The entrepreneur and financier T. Boone Pickens won renown for his daring acquisition of oil and gas companies, and his attempted takeovers of such industry giants as Philips, Gulf and Unocal. Today, this iconic Texas oil man has become an unexpected advocate for alternative energy. Born in the small town of Holdenville, Oklahoma, Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. got his start in the oil industry as a geologist. Graduating from Oklahoma State University in the oil slump of the early '50s, Pickens was one of only four in his class of 50 who found work immediately. He spent the next four...