“Most books about the oil patch usually fall into one of two categories. The first are tributes to the “greatest gamblers.” The others are tomes about the earth sciences. Rarely do we get a full-bodied peek into real life in the oil patch. Fortunately for us, Thomas E. Cochrane has accomplished the latter: a fast-paced and lyrical stroll through several decades of searching for oil and gas, punctuated with stories about the greatest gamblers and insights into petroleum geology written in a way that is accessible to the general reader.

The honesty and earthiness of the prose come as bonuses. I want to thank Mr. Cochrane for this latest contribution to the literature on the oil patch.”

“I enjoyed reading Cochrane’s geologic guide and appreciated the chance to review the new Rattlesnakes volume as the era of the wildcatter may be mostly done but certainly has had a lot of impact on the industry and indeed in the history of large parts of the country. He does a good job of explaining the basics of geology and how they apply to finding oil and gas. Even better, his accounts of his many misses as well as a few hits portrays a very realistic picture of the challenges of finding oil and gas. The author gives good descriptions of how oil and gas wells are drilled, how much work it takes just to set up a project, and all of the things that can and do go wrong.

His descriptions of his co-workers and how they put together deals is something that very few people in the modern oil and gas companies have much or any experience with. He gives apparently frank accounts of how many projects didn’t work out as well as a few that did, so I give him lots of credit for not exaggerating his successes and being honest about how hard it was to make a living doing what he did. I enjoyed reading the author’s experiences in the Oklahoma oil patch. ”