Book Review: Profit From The Peak

Wiley Publishing sent me a copy of Profit from the Peak a couple of months ago and I finally finished reading it while on vacation a couple of weeks ago.  The short review of Brian Hicks and Chris Nelder’s work is that it’s a good book and worth the read for anyone investing actively now and anyone who wants to learn more about oil.

As would be hard for any book to deliver, stock picks are not what you should expect from any book, including this one.  Blogs, Web sites, daily and weekly newspapers are better for that since their data is more current.  The benefit of reading this book to me (although they do give stock picks) was that it gave me a foundation for understanding the energy industry better than I went in with.  They carefully outline the situation we as a global economy are facing with oil passing its peak production point sometime in the recent past or near future.  The authors paint a grim picture that can almost leave you depressed with their apocalyptic view of the future.

I found it interesting to read their predictions of the spike in oil prices coming true as we saw earlier this summer.  What they didn’t account for was the quicker weakening of demand that we’ve seen as US consumers change their habits to use less energy. (I see this on a daily basis as a recruiter with candidates who used to be willing to drive anywhere in Atlanta for a job, now limit their commute to a much smaller radius from their home.)

This book has a lot of charts to illustrate their points which makes some of the dry text easier to follow.  I actually enjoy this type of reading so “dry” is not an insult, but a compliment.  I don’t need a bunch of flowery words to make the point.  I found the history of oil production interesting as I did learning of the different types of oil out there.  This is some of the information that will be valuable in the coming years in understanding our energy situation.  With the election only two months away, both candidates will be spinning their stories the best they can and this book helps explain a lot of the theories out there.  It also touches on the true cost of oil, pegging the total cost, including the hidden/indirect costs to bring the price per barrel up to $480.  It paints a much clearer picture for the need for greener/renewable fuels.

Profit from the Peak is well documented for those who want to verify facts or are looking for further reading. I already leaned to the side of understanding that oil can’t last forever and took a great deal from this book for learning more about the industry as a whole.  I’ll admit that reading this book influenced some of my recent trades including CHK (Natural Gas) and USO (Oil ETF).

Before anyone asks, all I got was the free book, no payment from Wiley.  So, consider this an unbiased review, although I’d like more free books if they want more reviews.