Ebook: The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World

Review

"The Quest superbly captures the great questions of energy and security that face our nation in this risky world. Daniel Yergin identifies the key issues, demonstrates their urgency, and lays out the choices. He does so with such deep expertise and with such vivid narrative writing as to make this book both important and compelling. It can help us see our way to a safer and sounder energy future."
-Senator Richard Lugar, ranking member and former chairman, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee

"This fascinating saga is the definitive book on the most important of global issues, the quest for sustainable sources of energy. Dan Yergin, the prominent energy expert of our times, weaves together security and environmental concerns to explain the system we have toady and to analyze the sensible paths forward. This is one book you must read to understand the future of our economy and our way of life."
-Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein and Benjamin Franklin; president, The Aspen Institute

"Dan Yergin's The Prize was a magisterial masterpiece. Now Yergin widens his lens and takes in not just oil but all energy sources. Anyone who wants to understand the economics or politics of the twenty-first century should read this book."
-Lawrence Summers, Former U.S. Treasure Secretary; Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University

"The Quest by Daniel Yergin, one of the world's most experienced and influential authorities on global energy, may well become the definitive work on the science, history, and economics of this most complex and important subject. This masterful and illuminating book on one of the most vital issues of our time, one that will powerfully influence international politics, economics, and nations worldwide, should be essential reading for policymakers everywhere."
-Dr. Henry Kissinger, author of On China

"In the magisterial style of his earlier global narrative of energy politics, The Prize, Daniel Yergin has again delivered a sweeping, authoritative account of the science, economics, and geopolitics of energy. His writing, as ever, is clear and intelligent, and his subject could hardly be timelier."
-Steve Coll, author of The Bin Ladens and Ghost Wars; president, New America Foundation

"Written by America's preeminent energy expert, The Quest is a must read for anyone wanting to understand our energy world, how climate change became part of the energy equation-and how we can chart a path forward."
-Fred Krupp, president, Environmental Defense Fund

"This is a profound, unique, and brilliantly written book about some of the most important issues of our times."
-Frederick W. Smith, chairman and CEO, FedEx Corporation

"The search for sufficient, clean energy represents the defining challenge of this generation. Daniel Yergin has masterfully connected the forces of economics and geopolitics with the complex science of energy production and climate change. The Quest provides a lucid guide through the forest of issues that stands between us and a sustainable energy future."
-Susan Hockfield, president, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Product Description

This long-awaited successor to Daniel Yergin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Prize provides an essential, overarching narrative of global energy, the principal engine of geopolitical and economic change

Renowned energy authority Daniel Yergin continues the riveting story begun in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Prize, in this gripping account of the quest for the energy the world needs -- and the power and riches that come with it. A master story teller as well as one of the world's great experts, Yergin proves that energy is truly the engine of global political and economic change, as well as central to the battle over climate change. From the jammed streets of Beijing, the shores of the Caspian Sea, and the conflicts in the Mideast, to Capitol Hill and Silicon Valley, Yergin takes us inside the decisions and choices that are shaping our future. Without understanding the realities of energy examined in The Quest, we may surrender our place at the helm of history.

One of our great narrative writers, Yergin tells the inside stories -- of the oil market, the rise of the "petrostate", the race to control the resources of the former Soviet empire, and the massive corporate mergers that transformed the oil landscape. He shows how the drama of oil—the struggle for access to it, the battle for control, the insecurity of supply, the consequences of its use, its impact on the global economy, and the geopolitics that dominate it—will continue to shape our world. He takes on the toughest questions -- will we run out of oil, and are China and the United States destined to conflict over oil?

Yergin also reveals the surprising and turbulent history of nuclear, coal, electricity, and natural gas. He investigates the "rebirth of renewables" -- -- biofuels and wind, as well as solar energy, which venture capitalists are betting will be "the next big thing" for meeting the needs of a growing world economy. He makes clear why understanding this greening landscape and its future role are crucial.

Yergin further brings climate change into unique perspective by offering an original and unprecedented history of how the issue went from concerning a handful of scientists, terrified of a new Ice Age, to one of the overarching issues of our times.

The Quest presents an extraordinary range of characters and a panorama of dramatic stories that illustrate the principles that will shape a robust and flexible energy security system for the decades to come. It is an extraordinary achievement from an author who is truly one of our nation's great resources.