Dr. James G. Speight earned his BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Manchester, England; he also holds a DSc (geological sciences) and a PhD (petroleum engineering). In addition to being the author of more than sixty technical books in fossil fuel science and engineering, biomass science and technology, environmental sciences, and business, he has also published three novels and is currently working on a fourth novel. His hobbies are history and languages, and being a soccer referee for almost twenty years, he has an avid liking for soccer.