The book, Who Moved My Cheese?, is the first best seller of Spencer Johnson.

Spencer Johnson, a onetime physician and children’s book author, whose best-selling books on business management, including The One-Minute Manager and Who Moved My Cheese ?, sold millions of copies and inspired a cultlike following, died July 3 at a hospital.

Along with bank runs and market crashes, oil shocks have rare power to set monsters loose. Starting with the Arab oil embargo of 1973, people have learnt that sudden surges in the price of oil cause economic havoc. Conversely, when the price slumps because of a glut, as in 1986, it has done the world a power of good.