Half Gone: Jeremy K. Leggett: 9781846270055: Amazon.com: Books

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Jeremy K. Leggett

Half Gone Paperback – January 1, 2006

by Jeremy K. Leggett (Author)

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An expose of the oil industry's cover-up of the diminishing oil supply, that paints a bleak picture of the future in which the price of oil skyrockets, economies and communities shudder worldwide, and the globe must move to renewable source to give it power.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Portobello
Publication date

January 1, 2006
Dimensions

5 x 0.98 x 7.8 inches
ISBN-10

1846270057
ISBN-13

978-1846270055
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Portobello (January 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1846270057
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1846270055
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.98 x 7.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,043,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #109,040 in Economics (Books)

Customer Reviews:
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Customer reviews

5 star		61%
4 star		8%
3 star		22%
2 star		8%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2011

This is a fantastic look at oil peaks and future energy supplies. As typical for Leggett, it is written very clearly and is completely engaging. It has the potential to change the way you view your dependence on oil and on how you live in the world. Most books of this nature tend to leave you feeling a little hopeless and depressed, but I'm delighted to say this isn't one of them. Jeremy Leggett manages to give you all the information you could need in an entertaining and informative way and leaves you feeling invigorated to go out there and make a difference. If you like this I highly recommend his other book, Carbon War, about the Kyoto agreement.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

One person found this helpful

A sobering read

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2013

I was a bit hesitant to get into the whole peak oil topic, as it's not my foremost interest in life...but decided to give it a go nonetheless. I was surprised at its readability, how it engages the reader, and takes him into the shadowy world of Big Oil in such accessible fashion. I had some idea of the pressing predicament faced by an energy hungry world, but now I feel that I understand the true gravity of the situation. There are some sobering insights - the biggest oilfields in the world were discovered over half a century ago...the last really big discoveries date back to the 1970's...and the last time we discovered more oil than we consumed was over a quarter of a century ago. Overall, the peak of global oil discovery happened as far back as 1965. Not exactly reassuring! He paints a fairly grim picture of recent oil discovery - since 2000 (and up to 2004, when the book went into print), a whole 27 giant oil fields were discovered. Doesn't sound too bad, one might think. Right? Now, of these, 16 were discovered in 2000, 9 in 2001, 2 in 2002, and none in 2003. See a pattern here? What exactly is a 'giant field'? Well, it is one containing more than half a billion barrels of oil. Sounds impressive enough. Except...the world (back in 2004) was eating up 80 million barrels of oil a DAY. Which means, each giant oil field discovered translates to a mere week's worth of global supply! Clearly, we need more super-giant discoveries...but it seems there's very little potential to find one, these days. The world really IS running out of oil. The current scenario is utterly unsustainable. Considering the undoubted reality of anthropogenic global warming, and its many dire effects, one cannot but agree with the author - we NEED to make a transition to renewable energy. No questions there. The future of modern civilisation, and of our fragile economic system, may very well be at stake here. And that's not 'being alarmist', but absolutely sober and levelheaded.

I do agree with some of the other reviewers, however, that the author doesn't dwell much on the shortcomings of renewable energy sources. How do we store and transmit it, for example? How do we obtain consistency in supply? We need further breakthroughs in these areas, and soon. Also, electric cars of today are energy-intensive to produce, and really only obtain their charge through dirty fossil fuels. And they're really not selling well. Now, if he could provide viable answers to these kinds of questions, it would've added a lot. Even so, a most impressive read. I'd certainly recommend it.

"One of the greatest scientific scams of the modern age"

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2006

These words concluded an article on global warming by Melanie Phillips, columnist on the London Daily Mail, published on 13 January 2006.

Ms Phillips is not alone in suffering from a delusional state on this issue, as you learn from this book.

Geologist Jeremy Leggett recounts that Colin Campbell and Chris Skrebowski - both with oil industry backgrounds - organised a seminar in July 2004 to warn members of the UK Parliament about the coming depletion of oil. In 2004 there were 659 MPs in the House of Commons - very roughly equivalent to the US House of representatives - of whom a mere three attended.

In Part One he details the run-up to what he calls "the topping point". Like other writers on this issue, he argues that it lies somewhere between 2005 and 2015.

He is pessimistic about the discovery of new oil fields - the peak year for oil discovery was, he claims, 1965 - and he is also pessimistic about what he calls "unconventional" oil, such as shale and tar sands.

Like other writers he believes they will demand at least as much energy in recovery as they will offer.

The second part of the book is a detailed examination of global warming. He cites the view of Sir David King, the UK government's Chief Scientific Adviser, that global warming is a greater threat than any weapons of mass destruction.

He poses the question: how much warming, how much danger? and forecasts that, at current rates, CO2 concentrations will reach 700 parts per million, as opposed to the 300 ppm in the 400,000 years up to the beginning of the last century.

By this scenario global temperatures are set to rise by the so-called "hockey stick" curve.

He again quotes Sir David King as believing that 550 ppm is way above the danger threshold.

The author then goes on to list the "sleeping giants" which will be triggered by these rising temperatures: methane-hydrate destabilization - launching billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere - the shut-down of the Gulf Stream; the melting of the Greenland ice cap, and other dire news.

The catalogue is exhaustive (and depressing!) before then going on to examine "How we got into this mess", and he concludes that, after 1990, there was no excuse for inaction.

Finally, in "What can we do about it?" we get the do's and don'ts.

First he argues we CAN get plentiful renewable energy - that's the good news, but the bad news is one of time: we've left it too late!

Among the guilty, who seemed as if they knew what was happening, was George Bush's good buddy from Downing Street. The man who outlined what needed to be done in 2003; the man who seemed to realise that nuclear power wasn't an option.

Jeremy Leggett was at the 2003 meeting when Blair launched the results of the last UK energy review.

He is not impressed with the follow-up, or lack of it!

Second, he warns against the trap of going for the nuclear option, which he dismisses comprehensively.

Like other, he wishes to see "selfless collective thinking" from the international community. You will be unsurprised by his pessimism on this score.

"The most probably outcome," he writes, "is that the world will drift on in overall collective denial."

But he ends by reminding us of the case of Woking, in Surrey England. It cut its carbon emissions by 77 per cent!

There will need to be a lot of Wokings before too long, if we are to pull through.

Johan Hari, columnist for the London paper The Independent, concluded a typically trenchant piece on climate change by asking the $64,000 question:

"What we choose to do about these scientific warnings will answer a fundamental question about human beings.

"Are we a rational species, capable of understanding the damage we are doing and acting in our own self-defence - or are we addled hedonists, too high on our fumes to see the truth?"

If you read one book this year on what James Lovelock has called the world's "morbid fever", try this one. It is truly comprehensive.

14 people found this helpful

Necessary reading

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2008

I agree with the other reviewer that this book is better in some sections than others. That said, however, it is an important book. It opened my eyes to the way in which 'remaining reserves' have been subject to gross over-estimation, and also to a lot of the politics behind big oil. Its other virtue is that it is not apocalyptic or overly polemical; it has an important point to make and it makes it quite soberly.

Look at what is happening in the world oil markets now; this book saw this coming some years back.

One person found this helpful

A book of two halves

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2006

Sums up the current crisis in a excellent and lucid fashion (five stars), but the second part of the book - 'what to do about it' appears to suffer from substantial bias, oversimplification and inaccuracy to put it politely. Which is odd considering the author runs an alternative energy company - or maybe not.

One person found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2008

I have been studying the energy depletion for some time and didn't feel that this book added anything to what I have already read. I also thought that it was not as comprensive and complete as other books.

Top reviews from other countries

Spider Monkey

Half gone

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2007

Verified Purchase

This is a fantastic look at oil peaks and future energy supplies. As typical for Leggett, it is written very clearly and is completely engaging. It has the potential to change the way you view your dependence on oil and on how you live in the world. Most books of this nature tend to leave you feeling a little hopeless and depressed, but I'm delighted to say this isn't one of them. Jeremy Leggett manages to give you all the information you could need in an entertaining and informative way and leaves you feeling invigorated to go out there and make a difference. If you like this I highly recommend his other book, Carbon War, about the Kyoto agreement.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

4 people found this helpful

Spider Monkey

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2007

Verified Purchase

This is a fantastic look at oil peaks and future energy supplies. As typical for Leggett, it is written very clearly and is completely engaging. It has the potential to change the way you view your dependence on oil and on how you live in the world. Most books of this nature tend to leave you feeling a little hopeless and depressed, but I'm delighted to say this isn't one of them. Jeremy Leggett manages to give you all the information you could need in an entertaining and informative way and leaves you feeling invigorated to go out there and make a difference. If you like this I highly recommend his other book, Carbon War, about the Kyoto agreement.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

One person found this helpful

Sam

Good read, very interesting book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

Author knows his stuff!

Albion Books

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

thought provoking

Ben

Half Gone

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

Very good book, I'd recommend it to anyone studying oil academically or for anyone just reading for their own pleasure.

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