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Coming in Oilfield Review
NEW BOOKS
Guesstimation: Solving the
World’s Problems on the Back
of a Cocktail Napkin
Lawrence Weinstein and
John A. Adam
Princeton University Press
41 William Street
Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA
2008. 320 pages. US $19.95
(paperback)
ISBN 978-0-691-12949-5
Today, the ability to estimate is a
crucial skill. This book is a collection
of problems from daily life that allows
those with basic mathematics and
science skills to quickly estimate almost
anything using plausible assumptions
and basic arithmetic.
Contents:
• How to Solve Problems
• Dealing with Large Numbers
• General Questions
• Animals and People
• Transportation
• Energy and Work
• Hydrocarbons and Carbohydrates
• The Earth, the Moon, and Lots
of Gerbils
• Energy and the Environment
• The Atmosphere
• Risk
• Unanswered Questions
• Appendixes, Bibliography, Index
One excellent way to start honing
such skills is with a few so-called Fermi
problems, named for Enrico Fermi, the
physicist who delighted in tossing out
the little mental teasers to his
colleagues whenever they needed a
break from building the atomic bomb.
… Dr. Adam and his colleague
Lawrence Weinstein, a professor of
physics, offer a wide and often amusing
assortment of Fermi flexes in a book that
just caught my eye, [Guesstimation].
Angier N: “The Biggest of Puzzles Brought Down
to Size,” New York Times (March 30, 2009),
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/science/
31angi.html?ref=science (accessed April 22, 2009).
Spring 2009
Flash of Genius: And Other
True Stories of Invention
John Seabrook
St. Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10010 USA
2008. 384 pages. US $14.95
ISBN 0-312-53572-4
This book of essays is a collection of
true stories about great ideas. New
Yorker author Seabrook explores the
moment when inspiration strikes in an
otherwise average life, and what
happens when that idea takes on a life,
and commercial possibilities, of its own.
Contents:
• The Flash of Genius
• The Fruit Detective
• Game Master
• Child’s Play
• Sowing for Apocalypse
• The Tree of Me
• Fragmentary Knowledge
• Invisible Gold
• Selling the Weather
• The Slow Lane
• The Tower Builder
• American Scrap
• It Came from Hollywood
• Tremors in the Hothouse
• The Spinach King
… characters, not events are at the
heart of Seabrook’s excellent writing.
Even the technical details of the ideas
and inventions come second, almost
incidental to his first-person
explorations of the people imbued with
or affected by the inspiration.
… Seabrook fits in a surprising amount
of technical detail. You’ll learn, for
instance, how to recover scrap metal or
design skyscrapers that won’t topple
over. But… the real lesson of this book
is a human one: Flashes of genius,
no matter how small, can come from
anywhere and perhaps anyone.
Simonite T: New Scientist 199, no. 2675
(September 27, 2008): 46.
When Science Goes Wrong:
Twelve Tales from the
Dark Side of Discovery
Simon LeVay
Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014 USA
2008. 304 pages. US $15.00
(paperback)
ISBN 978-0-452-28932-1
Neuroscientist LeVay understands the
high potential cost of erroneous
theories and bad information. This book
presents 12 stories of catastrophic
blunders in a wide variety of scientific
disciplines, from engineering geology
and volcanology to microbiology and
nuclear physics.
Contents:
• Neuroscience: The Runner’s Brain
• Meteorology: All Quiet on the
Western Front
• Volcanology: The Crater of Doom
• Neuroscience: The Ecstasy and
the Agony
• Engineering Geology: The Night the
Dam Broke
• Gene Therapy: The Genes of Death
• Nuclear Physics: Meltdown
• Microbiology: Gone with the Wind
• Forensic Science: The Wrong Man
• Space Science: Off Target
• Speech Pathology: The
Monster Study
• Nuclear Chemistry: The
Magic Island
• Epilogue, Sources
Petroleum System Modeling.
Petroleum system modeling, sometimes called charge modeling, uses
seismic interpretations, well logs,
laboratory data and geological
knowledge to model the evolution of
a sedimentary basin to determine if a
reservoir has been filled, or charged,
with hydrocarbons. This article
describes the steps in the process
and explains how this modeling
helps to establish fluid presence and
type with confidence and to assess
exploration risk before drilling.
Coalbed Methane—A Global
Resource. Commercial coalbed
methane (CBM) production was
originally a North American
phenomenon. Techniques used to
tap this unconventional resource,
many introduced in the 1980s, have
changed considerably as CBM
development has increasingly
become a global venture. This article
presents the expanding geographical
scope of CBM production and
describes recently introduced methods
for evaluating, drilling, completing
and producing natural gas from coal.
Crosswell Electromagnetic
Surveys. To better manage producing fields, operators must understand and predict fluid movements
between wells. A recently developed
crosswell electromagnetic induction
system can image resistivity distribution between wells. Formation
resistivity is, in turn, a function of
porosity and fluid saturations. This
new crosswell system illuminates
the interwell reservoir area using a
transmitter in one well and a string
of receivers in another, and it can
propagate signals up to 1 km [0.6 mi]
through a typical oilfield section.
Adding to the drama of each story
are the scientists’ own interpretation of
events. … LeVay has tried, where
possible, to interview all major players
involved. Reading the characters’ own
reflections and opinions in their own
words and then comparing that to the
“facts” makes for an absorbing read.
[The book] is written for both the
scientist and the layperson to enjoy.
Wayman E: Geotimes 53, no. 7 (July 2008): 43.
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• Lithology and Porosity Estimation
• Saturation and Permeability
Estimation
• Index
Well Logging for Earth
Scientists
Darwin V. Ellis and Julian M. Singer
Springer
P.O. Box 17
3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands
2008. 692 pages. US $99.00
ISBN 978-1-4030-3738-2
This revised, expanded edition of the
classic 1987 text provides detail on a
variety of specialized well logging
instruments used to obtain measurements from the borehole during and
after the drilling process. The book
contains information about the physical
basis of borehole geophysical measurements, as well as an introduction to
practical petrophysics—extracting
desired properties from well log
measurements.
Contents:
• An Overview of Well Logging
• Introduction to Well Log
Interpretation: Finding the
Hydrocarbon
• Basic Resistivity and Spontaneous
Potential
• Empiricism: The Cornerstone
of Interpretation
• Resistivity: Electrode Devices and
How They Evolved
• Other Electrodes and Toroid Devices
• Resistivity: Induction Devices
• Multi-Array and Triaxial
Induction Devices
• Propagation Measurements
• Basic Nuclear Physics for Logging
Applications: Gamma Rays
• Gamma Ray Devices
• Gamma Ray Scattering and
Adsorption Measurements
• Basic Neutron Physics for
Logging Applications
• Neutron Porosity Devices
• Pulsed Neutron Devices
and Spectroscopy
• Nuclear Magnetic Logging
• Introduction to Acoustic Logging
• Acoustic Waves in Porous Rocks
and Boreholes
• Acoustic Logging Methods
• High Angle and Horizontal Wells
• Clay Quantification
52
The collaboration has resulted in a
book that is both authoritative and
lucid and a suitable text for university
curricula. However, it is also an
important reference book for industry
users, describing both the fundamental
physics of well logging and a historical
development of tool design.
I recommend this book highly. The
authors have worked hard and meticulously on the text as a labor of love, as
is obvious on every page. This book
should be on the shelf of everyone who
works with logs or aspires to, as an
introduction, a refresher, and a well
logging reference source.
Doveton JH: AAPG Bulletin 93, no. 2
(February 2009): 293–294.
• Psychrometry, Evaporative Cooling,
and Solids Drying
• Distillation
• Equipment for Distillation, Gas
Absorption, Phase Dispersion,
and Phase Separation
• Liquid-Liquid Extraction and
Other Liquid-Liquid Operations
and Equipment
• Adsorption and Ion Exchange
• Gas-Solid Operations
and Equipment
• Liquid-Solid Operations
and Equipment
• Reactors
• Alternative Separation Processes
• Solid-Solid Operations
and Processing
• Waste Management
• Process Safety
• Energy Resources, Conversion,
and Utilization
• Materials of Construction
• Index
physics. He divides impossibility into
three classes: Class 1 for concepts
beyond current technology, but which
do not violate any known physical laws;
Class II for concepts beyond present
technology that also challenge interpretation of those laws; and Class III for
concepts that defy known physical
laws and would demand huge changes
in our understanding of how the
universe works.
… [the book] remains the definitive
resource for process engineering, and
is a must have for university libraries
and practicing chemical engineers
everywhere. … it will enable a trained
engineer to handle any process design
contingency with confidence.…
Highly recommended.
The study of the impossible has
opened up entirely new vistas for
science, Kaku rightly points out. It is
here that the book’s strength lies: the
impossible is a gateway for discussing
what we still do not understand, those
gray areas that are surely the most
fascinating part of physics.
King MR: Choice 45, no. 8 (April 2008): 1366.
… there is a surprising amount of
heavyweight, cutting-edge science
woven into the fabric of this book.
… [The book] is, in fact, an easy-toread physics primer in disguise.
Kaku has a huge reach as a writer
and speaker.
Perry’s Chemical Engineers’
Handbook, 8th ed.
Don W. Green and
Robert H. Perry (eds)
McGraw-Hill Professional
Two Penn Plaza, 23rd Floor
New York, New York 10121 USA
2008. 2,400 pages. US $199.00
Contents:
• Class I Impossibilities: Force Fields;
Invisibility; Phasers and Death
Stars; Teleportation; Telepathy;
Psychokinesis; Robots; Extraterrestrials and UFOs; Starships;
Antimatter and Anti-Universes
• Class II Impossibilities: Faster
Than Light; Time Travel; Parallel
Universes
• Class III Impossibilities: Perpetual
Motion Machines; Precognition
• Epilogue: The Future of the
Impossible
• Notes, Bibliography, Index
Brooks M: New Scientist 197, no. 2645
(March 2008): 52.
ISBN 0-07-142294-3
First published in 1934, this book has
long been regarded as an expert source
of chemical engineering information.
This updated classic text covers every
aspect of chemical engineering, from
fundamental principles to chemical
processes and equipment to new
computer applications.
Contents:
• Conversion Factors and
Mathematical Symbols
• Physical and Chemical Data
• Mathematics
• Thermodynamics
• Heat and Mass Transfer
• Fluid and Plastic Dynamics
• Reaction Kinetics
• Process Control
• Process Economics
• Transport and Storage of Fluids
• Heat-Transfer Equipment
Physics of the Impossible:
A Scientific Exploration into the
World of Phasers, Force Fields,
Teleportation, and Time Travel
Michio Kaku
Doubleday, Division of Random
House, Inc.
1745 Broadway
New York, New York 10019 USA
2008. 329 pages. US $26.95
ISBN 0-385-52069-7
In this book, noted physicist Michio
Kaku explores the extent to which the
technologies and devices of science
fiction, deemed impossible today, might
become commonplace in the future.
From antimatter to time travel, the
author explores the basics and the
limits of the current known laws of
Oilfield Review