Pickens' third self-exploration comes up dry

— -- At age 80, T. (for Thomas) Boone Pickens is still shaking up the energy industry, as he has been doing since the 1950s, when he quit his stable job as a Phillips Petroleum geologist to start his own firm, Mesa Petroleum.

The First Billion Is the Hardest is Pickens' third account of his life, but the partial repetition apparently does not discourage book buyers; it reached best-seller lists a week after the publication date.

The book is a mishmash of countrified wisdom that he labels "Booneisms;" revelations about his personal life (including a protracted, expensive divorce proceeding, with Pickens' main goal being custody of the family dog); details of his massive philanthropy; his philosophies of effective corporate leadership; chapters about the risks and rewards of oil and gas exploration; plus a call for U.S. energy independence before dependence on hostile foreign suppliers turns the United States into a second-rate global power.

In the realm of energy prospecting and investing, Pickens has been correct more often than incorrect, based on the current size of his fortune. He discusses some of his mistakes (becoming bearish rather than bullish on natural gas supplies at one juncture, even though his inner voice told him to remain bullish).

More often, he trumpets his successes, although his "aw, shucks" language partially masks some bragging. Why, given the often self-serving content, the book has reached the best-seller list is a mystery; maybe buyers flock to tracts by the wealthy because a secret for riches might be embedded in the pages.

But the book is amusing and instructive from time to time, except for the slogans. The 30 Booneisms are almost all trite. (Example: "Show up early. Work hard. Stay late. Work eight hours and sleep eight hours, and make sure that they are not the same eight hours.")

Pickens has become something of an environmentalist, pushing wind power as a major part of energy independence. He seems to minimize potential problems with increased dependence on wind power.