Volume 26, Number 14 · September 27, 1979
Oil: A Solution
By John Kenneth Galbraith
Energy Future
edited by Robert Stobaugh, edited by Daniel Yergin
Random House, 353 pp., $12.95
The energy crisis—in fact, the oil problem, for that is the energy source that has been subject to all recent change—is, in its basic lineaments, not terribly complex. The complexity, that which comes from ordinary, uncomplicated, understandable dim-mindedness apart, is largely the contribution of those who do not wish to face reality. Evasion, even a measure of obfuscation, protects deeply held belief from what exists. And there is an even more severe conflict between ideology and obvious practical action. So yet more evasive dialectic is required. Finally and more reasonably, there is, in the longer run, the uncertainty that is inevitable when policy involves technical innovation that is theoretically plausible but wholly unconsummated.
Review, 3561 words
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