To be read:

Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey

I have been meaning to get to this one for quite awhile but somehow never have.  Finally going to buckle down.

The Frackers - Greg Zuckerman

About the rise of fracking and it's impact / future impact on America's economy and politics.  I grew up in Eastern Montana, which is an area that is being highly impacted by oil production that has been made possible by fracking so it has some personal impact, but I am also interested in the larger way that a decreased demand for foreign oil will impact on America.  

Related to "The Frackers", last night, on Google +, I posted a link to a CBS OpEd piece about the decline of the American empire:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire/

Among the author's reasons for doom and gloom (beyond the fact that it's once again fashionable to proclaim the end of America) is America's dependence on foreign oil.  Does he have a different opinion now?  (I didn't notice this last night but the Article was published in 2010, for some reason it appeared as new in my RSS feed from Hacker News yesterday).  I doubt it but it would be interesting to find out.  (The author of that article was also quite certain that the Chinese economic powerhouse would crush us but didn't take into account that China's population is rapidly aging and their birthrate isn't high enough to maintain a young workforce, but that's another subject for another time)