I picked up this book after reading an interview with Daniel Yergin where he came across as very insightful into how oil and gas have affected the recent past and how it will affect the future. Unfortunately, such skill is not very apparent in this book.
Covering America’s shale, Russia’s resources, China’s needs, the Middle East’s troubles, the future of cars, and the maybe-coming energy transition, Yergin does cover the whole spectrum around oil and gas. The writing flows well with anecdotes and cute vignettes, but the whole is just a recapitulation of the history of the past couple of decades.
I was hoping for more insights, analysis, and opinion, but he does not share any in this book. For that, it seems you will have to hire him and his expensive colleagues from IHS Markit as consultants. If you are well-read on current affairs (say, if you are a regular reader of The Economist), this book contains little you don’t already know and will not be worth your time.
