Unsustainable Oil: Facts, Counterfacts, and Fictions. A book Review

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In the era of Trump and alternative facts, here is a book on facts, counterfacts, and fictions relating to the development of Canada’s oil sands. The book is a complex mixture of literature, art, science, engineering, politics, Great Plains anthropology, and indigenous peoples, woven together into an often difficult- to- read text on the environment, energy, and economy trilemma our civilization faces. The book challenged my scientist’s literary skills and vocabulary; it is not a quick read, but I emerged wiser, if at times confused, by the direction the book was heading. Nevertheless, the book introduced me to a large volume of literature, poetry, and other materials on oil sands and associated topics that I was simply unaware existed. Overall, it was enjoyable to read, even if very hard work to get into at the start. The only book I have read previously that came close to this level of entangled complexity was Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach epic.

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