevitable. Everything that is thought to last forever...love, hatred, and friendship...will cease to exist when the person dies.
Another example of life being told in terms of oil is when Bass talks about leadership in the field of geology: "A leader-in a profession of men and women who cannot be led, and will not" (135). Bass says that those are the type of geologists that everyone needs to stay away from. They are the geologists with the egos that are bigger than their head. In life, staying away from people like that would help a lot. People with big egos refuse to help people and also refuse to be helped. They are solely dependent on themselves. Unfortunately, they will not learn in life until they drastically fail at something. Only then will they hopefully realize that there are sources other than themselves.

Time and change coexist and have a big effect on the oil business and life. Everything revolves around time. Bass is amazed that in a lifetime "you will see a picture more different than could ever be imagined" (134). Things can change drastically in a lifetime. Just look around a city. Remember what it was like 10 years ago or 20 years ago. No matter what duration of time, change always occurs. In the oil business, drilling can go smooth for fifteen hours, and then it becomes tough due to different rock. The flow of oil can trickle and then it can spew out one-thousand barrels per day. It can change that drastically in a short period of time. In life, the health of a person can drastically change as the person ages.
In the oil business assumption can make or break your career as an oil person. In life assumption can do the same. Bass says, in reaction to not knowing about your oil well, "You've got to be careful not to judge it too quickly or too harshly" (145). If a person assumes an oil well is in shale, and uses a bit that only goes through shale, it will ruin their day to find out that the $10,000 bit is useless because they are actually drilling through granite. The oil well can be lost and the geologist can be out of a job. In life, the same can occur. If a person judges another person before getting to know them, that can prove to be a big mistake. Maybe that person could have been a good friend or something more.
Finding the perfect oil field is similar to one's efforts to try to find out where they belong in the world. Bass claims that "Someday I am going to drill my own well. There is no geologist who does not dream of this. It is what you are after" (89). In any profession, a goal is set. A pilot might want to fly a certain plane or so many hours. In oil, the goal is to own a big money making petroleum company, owning a well. Life provides goals similar to those and with a similar pay off. The fact that Bass says "someday" means he is going to try. That is an analogy for life. A person may look all of their life to find out who they are, where they belong. Once the person "knows himself" then the world is his. They know what they are capable of and what they are made of.
Not only is Oil Notes about oil, it is about life in general, about one person's effort to find their place in the world.