Before reading Lisa Margonelli's Oil on the Brain, I never would have called the process of energy production "fascinating." But this thoroughly engrossing and entertaining book travels to the heart of Texas and across continents to show exactly how the gas in our tanks gets there -- as well as its financial, social and environmental costs. Margonelli's dogged reporting, which includes pulling an all-nighter at a drilling rig and writing a "spicy" introduction letter to an Iranian government official to get access to his country's oil operations, exposes aspects of the oil industry that are not visible at your local pump.

Much of what Margonelli chronicles is grim, especially when she investigates how oil production has distorted petro-states such as Venezuela, Chad and Nigeria. Many Americans are now familiar with how Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has used his country's oil wealth to assert its independence from the United States, but they may not realize how many of Venezuela's poor still live in slums as they wait for some of Chavez's largesse to trickle down...

Oil on the Brain is at its best when the author manages to connect with the men and women she writes about, moving the energy debate beyond stereotypes. One of the most touching moments comes when Margonelli discovers that she and a fourth-generation oilman, C.D. Roper, both took care of sheep when they were younger. "C.D. and I are both unreformed sheep-loving nerds," she writes. "His pet lamb was named Rainbow, and sometime around midnight he begins to cry at the thought of the cruel uncle who killed Rainbow and ate him." Roper emerges as one of the book's most compelling characters, a man who has managed to make money in a tough, risky business and would consider quitting if he didn't get such an adrenaline rush from hitting pay dirt...

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