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Energy Victory shows how we could be using fuel dollars that are now being sent to countries with ties to terrorism to help farmers here and abroad, boosting our own economy and funding world development. Furthermore, by switching to alcohol fuels, which pollute less than gasoline and are made from plants that draw carbon dioxide from the air, this plan will facilitate the worldwide economic growth required to eliminate global poverty without the fear of greenhouse warming. Energy Victory offers an exciting vision for a dynamic, new energy policy, which will go a long way toward safeguarding homeland security in the future and provide solutions for global warming and Third World development.

Average Customer Rating:

Seriously flawed

Customer Rating:

The basic thesis that Mr. Zubrin presents is that the US government should immediately mandate that all cars sold in the USA be flex-fuel vehicles. These are vehicles equipped with fuel systems capable of handling gasoline, ethanol, or methanol, or any combination of the above. Modern computerized ignition and fuel injection systems make such a modification fairly cheap to implement. This change would open up the market for domestic ethanol and methanol production, which would rise to meet the demand and, because it is cheaper than gasoline, would finally liberate us from our dependence on Middle East oil. The author is certainly enthusiastic but his book is deeply flawed. The author is an aerospace engineer with a doctorate in nuclear engineering, and he certainly understands the engineering angles clearly. But he has problems with just about everything else, such as politics, history, and economics. He wrote a chapter on the military history of oil -- a bad mistake. He's obviously not well versed in military history. He appears to have slapped together some quick research to support his thesis. Although there's nothing terribly mistaken in the chapter, it bristles with so many trivial errors that it undermines his credibility. He really didn't need this chapter anyway; it struck me as gratuitous material tossed in to demonstrate intellectual breadth -- when in fact it indicated the opposite to me. I was particularly disturbed when I realized that he fails to back up his thesis with the crucial numbers that he needs. The book bristles with numbers and data, but there is one that is prominent by its absence: an estimate of the amount of farmland that would have to be dedicated to fuel production in order to provide enough fuel to permit us to stop importing oil. I have seen a few estimates, and they are staggering -- the most pessimistic estimates suggest that we'd have to dedicate much of our current farmland to fuel production to grow that much fuel. These estimates depend on a lot of assumptions: energy costs of fertilizer, transportation, processing, and so forth. Mr. Zubrin airily dismisses such concerns with the observation that the technology works. Yes, it works -- but how much will it cost to make that much fuel? How much will our food prices rise if we dedicate that much land to growing fuel? Mr. Zubrin makes no effort to answer these bottom-line questions. There is also an ungraciousness to his writing. He has some strong things to say about those who have disagreed with him. I cannot recall any place where he acknowledged uncertainty or the possibility that other experts might reasonable disagree with him. To Mr. Zubrin, everything seems clear and simple -- and that scares me. The real world is a messier place than Mr. Zubrin seems to think. But the most discrediting aspect of this book is its Islamoparanoia. Mr. Zubrin is convinced that Muslims are the spawn of the devil, subhuman monsters intent on rapine and bloodshed. His wild rants on this subject, which cover a goodly amount of space, are embarrassing, and they destroy any confidence a fair-minded reader would have in his judgement. What's sad is that his basic point -- that the USA must end its dependence on foreign oil -- is absolutely right. But he soils that point with his bigoted ravings. My overall assessment: this is a seriously flawed book that has a bit of good information in it, but you have to put up with a lot of nonsense, ignore the minor bloopers, and follow up with your own research to get the full benefits of this book.

A MUST READ

Customer Rating:

If you are tired of spending your dollars on gasoline produced from oil from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela,and other OPEC countries, many of whom hate the U.S.,this book is a must read. Dr.Zubrin's argument is simple: to become independent of foreign oil, stop using gasoline made from oil and turn to alcohol based fuels; ethanol and methanol. Methanol is the fuel used by the Indy 500 drivers. It's cheap to make and can be made from coal, natural gas and almost any biomass (including the leftovers from the manufacture of ethanol.)One needs a flex fuel engine to use it, but that only costs $150-200 per car. Congress could subsidize this for $150 million per year, and mandate a flex fuel engine for every car sold here. In three years that would put 50 million cars on the roads, creating a market for entrepreneurs to provide the pumps to deliver methanol to the marketplace. It would also help farmers in poor countries as well as take the pressure off of food crops presently used for ethanol and presently driving up many food prices. It is the Saudi's, the farm lobby and the oil company's stranglehold on Congress which is preventing methanol from coming to market. "Energy Victory" sets forth the problems and provides details of the solution to weaning ourselves from foreign oil.

Energy Victory	Customer Rating:
Wow this book is well written and an eye opener. It should be read by all americans. Big oil is using the government to cheat the people.

winning the war on terror by breaking free of oil	Customer Rating:
I felt the book was well documented and the point that the US is being held hostage by the foreign oil producers. The money made by the Islamic Oil producers is being used to destroy the United States through its economy. We have oil and alternate sources of energy and we should be using them.

This is a serious book

Customer Rating:

A serious book calls for a serious review and I will try to provide that. Zubrin covers a lot of ground so I will take this by chapter. First, the author has a PhD in nuclear engineering so he knows the science. The first two chapters provide the rationale for his campaign to replace petroleum with methanol, and to a lesser degree ethanol. The book was written a year ago and the effects of food crop diversion to ethanol have now emphasized the negatives of ethanol. Methanol is made from non-food, non-sugar, sources and is a better compound for fuel. The first five chapters provide his argument that Saudi Arabia is an enemy funding terrorism and the Wahhabi heresy of Islam. He makes good points but is a bit more excited than I would be. Another review makes the point that China will still be buying oil from the Saudis no matter what we do. Still, the price will fall as methanol, nuclear fission and fusion technology provide alternatives. Chapter 6 tells the story of flex-fuel technology and the remarkable life story of Roberta Nichols, a woman engineer who succeeded in adapting alcohol to motor fuel and doing it cheaply. She was a great pioneer and died too young to see her accomplishments recognized. Chapter 7 tells the story of several politically supported alternatives and explains why they are not practical. One section of this chapter tells the story of a professor whose poorly done research survives as a major argument against ethanol as a practical alternative to petroleum. There is a good deal of technology in this chapter but it is well explained. Chapter 8 discusses the potential for under-developed countries to benefit from a change to alcohol-based energy production. Methanol can be made from agricultural waste products and offers these societies a future that cannot occur if poor countries are beholden to the OPEC oil cartel. There is some economics and politics in this chapter but I agree with it all. Chapter 9 discusses the Brazilian experience, in which Brazil has freed itself from dependence on OPEC oil. An issue of Time magazine from this spring has a feature story that misrepresents the Brazilian experience so it would be good for those interested to read this as an antidote to the lies of what Zubrin calls the "Malthusians," those who do not want us to solve the problem. They prefer a smaller population, no matter how that goal is achieved. Al Gore is the most prominent member of this group. Chapter 10 is almost the best part of the book as he describes the true role of CO2 and global warming. He shows the present levels of CO2 are actually rather low when compared to previous epochs, such as the Holocene Maximum, a warm period when humans emerged from Africa and spread across the globe. He does warn that CO2 will become a problem as other societies move to an economic model similar to ours. As they prosper, their CO2 production will rise and that does constitute a risk for the planet. That risk will be reduced and eliminated by the suggestions made in the book. Chapter 11 goes on to discus other forms of energy, especially the promise of nuclear fusion which, once harnessed, will ensure the future of the human race for millions of years. This is his field and he knows it thoroughly. Chapter 12 is a well-done discussion of the role of the petroleum engine in the history of the 20th century, from the "Miracle of the Marne" in 1914, when a French division was rushed into battle in a thousand Parisian taxicabs, to the origins of World War II. Chapter 13 finishes up with a summary of the history of Islam and the plans of the Wahhabis to conquer the world and establish a new caliphate to replace the Ottoman Empire. This is a serious book with a lot of information, some of it rather technical for someone who never studied chemistry. His opinions on political issues are strong and, at times, a bit intemperate. The fusion program has been mishandled. The ethanol lobby has distorted the market, for example maintaining tariffs on Brazilian ethanol that would otherwise lower the price for American drivers. He is absolutely right on the big issues. We need to get off our addiction to middle eastern oil. He does not get into the production of oil in our own territory and I want to know more about that. I have ordered another book to do so. Bacterial engineering to produce oil and other carbon compounds, as Craig Venter and others plan to do, is not covered. This is a big field and there is a lot of misinformation. This book is a big help and should be read by anyone seeking information on alternatives. I'm not sure methanol is the only answer but it is a big piece of it and this is the place to learn about it.