The Green and the Black

I would never have picked this book up if I hadn't read a very funny essay Sernovitz wrote for the New Yorker website recently, where his bio identified him as both a novelist and an oilman. Intrigued, I tracked down his new book, and he turned out to be an ideal guide to a world I knew little about: the oil and energy business and in particular the improbable "fracking revolution" that has completely flipped the world energy economy in ways casual observers like me probably haven't realized. This isn't the "complete story" the subtitle promises, but it's a funny, charming, self-aware, and constantly enlightening tour of the personalities, science, politics, and finances of his business by a self-described "lonely liberal oilman." He may not convince you on every point he makes, but he'll make you rethink them all, and laugh while you're doing it.