In Deep Water: The Anatomy of a Disaster, the Fate of the Gulf, and How to End Our Oil Addiction

by Peter Lehner, Bob Deans

When Deepwater Horizon 's well blew out on April 20, 2010, the resulting explosion claimed eleven lives. Over the next two months, an estimated 200 million gallons of crude oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, a haven of biodiversity and one of the world 's prime fishing grounds. The resultant oil slick covered 2,500 square miles, killing wildlife and menacing the coastline and many thousands of jobs from Texas to the Florida Keys, and beyond.How and why did this happen? Who was responsible? And what can be done to make sure such a devastating accident never happens again? "In Deep Water" answers these questions and more. Drawing on the work of the 400 scientists, activists, and researchers at the Natural Resources Defense Council, "In Deep Water" documents the environmental and human toll of this tragedy and underscores that our often wasteful over-reliance on oil comes at an ever-greater cost to us and to the planet we inhabit.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Audiobook, Politics, History

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[Chelsea Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the true downer I expected it to be.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of information in this but I felt like it flowed ok between the story of what happened on the Deep Water and facts surrounding the United States and oil related issues.

[David Glad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grabbed the audiobook hoping it would be written by a journalist or at least a somewhat unbiased account, but ten minutes in got the rude awakening that the book was written by an environmental lawyer and pretty obvious from much of the tone. Audiobook being a little over 4 hours in length, figured might as well listen for any interesting insight or willful ignorance on part of the author. (Namely the gem of only referring to Obama as being some great reformer looking to fix safety loopholes in offshore drilling. In reality just days before the incident he was campaigning to loosen restrictions on offshore drilling, saying how much safer the offshore drilling process was, in part to newer technology and methods. Too bad too, as it might have been the only real jobs ever "saved or created" by his policies had they been enacted.)

So what you get with this book is kind of a misfit in the grand scheme. A newspaper article or Wikipedia could give you a timeline of events, this book was hastily brought to press (another reviewer considered it hardly even drive-by journalism) and therefore the cause is unknown. (Not sure actually at time of writing this review if cause is known, but as mentioned in book there obviously were many warnings and safety practices ignored.)

What I got out of this book oddly enough was disgust at the grand posturing by overpaid senators and congressmen and could not help but think how many staff members (another taxpayer expense, of course) prepared their talking points and how they likely did no research of their own into what happened. (Funny how talk is cheap and yet somehow their constituents let them earn their vote -- and pay -- by such a farce of kabuki theater.) Even as the author mentions executives at Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and so on boasting "we would not have used that well design and would have done things differently," our vindictive lawyer friend ignores the unmistakable fact that it happened with BP just like so many other scary safety violations and disasters over the years. (Emphasis all along the way about how BP was looking to cut corners and wring out cost benefits in the process.)

As for the book's subtitle, somewhat lives up to the anatomy of a disaster, obviously it is impossible to know the fate of the Gulf, and a joke on how to end our oil addiction. (Problem with "planned communities," where all the amenities are within close walking/bicycling distance, is that it likely is a much higher cost of living -- financial anyway -- versus the alternatives. Maybe it would be because the developers would model it to recoup the investment quickly enough, but that is just conjecture on my part.)

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great summary of the BP gulf oil disaster. However, it doesn't quite deliver on the how-to-use-less-oil as the title suggests it would address.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read in some aspects, not emotionally though. If this doesn't get you riled up, I don't know what will!

[AMY CUTLER · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Deep Water was written in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The book aims to be an exposé on systemic negligence that led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. While an interesting significant historic event, the book drowns in its own detail. Lehner draws heavily on the research of scientists and policy experts, but the narrative lacks a coherent through-line to keep the reader engaged.

Rather than unfolding as a structured investigation or a compelling story of accountability, the book reads more like an extended policy brief, factually rich but narratively flat. As a result, it struggles to hold attention, especially for readers seeking a clear sense of causality, human drama, or the broader strokes.

The closing chapters, which lay out recommendations for avoiding future disasters and transitioning away from fossil fuel dependence, feel more idealistic than actionable. Reading those prescriptions today, against the political backdrop of “drill, baby, drill” rhetoric and the persistent dominance of oil interests, underscores how far from reality many of the proposals still are.

[Ayla Chase · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had some pretty clear biases and lacked a real sense of story telling. It relied very heavily on facts which were poorly strung together and so lacked a cohesive narrative.

I would like to hear this again but with the stories of people affected by the spill further fleshed out, in addition to more of a history of off shore drilling.

[Dee]

quick listen (only just over 4hrs) - but author packed a lot of info in, i remember watching this happen when I was standing a DoD 24/7 watchfloor at the time - after reading this and Empire of Pain - the extent to which lobbying negatively affects public policy just pisses me off

[Christopher Mcdermott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok on the detail but the book is a bit of a polemic and very one sided.

[Leanne Albillar · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most repetitive books I’ve ever read. I was hoping for a more in depth analysis of the the issues rather than just quotes and snappy imperatives.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short read but I thought it was only just ok. I did find the book quite dry. There is no doubt the disaster is terrible and will cause issues for many years to come.

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though this was a catastrophic event this book did not grab me. I’m not sure if it was the speakers voice or the way it was written

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I learned stuff. And, really, that is what I set out to do when I picked up this book at the library.
This book is written by an environmentalist, yes, but I don't think he's that bad. I think he puts the truth out there in the crudest, most open light there is. Of course, he does spend quite a bit of time blaming government for the failures that our occurring in our environment, but he also spends a great deal of time saying that is the people's fault for some of the environmental things that go wrong.
I think a lot of people will be turned off of this book because it is written by an environmentalist and they'll just think it's blah blah blah and much of the same, but I think it is a very informative book. It gives statistics that newspapers and news programs just don't tell us. And the thing is we are going to run out of crude oil eventually and we do need to be aware of that and prepared with alternatives.
We do need to wake up as a people and do stuff. It doesn't have to be all environment, but we do have to get involved in this world. We can't just sit around and expect others to do the work that we can do! There are millions of things we could do everyday just to improve the way of living in every aspect, and not just environmentally.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the sense that this book was prepared by an environmental activist well in advance of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and was waiting for an event to occur which would provide the notoriety to propel it to market. The book sub-title includes "anatomy of a disaster", "fate of the Gulf", and "how to end our oil addiction", and I began reading this book thinking it might have been roughly divided in thirds addressing each of those issues. However, I felt the book was about 50% canned environmental discussion, 35% about the evils of big oil, and only about 15% about British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon. While I hoped for and expected a larger emphasis on the failed oil well itself, there was still enough detail, and enough of an explanation to understand the nature of the disaster.

If you found yourself caught up in the "drill baby drill" chanting during the 2008 Presidential election, you may want to skip this book. For others, it does describe the downside of our oil dependency, and how regulation and oversight of deepwater drilling rigs, which failed in this case, certainly have their value.

[Liam Dillow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently starting an internship for NRDAR, the government program that assesses, seeks damages, and does restoration for the environmental damage companies do, I thought this would be good summer reading to get myself reacquainted with the disaster and surrounding issues. The fact that the story is told by the head of the NRDC and an expert, a man with integrity and deep convictions in regards to environmental damage does slant the nexus of the story more towards a discussion of the policy and societal changes that need to occur so that this never happens again, yet still provides an easy-to-understand accounting of the oil spill while imparting at times an emotional, visceral sense of the injustice of the environmental and human damage done.

[Mustafa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, I listened to this book expecting it to be biased and it was. The author states that he works for environmental preservation at the beginning of the book. I am ok with that. However, I was expecting more substantial information with evidence based arguments. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The book is littered with statements from politicians who in reality do not know what they are talking about. There are citing of reports and scientists which was good. There is also too much repetition in the book as if it was trying to win an argument by stating things over and over again. And I mean word by word repetition of material that you went through half an hour before. That was really annoying. Overall, Two and half stars!

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is already outdated. It was published in 2010, so is missing new developments and research. It was, however, extremely informative about the history before the spill, what happened during and immediately after, and the general environmental damage that was done. It cemented my knowledge in coastal habitats and the factors threatening them, including the oil spill. The most important part of the book, to me, was when they said that the oil spill didn't destroy the environment along the Gulf Coast, it just exacerbated the other problems already affecting the plants and animals there.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is drive-by journalism, and I use that term loosely with this book, by an ill informed reporter. He obviously has an axe to grind against the oil industry, and appears to done almost all of his 'research' by reading newspaper accounts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Uninformative, unimaginative and biased from the start, this book offers no new or practical recommendations for improving offshore oil and gas.

[Yanda Noibay · Rating 3 out of 5]

i want to read them :)

[T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only wish was that he told us more ways to "End our oil addiction." Otherwise, very informative.

[Sarah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, compelling account of the events that lead up to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the environmental consequences that will follow.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hastily and slopply written. Mostly not about the Deep Water Horizon disaster but a diatribe against fossil fuels.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happened with Deepwater Horizons was a tragedy. We should do what it takes in this country to prevent our greed for oil to show another tragedy like this to ever happen again.

[Andrew Sebastian]

File Under: Disaster Mis-Management