$20 Per Gallon, by Christopher Steiner - Large Print Reviews

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$20 Per Gallon
By Christopher Steiner
Read by John Wolfe

$20 Per Gallon
How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better
By Christopher Steiner
Read by John Wolfe
Hachette Audio, (2009)
An Unabridged Recording on 8 CDs
ISBN: 978-1-60024-692-0
Genre: Non-Fiction, Social Science

Reviewed by Herbert White - August 20, 2009

If gasoline where to ever get to twenty-dollars a gallon - a very possible scenario - what would be the outcome? In $20 Per Gallon, Christopher Steiner theorizes that such a scenario would actually be good for American society. Within the pages of this ground-breaking book, Steiner explains how such a rise in gas prices will dramatically change our life, and why he feels that these changes will actually be for the good.

Steiner charts that changes that will occur as the price of gas begins to rise, with chapters dealing with gas at various prices along the rise to $20. If Steiner's theories are correct, we are in for some big changes. Planes will be grounded in favor of train travel because only the ultra-wealthy can afford to fly, the suburbs will disappear and suburbanites move back to the cities when it becomes too expensive to commute to work, and where cars are only used in dire circumstances. Telecommuting will become the norm, more and more people will move south to escape the high cost of heating their homes, and plastic (which is made from petroleum) will all but disappear. Even where and how we shop will change. While these changes will forever change American society, Steiner argues that in the long run, these changes will be for the better, and as a bonus pollution and the production of green house gasses will decrease, and eating locally grown produce will increase.

Is Steiner correct in assuming that gas will one day hit $20 a gallon, and is he correct in the changes that it will engender? Only time will tell, but what is certain is that gas is likely to spike once again, and more likely sooner than later. Eventually this cyclical rise in gas and oil prices will tilt more and more to the high side - and as their pocket book is hit harder and harder, people will begin to make meaningful changes in their lifestyles to cope with this increase cost - thereby subtly altering society. Will these changes really be for the good? I hope so, but it is for the future historians to be the final arbitrators on that account. What is for certain is that you will find $20 Per Gallon to be an eye-opening and thought provoking book that will change how you think about the price of gas - and the future!

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