Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller and over 670,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a $2.50 Amazon.com Gift Card
Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization
 
 
Start reading Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization [Hardcover]

Jeff Rubin (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

List Price: $26.00
Price: $17.16 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $8.84 (34%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Friday, September 10? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
26 new from $15.13 17 used from $14.14

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $14.30  
Hardcover $17.16  
Paperback --  

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better $10.87

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization + $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is a great read, and one that should be required for anyone with a long-term interest in Canadian energy, transportation, manufacturing or agriculture."
— The Globe and Mail

"Jeff Rubin is not your typical eggheaded senior economist.... And the controversy that has dogged his work is about to hit the boiling point.... So get set. If Jeff Rubin says something is coming, you better listen. Love him or hate him."
— Canadian Business

"Should be mandatory reading for all corporate executives."
National Post --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

An internationally renowned energy expert has written a book essential for every American–a galvanizing account of how the rising price and diminishing availability of oil are going to radically change our lives. Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller is a powerful and provocative book that explores what the new global economy will look like and what it will mean for all of us.

In a compelling and accessible style, Jeff Rubin reveals that despite the recent recessionary dip, oil prices will skyrocket again once the economy recovers. The fact is, worldwide oil reserves are disappearing for good. Consequently, the amount of food and other goods we get from abroad will be curtailed; long-distance driving will become a luxury and international travel rare. Globalization as we know it will reverse. The near future will be a time that, in its physical limits, may resemble the distant past.

But Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller is a hopeful work about how we can benefit–personally, politically, and economically–from this new reality. American industries such as steel and agriculture, for instance, will be revitalized. As well, Rubin prescribes priorities for President Obama and other leaders, from imposing carbon tariffs that will increase competition and productivity, to investing in mass transit instead of car-clogged highways, to forging “green” alliances between labor and management that will be good for both business and the air we breathe.

Most passionately, Rubin recommends ways every citizen can secure this better life for himself, actions that will end our enslavement to chain-store taste and strengthen our communities and timeless human values.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Random House (May 19, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400068509
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400068500
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #241,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeff Rubin
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Jeff Rubin Page

Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization
85% buy the item featured on this page:
Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization 4.0 out of 5 stars (32)
$17.16
$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better
4% buy
$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better 3.7 out of 5 stars (55)
$10.87
Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy
4% buy
Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy 4.0 out of 5 stars (31)
$11.55
Confronting Collapse: The Crisis of Energy and Money in a Post Peak Oil World
4% buy
Confronting Collapse: The Crisis of Energy and Money in a Post Peak Oil World 4.2 out of 5 stars (12)
$10.20

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(6)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

32 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyable and plausible, July 15, 2009
This review is from: Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization (Hardcover)
I read Jeff Rubin's book because I invest in energy stocks and like to know the broad societal implications of energy issues. I was fascinated by his major premise that high energy costs will end the global marketplace. It is the opposite of Tom Friedman's World is Flat premise. Rubin's basic argument is that high energy prices will trump low labor costs of developing countries. That will mean we will re-industrialize and start making things again in America. That may make us look more like 1950's America. Most economists say globalization is irreversible but Rubin disagrees. Globalization is only possible when cheap energy allows shipping anything at low cost.

There are two other books that have the same end of cheap energy theme. One is Stephen Leeb's Game Over and the other is $20 a Gallon by Chris Steiner. Leeb's book is more of an investment survival guide while Steiner's $20 a Gallon is more of a sociological portrait of America in the age of prohibitive gas prices. Leeb is rather depressing in positing the end of cheap energy and commodities in general. Leeb sees global insecurity as countries fight for resources.

Steiner sees high energy as an opportunity to re-urbanize America with close in dense communities without cars. Steiner does a great job of predicting how escalating gas prices will change our lives. He says we may be happier living a simpler less consumption oriented lifestyle.

Rubin's book is the best all round book for it covers both economics and sociology. If you want to know how to make money from energy shortages, Leeb has some valuable and practical advice. Steiner will leave you hopeful for a simpler, more community minded America. I recommend all three books without hesitation as helpful guides to an America facing a dearth of resources in the next 20 years. They certainly reinforce the need for a national energy policy now while we may be able to extend resources.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The end of the world as we know it ain't so bad..., June 25, 2009
By M. W. Pease (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization (Hardcover)
Jeff Rubin gets right to it on page 1, declaring that the global financial meltdown of 2008 had as much to do with $150 oil as it did with bad mortgages. I was waiting for somebody to say what I suspected was true. And Rubin delivers, continuing, that we are at a turning point in modern society. In 2008, we passed over the peak of the age of cheap energy. From here on out, energy, especially oil is going to be harder to get out of the ground, and we may never produce much more than we did last year.

Furthermore, he warns that the world has two choices in the next few years. Either transition our society to less energy-intensive, more localized communities; or keep banging our collective heads against the wall of this rapidly depleting resource and face recession after recession each time supply fails to meet demand.

Two years ago, he was right in predicting when $100 oil would happen. And it appears this book may be right just weeks after being published, with the supposed "green shoots" of economic recovery triggering a doubling in the price of oil in the first half of 2009. The book predicts we'll soon be back in the triple digits. Maybe even $200 a barrel and $7/gallon.

I was very impressed with the book because:
A) An economist acknowledged what most economists don't; that resources are limited - and so is economic growth

B) He presents us with hope that a smaller (less energy-intensive) world may actually be a happier world

I'm eager to see what else Rubin may have to say about this in the coming years.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
43 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Education for the Average Citizen, June 7, 2009
By Arlene (Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization (Hardcover)
I am neither an economist, politician, oil company employee, nor geologist: I am the average citizen who gained information from this book about how the price and supply of oil could potentially affect my life. Although there are aspects of the book that I've been exposed to previously, Rubin provided me with more detail and with new information that will certainly be new to others also as evidenced by the lack of disussion of these topics by colleagues, neighbours etc. who are also average citizens. There is certainly a population of people who will benefit from reading this. Whether the world evolves as Rubin expects, and to what degree, is obviously unknown; however, the material between the covers is certainly food for thought and gives a better understanding of the intricacies of how the world currently operates and why it may indeed unfold as he suggests.

Rubin presents much diverse information yet manages to tie together all the pieces in cohesive, friendly prose that is not statistically boring and stuffy yet is backed with facts. There are 11 pages of source notes at the back should anyone question the validity or sources of his information or desire to read more. The book is thorough in that it gives good background, demonstrates relationships between various elements of our world and takes into account numerous countries and their roles in all of this. It's a good read if you don't want to live with your head in the sand.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning: Not Reading This Book Is Bad For Your Wallet
At something called the "Petroleum Club", in Calgary in 2000, Jeff Rubin told his audience of oil executives that they were seeing just the beginning of a sharp increase in the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by E. Flynn

5.0 out of 5 stars Now, I hope I know...
Absolutely brilliant!! I have found all what I was asking myself about last 30 years of world's economy, globalization, climat change and recent financial crisis. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Wojciech Langer

5.0 out of 5 stars Why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller
Out of the hundreds of recent books on Peak Oil, Fiscal and Monetary Policy impacting inflation and energy, and Demand growth, this easy read brings updated demand info from the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Craig Nevil

3.0 out of 5 stars OK if you haven't read other books on energy and economics
I would give this book only 3 stars because it competes with better books in its league. Books like "Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak" by Ken Deffyes, "Carbonomics" by... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Reviewer

3.0 out of 5 stars Does anyone else have a corrupted copy?
I've downloaded this book about 4 times. Each time, the Kindle cannot display past the end of chapter 1. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Peter D. Scott

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Dependence on Oil
This book is a well-argued and plausible analysis of what our future may look like. I am not an economist, but it is difficult to believe that oil will not again rise to 2008... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jerry Sanchez

4.0 out of 5 stars my world already has! gotten smaller that is since 2008
It is interesting to read the other reviews of this book as they seem to fall into two camps: the environmentalist-climate change-we already have to much stuff group lets simplify... Read more
Published 8 months ago by JD

4.0 out of 5 stars Clear but frightening
Good analysis of difficult information. We all may be changing our habits due to the economic facts of life in North America.
Published 8 months ago by Kurt W. Swan

4.0 out of 5 stars The future doesn't have to be bleak
The subtitle says it all: this book is about "oil and the end of globalization". This was definitely an interesting read, and I found it very accessible. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Dunyazad

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Part 1, Not so Great Part 2
Excellent start to the book - Part One covers a lot of ground explaining the changing supply and demand shifts related to peak oil, but then the book falls off a cliff in... Read more
Published 9 months ago by HiDefLoLife

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.