Lisa Margonelli’s Oil on the Brain is a book that looks at the supply chain of gasoline from gas station to refinery to the oil well. While it briefly mentions natural gas wells and touches on other petroleum products, it’s main focus is on the supply of gasoline. It tells a straightforward, but unremarkable story. Most of the things you read about in the book, you already knew about from commonsense before you open the book.

You might suspect that such a book would take on an activist character and point out all of the evils of the oil industry. Or that the book would pass judgment on those who drive big gas guzzling cars. It does neither. It just lays out the struggles faced by the gas stations squeezed both by the oil companies and market forces, the difficulty of getting the fuel at a reasonable price just-in-time at the gas stations, the pollution problems at refineries, the all powerful NYMEX crude market that make people rich and broke in seconds, and the third world countries that suffer when poorly run oil wells pollute the landscape and leave them impoverished.

The thing is we all know such things. Most people are aware at some level the troublesome nature of petroleum, and how it pollutes. They realize that many of the refineries are older, polluting, and suffer many malfunctions that spew toxins into the air. Yet, modern society accept those costs are being acceptable. Non-environmentalists might not express such concern, but they hang over our heads and there is a certain public awareness.

Most interesting in the book was how Lisa Margonelli got exclusive access to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the NYMEX market, oil refineries, gas stations, and oil wells. She talked to the people, she captured the culture surrounding it. She didn’t villinize any one sector, but instead sought to shine light on this important industry that provides both energy and a major source of pollution.

An interesting book well worth a read.