{"product_id":"doodlebugs-and-dowsers-a-history-of-unusual-ways-to-search-for-oil-9781682831779","title":"Doodlebugs and Dowsers: A History of Unusual Ways to Search for Oil","description":"What lies beneath the ground? Our poor eyesight cannot\u003cbr\u003epenetrate even an inch into the soil, so for centuries, fortune-seekers have\u003cbr\u003etried every way imaginable to see below the surface. Whether searching for\u003cbr\u003emineral veins, groundwater, or buried treasure, people have looked for ways to\u003cbr\u003eavoid the plodding and backbreaking process of digging. They have followed\u003cbr\u003edreams, seers, dowsing rods, and advice from the spirit world. When petroleum\u003cbr\u003ebecame an item of commerce, oil-hunters took to all these methods. Many built homemade\u003cbr\u003einventions called doodlebugs, which they said could detect underground oil. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt took a while, but science finally came up with its own\u003cbr\u003etoolbox of oil-finding methods in the early twentieth century. Finding oil is\u003cbr\u003estill expensive and risky, however. The old ways? They are mostly gone, but a\u003cbr\u003efew oil-dowsers still stride across fields with rod or pendulum, and no doubt\u003cbr\u003epeople still consult dreams and psychics. And don't pretend that you yourself\u003cbr\u003ehaven't wondered if that dowser might be onto something, or if that famous\u003cbr\u003epsychic can really tell where there is oil, or if that inventor stumbled onto a\u003cbr\u003ebetter way to detect underground oil. Of course you have. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHistory is written by the victors, and scientists won over\u003cbr\u003ethe oil industry--rightly so. But their accounts give short shrift to the rich\u003cbr\u003ehistory of less traditional ways to find oil. Although ignored, the records of\u003cbr\u003enonscientific methods and their contributions to the oil business are well\u003cbr\u003eworthy of study. Lacking in science, they are rich in humanity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eReturn with us now to\u003cbr\u003ethose thrilling days of yesteryear . . . wait, scratch that . . .\u003cbr\u003ethese things are still going on. Join us in a visit to a place where dreams, \u003cbr\u003eseers, and spooks are taken seriously, where forked twigs dip toward oil pools\u003cbr\u003eand homemade oil-finding gizmos blink or beep with the promise of riches tucked\u003cbr\u003ejust below the surface of the known world.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Tech Tech University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50653977411858,"sku":"9781682831779","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ab483abe-5eb9-44bd-8619-a033ce21929c.jpg?v=1733368996","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/doodlebugs-and-dowsers-a-history-of-unusual-ways-to-search-for-oil-9781682831779","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}