From the famous oilpatch that spread from West Texas to New Mexico, Alaska, China, and other locales, Hubert H. Hays (1935-2005) drilled for oil. He drilled for fifty years-and he was good at it. He knew what negative 70 degrees does to casing and drill pipe. He knew what 500 degrees downhole does to affect drilling. He set records drilling gas wells and never had a blowout. Hays had a worldwide reputation that preceded him, and he probably drilled as many wells as any other man during his time. But alongside learning the ins and outs needed for such a successful five-decade career in oil, Hays came to know the eclectic cast of roughnecks that can make up a good crew. He heard about the colorful lives they led and the myriad paths oilmen take. Driller, compiled from notes and recordings by his wife Catherine and edited by Russ McAfee, tells the story of Hays's life in oil: the ups and downs, the wisdom and the difficulty of the center of our energy needs. Readers will come away with invaluable technical knowledge, colorful stories, and a clear-eyed sense of the real oilfield seen by the men who plumb the earth for energy.

From a pioneer in catch-and-release and a legend in saltwater wade-fishing.Rudy Grigar, one of America's most notorious characters of saltwater wade-fishing, lends the inimitable voice of experience to these yester yarns of the coastal waters of Texas and Louisiana. A fisherman's fisherman, Grigar claimed to have caught more than a million pounds of fish in his sixty years along the coast. Yet fervent and abiding concern for those waters spurred his commitment to a catch-and-release policy for all fish under three pounds and to Gulf Coast conservation. His tales and tips are the bible of those now wading the Plugger's favorite spots.