Chosen for book club, this was a surprisingly readable story about Spindletop, the oil discovery that changed the world forever. It did a great job of exploring the personalities and the science behind the discovery, though my favorite part was regarding the boomtowns that developed throughout East Texas in the wake of the gusher. Did you know that the original Spindletop gusher (called the Lucas Gusher) didn't really make any money at all because it took so long for it to be capped--the technology didn't exist and had to be created on the fly. Doesn't make me feel any better about the oil industry today, but does provide a rich context for how we got to where we are today.