Frédéric Gilles Sourgens, James McCulloch Chair in Energy Law & Faculty Director, Tulane Energy Law & Policy Center
Randel R. Young, Executive Director & Distinguished Research Fellow, Tulane Energy Law & Policy Center
One of the regular features of Tulane Energy Sparks! will be short book reviews. In the spirit of ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,’ we were inspired by the excellent book review feature in Foreign Affairs. Their book reviews are short, concise, and informative. They give you a sense of what books form part of the contemporary intellectual discourse without themselves requiring a long time to read. They are thus the perfect reviews for people on-the-go.
We will feature reviews not just from the Energy Law & Policy Center but also from energy leaders around the world. We are actively soliciting reviews from our stakeholders, as well as from the broader energy community. We hope that in doing so, we can give you a better sense of the pulse of the energy world at any given time by giving a sneak peek at the bookshelves of the movers and shakers in energy.
One final word of caution. Just because we review a book does not mean we subscribe to or agree with its point of view. Quite the contrary, in line with our broader academic mission, we will often review books with which we disagree on key points. We nevertheless pick books that are thoughtful, thorough, and worthy of reading even though we disagree with them. We will not often dwell on our disagreements – we may just give you a one or two sentence hint. The point is not the disagreement. The point is the challenge a book presents, a problem that we must solve together. In this sense, we do not just put together a book nook for “yes-people.” Rather, we are building out a book case for the next generation of energy problem solvers – those who embrace the tensions and disagreements within the energy world to fashion new approaches, driven by data and the best ideas, to overcoming core obstacles standing in the way of achieving better outcomes on any limb of the energy trilemma.
