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Beyond Oil by Kenneth S. Deffeyes has been selected as the 2007 summer-fall reading project for incoming students.

This book is intended to be one of broad interest, touching on topics that are both timely and of significant importance to society. The intellectual impact of the book is enhanced by bringing in national speakers in the fall to address the subject. The selected book is also the topic of discussion in a variety of first-year courses.

World demand for oil continues to increase unabated—and in a dramatic fashion—as both population and worldwide economic expansion grow. In contrast, oil production is expected to peak in the coming decades and Deffeyes argues that peak production has already occurred. (Production peaked in the United States in 1970.)

Beyond Oil is an enlightening survey of available world energy sources from a geologic perspective. Natural gas, coal, tar sands, oil shale, and uranium for nuclear power are among the many options discussed as partial replacements for oil. While the development of energy resources relies on science and engineering, the impacts of the development have broad social, economic, and environmental implications. The interdisciplinary nature of energy development, coupled with the impending new-energy era, makes Beyond Oil ideal reading for our incoming freshman.

Author K.S. Deffeyes, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, has a long history in the petroleum business with strong connections to Wyoming. His father was a first-generation petroleum engineer while Deffeyes himself received his undergraduate education in petroleum geology from the Colorado School of Mines before graduating from Princeton with a Ph.D. Deffeyes held summer jobs in the oil patch and began working for Shell in 1958 prior to entering academia. Deffeyes spent part of his teenage youth mineral collecting on Casper Mountain and is a graduate of Natrona County High School.