SOURCE: A review of Oil Notes in Kirkus Reviews, Vol. 57, No. 9, May 1, 1989, p. 667.

In the following favorable review of Oil Notes, Bass is commended for his vivid attention to detail, his honest expression, and his dual vision of life.

Oil Notes is the record of a year in the young life of Bass, author of The Watch (1989), a highly praised short-story collection, and a geologist by trade. His purpose in these absorbing reflections is to establish his credentials as an oilman, describe his passion for digging and discovering oil, and pursue the various analogies discovered in a geologist’s view of life.

Bass is a superb naturalist, and his account of searching for oil and bringing it from the unknown shadows to the earth’s air and surface is done with such luminous prose that we almost see it occurring. Just as clear is the metaphoric connection between...