Speculations Trumped Maps

Perhaps a review -- and awareness -- of the past may make us better geologists in the future.


One of the pleasures of a document-browser is the recognition of early work by old friends. I returned from a delightful lunch with James A. Brooks, emeritus professor at SMU, and my first library visit of 2005 discovered an AAPG review by friend Jim of a 1954 book, Oil in the Soviet Union.

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Perhaps a review -- and awareness -- of the past may make us better geologists in the future.


One of the pleasures of a document-browser is the recognition of early work by old friends. I returned from a delightful lunch with James A. Brooks, emeritus professor at SMU, and my first library visit of 2005 discovered an AAPG review by friend Jim of a 1954 book, Oil in the Soviet Union.

What a retro-glimpse at the sensitivities of the times. No field locations could be shown in the book! A book about oil with no oil field maps!

Technical discussions took a back seat to speculations about whether the Soviet Union's oil reserves were adequate to prevent the Russian Bear from stalking into the Middle East.

How did that come out, anyway?

They say memory is the second thing to go ... I've forgotten what the first is.

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