Choice Review

Natural gas is emerging from its long subservience to oil as its unique attributes are seen as more important in an energy-conscious world increasingly concerned with both local availability of fuels and environmental restrictions. Katz and Lee's comprehensive treatment of this vast subject is primarily designed as a text for engineering students. All the topics are broken down into smaller units and sample problems are posed for those units. However, serious students of the field will find much to satisfy their needs for technical answers; and this book is also a valuable reference for those who must penetrate the jargon of the engineer in writing law or making political or economic decisions in the energy field. The topics range from the nature of natural gas itself through discovery methods, production details, storage, monitoring, safety problems, pipeline design and practice, and a myriad of other details, each worthy of a separate book. Katz has had a distinguished 50-year career and, in many ways, this book is a distillation of his previous books, his hundreds of monographs, and his lectures. Charts, graphs, tables, illustrations; extensive bibliography. Advanced undergraduates and up. -J. C. Comer, Northern Illinois University