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Russell Gold

Boom, The MP3 CD – MP3 Audio, April 8, 2014

by Russell Gold (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Reader)

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The “best all-around book yet on fracking” (San Francisco Chronicle) from a Pulitzer Prize finalist: “Gold's work is a tour de force of contemporary journalism” (Booklist).

First invented in 1947, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has not only become a major source of energy, it is changing the way we use energy, and the energy we use. It is both a threat and a godsend for the environment, and it is leading the revival of manufacturing in the United States.

A definitive narrative history, The Boom follows the twists and turns in the development and adoption of this radical technology. It is a thrilling journey filled with colorful characters: the green-minded Texas oilman who created the first modern frack; a bare-knuckled Oklahoman natural gas empire-builder who gave the world an enormous new supply of energy and was brought down by his own success and excesses; an environmental leader whose embrace of fracking brought an end to his public career; and an aging fracking pioneer who is now trying to save the industry from itself.

A fascinating and exciting exploration of one of the most controversial and promising sources of energy, The Boom “brings new clarity to a subject awash in hype from all sides…a thoughtful, well-written, and carefully researched book that provides the best overview yet of the pros and cons of fracking. Gold quietly leads both supporters and critics of drilling to consider other views” (Associated Press).

Language

English
Publisher

Brilliance Audio
Publication date

April 8, 2014
Dimensions

5.5 x 5.5 x 0.25 inches
ISBN-10

1480597007
ISBN-13

978-1480597006
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Russell Gold has reported on energy regularly in The Wall Street Journal since 2002. His coverage of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was honored with a Gerald Loeb Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brilliance Audio; Unabridged edition (April 8, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1480597007
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1480597006
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.88 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 5.5 x 0.25 inches

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4.2 212 ratings

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Russell Gold

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Russell Gold is an award-winning investigative business journalist at Texas Monthly.

He started his journalism career at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the San Antonio Express-News. In 2000, he joined The Wall Street Journal and covered Texas and economics, before switching to energy in 2002. His reporting has taken him to five continents and above the Arctic Circle two times.

In 2010, he was part of the Wall Street Journal team that covered the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. The Journal’s work was awarded the Gerald Loeb Award for best business story of the year and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting.

He was a Pulitzer finalist again in 2019 for his part covering PG&E and how the utility contributed to the deadly 2018 Camp Fire. The reporting was also awarded another Loeb Award and the Thomas L. Stokes Award for Best Energy and Environment Writing from the National Press Foundation.

In 2021, he joined Texas Monthly as a senior editor where he writes about the business of Texas.

He lives in Austin with his wife and two sons.

@russellgold

www.russellgold.net

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Dave Todaro

Read the history, technology, personalities and risks of Hydro-fracking

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 4, 2014

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Fracking friends and foes alike will find material to sharpen their arguments by investigating Russell Gold's vantage point as long-tenured energy beat writer for the Wall Street Journal - and the son of parents who purchased their rural Pennsylvania farm long before any talk of natural gas in the heavily-drilled Marcellus shale formation beneath it. Gold's historical survey of fracking in the United States is enriched by many first-hand accounts of people who have played the biggest role in bringing us to where we are today. Along the way, readers who are interested to know more of the science and the reasons for the risks involved in this type of drilling will learn much.

Fracking opponents should not dismiss the book too easily because of the author's pedigree (hailing from Texas, arguably the USA's most drilling-friendly state and writing for the Journal, whom many fracking opponents may consider to be a mouthpiece of the market actors who have profited tremendously from fracking). While Gold does not raise any giant red flags against fracking, he does offer some frank exploration of its environmental and nuisance costs. In particular cases, he calls out the industry on short-sighted, selfish and careless decision-making - whether financial or technological (and he shows how "technological" decisions in this business are almost always environmental ones). That said, the book would have been a more complete treatment of the industry had Gold devoted more pages to fracking's competition - the challenges and comparative benefits of nuclear, biofuel, wind, solar and other renewable energies.

Most of Gold's book reads like a WSJ featured business article - which, for those who aren't familiar with the paper's current journalistic style, may surprise pleasantly with understated humor and human interest, and with facts presented carefully to help readers understand difficult or new concepts. To learn Gold's opinions, go straight to the book's final chapter, which reads more like the editorial pages. His views on the role of state and local governments in policing the behavior of drilling companies; his insights about the relationship between free-market economics and the USA's de facto energy policy; and his take on natural gas as a possible "bridge fuel" to get the U.S. from traditional fossil fuels to cleaner, greener energy - are interesting conclusions.

5 people found this helpful

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PocketfullofAces

Excellent and balanced study of a controversial topic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 26, 2014

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Russell Gold has given a balanced assessment of the shale oil and gas boom gripping the nation. The extraction of shale oil and gas hold considerable potential to not only make the United States largely energy independent, but also to revitalize American manufacturing, primarily through the availability of cheap natural gas. Nothing, however, is free. Mr. Gold does an excellent job of describing the environmental and lifestyle costs of this boom.

The book also documents the fact that the true "big oil" giants like BP, Chevron and Exxon have been latecomers to the American shale plays. The real trail-blazing and technological advancements to make this boom possible were made by much smaller independent American companies led by people who by and large, at least in my opinion, embody the best of qualities-optimism, independence and vision.

As an active participant in this modern day gold rush and having chased the boom across north Louisiana (Haynesville), Oklahoma (Woodford), Pennsylvania (Marcellus), Ohio (Utica) and Illinois (New Albany), I'll be the first to say that we have often been too callous to the disruption we've brought to the bucolic lifestyles of the residents within these shale plays. You only have to drive across Pennsylvania to know that the Marcellus Shale lies beneath some of America's most scenic country. To see a cold front with its line of thunderstorms roll across the Oklahoma prairie is to see nature in its most beautiful fury. Its been a hell of a ride!

Nevertheless, there comes a time when we have to sit back and take stock of where we have been and where we are going. Russell Gold's book is a good a place as any to start. I still believe firmly that shale oil and gas will and should be a large part of the country's energy future. But, the same spirit that has given us this boom has to be applied to advancing technologies to make exploration and production more environmentally friendly. If you follow the industry closely, I think you'll see that there have been significant technological advancements in the last five years that reduce the environmental footprint of oil and gas development. Hopefully, this will continue into the future.

BGC
Lafayette, LA

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

A pretty even handed analysis of fracking and its effects

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 29, 2015

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Want to get an accessible introduction to "fracking" (short for hydraulic fracturing)? This should do nicely. This is not a technical tome--far from it. It is a well written book aimed at a general audience. If you want a solid scientific analysis, this is not the book for you. But, if you wish to get a sense of what is at stake, this would be quite useful.

The author had family land in Pennsylvania in the Marcellus Shale region (a large pool of underground natural gas). This is a personal story of his effort to learn about fracking--its history, its positive economic effects, its effects on the environment, its effects on the land. One aspect of this work struck me as positive: it is a balanced work. Russell Gold, the author, does not take sides in an overt manner. By the end of this book, I felt that I had learned quite a bit about fracking as a technique and its effects (positive and negative).

In the process, one also gets a sense of the major figures in the development of the technique, such as Aubrey McClendon. There were quite a few swashbucklers, like McClendon, who tried to develop their companies as rapidly as possible. Others were more cautious. The examination of a series of key figures humanizes the book, giving us a sense of the personal side of this issue.

The final chapter tries to provide an even handed analysis of fracking and its effects. Whether the author succeeds will be up to the readers to decide.

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Adrienne Busch

Rating

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 15, 2014

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I choose this rating because the author writes about a complex process in clear understandable words. It shows his experiences as a journalist, a Wall Street worker in a very human way. I think anyone interested in Shale Gas development should read this book..
I'm not an expert in the matter but the book opened my eyes on this very actual and complex procwess.

3 people found this helpful

bissan hazem

I enjoy it.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 26, 2014

Verified Purchase

If you are fan of reading about Fracking history, so this book is for you. I enjoy it.

One person found this helpful

Liam Kelleher

Well written book on the characters behind the fracking boom

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

I read the Frackers by Gregory Zuckerman a couple of years ago and frankly this book covers most of the same ground. Its a classic pop-science-business book. Easy to read. Anecdotal stories with locals and famous characters alike. Mitchell, Aubrey McLendon, Harold Hamm, Chesapeake and so on get a lot of pages.

There are things which this book covers better that The Frackers - notably some of the technical aspects on the fracking process covered better in this book. We really get to know who developed the ideas. The Boom is also better at taking a wider sweep of the economic landscape and the people who live in it. Russell Gold talks to people on the ground about how fracking has affected them in their personal lives. This is certainly the work of a reporter.

Conversely, The Frackers probably dedicated more pages to a few individuals. There was a LOT on Aubrey Mclendon in The Frackers and frankly I skipped through most of what was familiar ground in The Boom.

If you haven't read The Frackers, then this is a great book and arguably the better (or more concise) of the two. If you have read The Frackers, then unless you are dedicated to completing the energy reading list on Amazon you could probably skip it.

Gar

The boom has boomed.

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on December 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

An excellent story of the huge boom in fracking that swamped America. The author, who was involved directly in rhat his parents land was to be fracked, tells an easy to follow story of the history, short, of fracking and the frackers involved in this boom.
A good primer on fracking and a great story of the pioneers of fracking who fed the boom. Read in todays world, where fracking in America is deacreasing due to a glut, it is an eye opener.

nvision energy

it's okay. very popular science

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

this is part of our energy library. not the best book on fracking, but still a good one. it's fairly popular science but does a good job on the wider implications of shale oil and gas.

3 people found this helpful

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