This Is Not a Drill: Just Another Glorious Day in the Oilfield

A very disappointing follow-up to a hilarious first book.

Some poignant writing in Afghanistan (although the reason the author was there remains unclear) got this up to 2 stars from me. Else would have been one.<br /><br />Not nearly as many spit-your-coffee laugh-out-loud moments as Piano Player in a Whorehouse, this was more akin to a mid-life realisation (not quite a crisis) where the author decides on a last hurrah. or just wants to ride on the success of the first book. Laudable for the cynicism with which he treats the motives of his chosen industry, nonetheless the 'and then' style takes over and becomes repetative when its not interspersed with great comedic moments.<br /><br />My own take was that there were far too many passages - and whole chapters - that are stretching the word count with no real point than to make the book up to book length. This is likely as much the result of an indulgent editor as author.<br /><br />I kept reading after Afganhistan because there were some truly moving moments in those pages, and I wish the author had made more of the opportunity to explore some of the other countries he spent time in in such a way as well - Bangladesh and The Philippines being two. Expanding on a promising start in Nigeria would have been another.

This book is an absolute hoot, although in some ways it reads so much like the first one of his that I read,"Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs : She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse" which was equally as funny. Author Paul Cater has a great gift of story telling that my fear is that he will run out of crazy 'not politically correct' escapades that he and his fellow 'riggers' get up to. But I shouldn't worry as he has a great imagination so that when he runs out of real ones, I am sure he will make up some stories that are equally side-splitting funny. A word of advice, don't read on an aircraft in the middle of the night when everyone else is at sleep, as you'll wake them up with your laughter. <br />.

Paul carter's second book of tales from his career as a rig hand in the oil and gas industry.<br /><br />This book along with, don't tell mum I work on the rigs, are pretty much industry standard reading material for anyone in the business of exploration drilling. The stories in this book are hilarious and are relics of a time and place where health and safety hadn't taken all of the fun out of working in a remote posting.<br /><br />This book is a must for anyone in the industry of exploration of any kind, it is also a must for any male aged 13 and up, as some of the stories are brilliantly immature

Paul Carter writes this book with the same flare, humour and creativity as his first memoir. I really enjoyed reading it. In saying that I think Carter used most of his best material in the first book (understandable because at that stage he didn't know there would be a second). Sometimes I felt like he was jumping from place to place trying to tell good stories. I still enjoyed it though and will definitely read his next book.

About one-third of it is rehashes and nearly identical stories from the first book. Feels very much like a what was left on the cutting room floor book. Less insights into oil and more general stories about the author's relationship with his father, wine, brandy, English gentleman's clubs, PMCs in Afghanistan and long cut and pastes from encyclopedias about various alcoholic beverages including gin and their history. Less inspired and less illuminating.

An interesting look at the hard-working, hard-drinking, craziness of oil-platform drillers. Especially liked the information about work in Russia, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. Some of the off-rig personal stuff didn't interest me as much. Probably the closest we have to old-fashioned "cowboy" mentality around. One definitely needs to be a different breed to work with these folks.

More thoughtful and thought provoking than the first book. 14 odd years since it was first published I hope the suggestion that we just need more engineering to to make deep sea oil drilling a reality is starting to look like more engineering means we DON’T need deep sea drilling at all. It’s a very good read though.

This is supposed to be a recommended read for blokes (big tough boys), I picked it up anyways just as a fun and light hearted read. Didn't regret at all and widened my perspective on the world of oil together with its accompanying (both real and funny) stories.

Tall stories indeed. Some ridiculous comparisons are made that simply don't makes sense whatsoever.