Book Description
Singer and Avery present in popular language supported by in-depth scientific evidence the compelling concept that global temperatures have been rising mostly or entirely because of a natural cycle. Unstoppable Global Warming explains why we're warming, why it's not very dangerous, and why we can't stop it anyway.
Customer Reviews:
Unstoppable Global Warming - Singer and Avery .......2007-10-03
This is an excellent book that answers real questions and concerns about global warming. It counters the "sky is falling" syndrome propagated by those who do not know the real facts or insights related to the warming trends. The book focuses on adapting to a common cyclical environmental event versus approaches that are a waste of time trying to stop the warming. Overall the book is well written but is somewhat academic. There is a detailed effort to outline the warming trend with factual information and details. Is well worth the read.
A Must Read.......2007-10-02
Singer and Avery offered a well documented, heavily researched, and easily read analysis of the global warming issue.
Their conclusion: Yes, the earth is currently warming, however so slightly. No, man is not the cause of this warming. Rather, it is dependent upon 1,500 year climate cycles embedded within larger ice-age and non-ice-age shifts (which take millions of years, according to the authors). All of which is dependent upon the amount of the sun's radiance hitting the earth, which in turn varies upon the amount of solar winds intercepting said radiation. (Note: this is the summary of a layman, and is dramatically over simplistic.) This is supported by the analysis of literally hundreds of studies.
Accompanying the scientific support of the 1,500 year cycle and refutation of the greenhouse gas theory, Singer and Avery include a poignant and absolutely necessary look at the implications of acting upon the greenhouse gas theory. Truth in this issue is not a matter of simply proving one's point, of social/political standing, or of a voting platform, but one of life and death importance.
This being a heavily scientific book, perhaps "easily read" was an exaggeration. Rather, "well written" would suitably describe this readable, yet challenging book.
The authors, while being experts in the field of global climate studies, are not devoid of a sense of humor, one at which greenhouse gas theorists would certainly take issue.
The Amazon reviewer Crosslands sums up my personal opinion of this work well:
Pseudoscientists and others with a vested interest in controlling the global economy by use of the global warming hoax will not like this work. However informed readers concerned with human welfare and human progress will find this book invaluable. This book should be read by all Amercians and really by everone else in the world.
Global Warming Evaluation with Documentation.......2007-09-22
I have read this book thoroughly and enjoyed it very much. I was very impressed with the breadth, depth and documentation included with the book and range of topics presented by the authors. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in assessing the true status of the "Global Warming" Hypothesis.
Dr. James F. Howard, Ph.D.
Geo and Environmental Sciences
Book Review.......2007-09-22
I am interested in global warming and found in this book the technical basis for global warming. I don't believe Al Gores book is accurate.
Real science in a field full of Junk science.......2007-09-15
I've read numberous articles and several books on the global warming controversy, and I must say, this is far and away the best. Although Avery and Singer do explain the political basis and motivation of the global warming movement, their primary focus is on the actual science of a scientifically validated phenomenon that thoroughly and convincingly explains the global warming that has recently occurred. Most surprisingly, they offer a tremendous amount of data that illustrates that global warming has historically been of tremendous benefit to humans throughout history. The book presents so much scientific detail that at times at times I found myself thinking, "Alright already, I'm convinced!", which is just what this all-too-often fuzzy topic needs.
Book Description
Sometime this century the day will arrive when the human influence on the climate will overwhelm all other natural factors. Over the past decade, the world has seen the most powerful El Niño ever recorded, the most devastating hurricane in two hundred years, the hottest European summer on record, and one of the worst storm seasons ever experienced in Florida. With one out of every five living things on this planet committed to extinction by the levels of greenhouse gases that will accumulate in the next few decades, we are reaching a global climatic tipping point. The Weather Makers is both an urgent warning and a call to arms, outlining the history of climate change, how it will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future. Along with a riveting history of climate change, Tim Flannery offers specific suggestions for action for both lawmakers and individuals, from investing in renewable power sources like wind, solar, and geothermal energy, to offering an action plan with steps each and every one of us can take right now to reduce deadly CO2 emissions by as much as 70 percent.
Customer Reviews:
A tale of global warming that gave me chills.......2007-09-20
Tim Flannery's "The Weathermakers" is not only an eloquent plea for the industrialized world to deal with the problem of climate change, but provides the science needed to understand this huge and vital topic. The book is spooky great fun too, with frights and chills enough to get the attention of any thrill seeker. Except that the thrills here come from contemplating near-irreversible global cataclysms that would wipe out humanity or make life darned near intolerable for us.
Flannery is terrific at making difficult science easy to understand, without dumbing it down or condescending to his audience. This was greatly aided by the narrator of the audio book, Drew De Carvalho, whose wide-eyed Aussie delivery was akin to the joy and wonder of that other fine Down-under naturalist, Steve Irwin. Flannery discussed the Earth's tumultuous climactic past, using data obtained from tree rings and ice cores, to paint a picture of a dynamic planet whose climate and biota have varied wildly over its existence. Glaciers advance and retreat. Gargantuan upwellings of methane overwhelm the biosphere. Oceans rise and fall hundreds of feet. Changes in atmospheric gases permit or debar shellfish from secreteing the carboniferous husks that pull CO2 out of the atmosphere. The message: what Earth has done, it can do again.
Flannery does a wonderful job of explaining the large weather phenomena known to most laymen -- carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, changes to the Gulf Stream, warming trends, etc. But he is equally good at describing the lesser-known but important elements that factor into climatic equations. I was not aware that transpiration -- the release of moisture from Amazonian trees -- was a main cause of precipitation in the region. I had never heard of clathrates, huge fields of methane-infused ice that underlie the oceans. And I had never thought of climate change literally chasing certain heat-sensitive species up into alpine regions, until they run out of room and become extinct. Flannery is also wonderful at explaining the feedback loops that, once triggered, can accelerate certain climatic trends. Air conditioning powered by burning coal can increase levels sulfur dioxide in rain, acidifying the oceans, making it harder for shellfish to secrete shells, thus leaving more CO2 in the atmosphere, causing further warming and leading to the need for more AC, and so on.
Climate change to Flannery is not a theoretical possibility, but a certainty whose effects are visible today. He tells of the now-extinct South America Golden Toad, whose habitat was fed by moisture in low-lying clouds, being wiped out when a Pacific ocean hot spot caused mist-giving clouds to form just slightly higher up the mountainside than usual. His tale of the bleaching of the reefs like Great Barrier Reef -- in which huge swaths of coral reefs ejected their symbiotic algae, then bleached and die in a single season -- was frightening and sad. His discussion of the measurable changes in salinity in the Gulf Stream -- changes that could imperil its flow with deleterious effect on climate -- was terrifyingly plausible. Most chilling of all, Flannery's telling of the planet's near-miss with significant ozone depletion (due to industry's fortuitous use of chlorine rather than hyper-reactive bromine in aerosol cans and refrigeration systems) underscored how easy it is for humanity to fatally foul our nest without even realizing we are doing it.
The book is alarming, but not alarmist. It does not seek the cheap thrill of scaring us to sell copies, but to educate and forewarn. Flannery is not afraid to call out the human practices that are warming our planet. Transportation needs (which account for 30% of CO2 emissions), accelerating burning of carbon-rich fossil fuels, and shortsighted self-interest are high on the list of culprits. Flannery points the finger at the big coal-gorging countries in the world -- the US and Australia among them -- for significant criticism. Neither does he spare the industrial giants who use deceit, misinformation and political contributions to steer politicians (and the public) away from limiting profitable, planet-damaging enterprises.
I came away from the book with a new appreciation for the complexity and the fragility of the Gaia -- the living organism that is the Earth. "The Weathermakers" increased my appreciation of the path on which we have put our world. If Flannery's descriptions and predictions are true, our fossil-fuel-burning habits have already committed us to significant extinctions of species and significant discomfort for ourselves. As Flannery states, future generations will curse ours if we see the looming problem and fail to take action to correct it. Flannery is hopeful (else, why write such a book?) about our ability to turn things around. He evaluates technological and political solutions to the problems he poses, which not all will like, for carbon-low solutions include wind, geothermal, solar and (gasp!) nuclear power generation. And Flannery dismisses certain hopeful technologies like hydrogen and biomass. Flannery is also hopeful that past global cooperation -- of the type that limited the production of ozone-killing CFCs -- will be repeated, as human beings band together to save their world.
"The Weather Makers" is a wonderful book that can open your eyes to the complexity of our world, of the difficulties of addressing climate change without wrecking economies, and of our responsibility to pass our planet, reasonably intact, to our children. Its stacks of facts can sometimes numb the mind, but they are the data needed to combat ignorance and deceit one often encounters when trying to persuade our friends and neighbors about the possibility of anthropogenic climate change.
Disappointed.......2007-08-07
I bought the book on the basis it would be an objective and well structured argument explaining how scientists had negated natural influences on climate change - Milankovich cycles, solar activity and plate tectonics - and isolated the anthropogenic influences.
However, I discovered the book is written in a mildly hysterical tone common to environmental activists. If you want to read a scientific account of climate change and how human activity is affecting the climate, read the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report.
Boo Hoo.......2007-07-27
"Well done China for improving the lives of your citizens" This is one of the many quotes that you will NOT find it Tim Flannerys book. Others include "Before the industrial revolution, average life expectancy was about 36 years of age" and finally "You can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs". However if you want to know how every living thing on the planet would be better off if we disapeared, you are on the right track.
Thought provoking!.......2007-07-25
This book is great reading in conjunction with Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. The author convincingly demonstrates that global warming is real, and that terrible consequences loom ahead if nothing is done about it.
I was very surprised to read how the Australian government bullies its neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Many of the Pacific Islands nations are doomed to sink under water as the ocean level rise, yet they are bullied by the Australian government into inaction. Like individuals, nations are selfish and have no regard for other nations if it does not suit their purposes. This notion angered me. Unless the citizens of the world take action to fight global warming and CO2 emissions, governments, motivated by self-interest, will be very slow to act, if at all.
Many of the themes in the book were already familiar to me, especially after reading An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. One new concept was about hydrogen power. According to the author, hydrogen power is not the solution to global warming since to produce hydrogen power fossil fuels must be burnt. He proposes the use of electric, solar, nuclear and wind power which are all available and affordable.
The author also laments all the animals that became extinct due to global warming. For example, a frog, newly discovered by science, carries its newborn in its stomach. When ready to give birth, it regurgitates its babies. This is the only known species to do so, yet soon after its discovery, it became extinct due to our environmental carelessness. Many other species of animals, insects, and plants are becoming extinct.
Maybe when we learn to stop killing each other we can finally take care of our environment. Does that mean that our root is evil and that nothing can be done to save our planet?
The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth.......2007-07-24
Concise, easy to read, and right to the point. Everything anyone would want to know about how man is changing the climate and what one could do to alleviate their impact in this process. Each individual is responsible for their own actions and we MUST slow the global warming process or the 21st century will see catastrophic environmental changes. A must read book for information that could save the future of the planet and its inhabitants.
Book Description
The key insight of Gaia Theory is that the entire Earth functions as a single living superorganism, regulating its internal environment much as an animal regulates its body temperature. But according to James Lovelock, the theory's originator, that organism is now sick. It is running a fever born of increased atmospheric greenhouse gases. Earth will adjust to these stresses, but the human race faces a severe test. It is already too late, Lovelock says, to prevent the global climate from "flipping" into an entirely new equilibrium that will threaten civilization as we know it. But we can do much to save humanity. In the tradition of Silent Spring, this is a call to action.
Customer Reviews:
Wrong even in basic.......2007-10-07
I'll be sincere.I tried to read this trash-book , here in Brazil.I'm an agronomist and I like to read books.
This book is a trash.Why?Because it has too many frauds, half-trues,etc.
Someone perhaps will claim that this book defends nuclear power.Even in this topic, this trash-book is a failure.This book claims that nuclear fusion reactors are near and will be very good.None is correct.After sixty years and tens of billions of US dollars wasted, no fusion reactor is working today.Fusion reactors will also produce nuclear trash.
As world's enemies, this book puts(as ever among ecology books) among poor and colored people as the menace.
Under green disguise, eugenics is back.Its new name is ecology.
Science education.......2007-08-22
In every life time we come across a few books that are really important. I class this as one of them.
This book provides the man in the street with the information he needs to make balanced decisions about what is really going on with the climate and how well meaning green efforts are counter-productive.
The arguments in the book are counter-intuitive and as a result exposes the folly of most of the political and media commentary espoused on this very important issue.
Complex ideas are simply presented in a very accessible manner, this is not a stuffy science book full of incomprehensible statistics, rather its science education at its best.
Teach it in schools, Teach it to journalists, teach it to the man in the street.
No Simple Answers.......2007-08-19
Lovelock sees himself as a member of a new profession of planetary physicians. Continuing the analogy, the earth is running a fever, and in danger of acquiring a morbidity lasting as long as 100,000 years.
This fear is based on evidence from the Earth's history 55 million years ago when a geological accident released more than a terraton (a million times a million) of gaseous carbon compounds into the air, raising the temperature in tropical regions about 5 degrees C and 8 degrees elsewhere, and taking over 100,000 years to return to normality. Lovelock further claims we have already put more than half this quantity of carbon gases into the air and the sun is hotter than it was in the earlier instance.
Positive feedback in the Earth's environment makes our situation particularly sensitive. Warming from existing CO2 melts glaciers, which in turn reduces existing reflectivity of the sun - warming the Earth more; at the same time warmer seas reduce the oceans' ability to hold existing dissolved CO2, etc. (Melted ice caps would increase ocean levels 120 meters.)
Alternatives are few, and difficult. Powering all transportation through biofuels would require acreage 4-6X that now used for food, and would still generate considerable CO2. Burning natural gas produces half the CO2 now created otherwise; however, 2% leaks (natural gas is mostly methane - much more climate-affecting than CO2, though fortunately shorter lived) throughout the process would negate this benefit. Peat bog fires create 40% of the world's total carbon emissions, per Lovelock (it seems something could/should be done in this area). Wind energy is only available about 25% of the time, and tidal energy would only supply about 6% of England's requirements. Sunlight is not even totally reliable in the SW, and storage and transmission costs would seriously hurt its viability outside that immediate area.
Recommendations: 1)Nuclear energy. 2)Population reduction, assisted by productive uses of women's' talents.
One topic was not addressed - Lovelock states that the U.S. has been reluctant to pursue global warming improvements. I suspect he is correct; however, no explanation for this was offered.
An invaluable guide to the future.......2007-07-01
In this dour assessment, Lovelock has taken his original brilliant insight of Earth as a living organism and extrapolated it into the pessimism of an environmental disaster in the making.
Until Lovelock, no one thought of all life on this planet as creating a unique living being in its own right. In retrospect, it's obvious; this is the nature of true genius. In a very scientific manner, backed by the finest research and impeccable data, Lovelock reached an understanding of the Earth that matches the basics of Native American philosophy.
This book is a timely prediction that life on earth will collapse within the next century due to human activity. His reasoning is accurate, brilliant and based on a fundamental flaw; he fails to recognize that humans continue to change. The agricultural revolution that began 10,000 years ago made profound changes; the evolution of teosinte into corn is one of a myriad of amazing progress.
Now the Industrial Revolution is changing human habitation from 95 percent rural to 95 percent urban; worldwide, 50 percent of people now live in cities, and this will be 70 percent within 50 years. It's the most profound population shift since hunter/gatherers became farmers; and, it's likely to have an ever greater impact on the natural world.
Humans have evolved from gathering food to producing food to producing things to producing intangible ideas. An intengible idea has economic value, but it is not something you can drop on your foot. It's a product of brainpower, not natural resources. Two centuries ago, the wealth of nations was their natural resources; today, the natural resources of the US are 3 percent of its wealth while the intengible ideas are 82 percent.
Lovelock ignores this ability of humans and wildlife to change. In Phoenix, the rich live in walled, guarded and video-camera'd enclaves such as Biltmore Estates; coyotes are also learning to live there and are making Shih Tzus, Sharpeis and other toys into their own fast food snacks. Coyotes once were limited to the Rocky Mountains; now, they're found in Central Park in New York and everywhere else they choose to adapt.
Life changes. People are flocking into cities which became "the dark satanic mills" of Dickens' times. Now possible to build zero-carbon cities, as planned in Abu Dhabi. Humans change. Granted, change is often costly. Without forethought, millions may die. Without change, the toll will be even greater. But, change will occur. It always has, it is now, it always will be so.
This book sets out the scenario of a potential disaster, based on the knowledge of a brilliant and innovative scientist. Neither Lovelock or any other individual will come up with all the answers; but, in reading it, every thoughtful person will be prompted to come up with their own solutions large, small and meaningful.
Lovelock presents a beautiful concept of the world, a philosophy that reaches the levels of Native American wisdom. The difference is not becoming stuck in the status quo, as with Native American religions; but, in adapting to a radically different future. This book recognizes the danger of the status quo; change (evolution) means everyone must adapt to the future. Those who don't will become extinct.
Those who do will be thankful there were books such as this to serve as guides and inspirations along the way.
Very late on Gaia. Very, very late.......2007-05-25
What sets this book apart from the other climate crises books is that Lovelock's view is complicated by double aspects. Not only is global warming causing its problems, but also overpopulation is causing disturbance of Gaia's self-regenerating processes. Even if we were fortunate enough to solve atmospheric carbon accumulation we would still face a shortage of land. Lovelock points to land lost to agribusiness to feed the billions. Disturbance of soil microorganisms as well as the loss of the rainforest is to blame.
Lovelock stresses alternatives to fossil fuels favoring immediate development of nuclear fission. He notes "one of the striking things about places contaminated by radioactive nuclides is the richness of their wildlife."
Lovelock also distances himself from environmentalists in his defense of DDT. "These insecticides badly needed controlling, but the indiscriminate banning of DDT and other chlorinated insectides was a selfish, ill-informed act driven by affluent radicals in the first world. The inhabitants of tropical countries have paid a high price in death and illness as a result of their inability to use DDT as an effective controller of malaria."
The tone in this book is decidedly grim - much more so than Lovelock's early books. He does stay on-point here.
Book Description
Global warming is the story of the twenty-first century. It is the most serious issue facing the future of humankind, and American energy and environmental policy is driving the whole world down the path of global catastrophe. Hell and High Water is nothing less than a wake-up call to the country. It is a searing critique of American environmental and energy policy and a passionate call to action by a writer with a unique command of the science and politics of climate change.
We have ten years, at most, to start making sharp cuts to our greenhouse gas emissions or we will face catastrophic consequences. The good news is that there is something we can do—but only if the leadership of the U.S. government acts immediately and asserts its influence on the rest of the world—in particular such emerging powers as China and India—to join an international effort to stop global warming.
Joseph Romm, an expert in the science, business, and politics of climate change, lays out a plan of action that involves:
- reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by midcentury
- adopting a California-style energy-efficiency effort nationwide
- embracing high-mileage, advanced "hybrid" cars that can run on both electricity and biofuels
Unfortunately, the required government policies and spending are strongly opposed by conservatives, who have blocked serious action on climate change and continue to publicly deny the dire warnings of scientists. Never before has there been such a sharp divergence between what top scientists know and what policymakers, the general public, and the media believe. And, sadly, never has so much been at stake.
Romm, who ran the largest program in the world that was concentrated on climate solutions, offers an authoritative dissection of this disastrous policy. Hell and High Water goes beyond ideological rhetoric to offer pragmatic solutions to avert the threat of global warming—solutions that must be taken seriously by every American.
Customer Reviews:
Alarming--because it's factual.......2007-08-17
As an environmental policy grad student, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what we're in for with climate change. But after reading this book I've realized that, oh no, it's worse than I thought. The book starts out by describing the nasty potential futures facing us if we fail to take sufficient action, and soon. This bit comes across as somewhat sensational, but Romm quickly moves in a very well done review of the scientific literature backing up the scary part. The account of the unified effort to deny the validity of climate change and delay action is also well executed.
Highly recommended for anyone who needs a little motivation to start caring about climate change!
Wake Up Call.......2007-06-10
It's time to wake up to what's going on with our world and what we're doing to it. As a long time participant in the petroleum and related industries worldwide it has long been evident that we are exhausting the world's resources at an unsustainable rate detrimental to life as we know it and to a livable environment. Damon A. Peteron
Great informative book.......2007-05-19
If you want the facts about global warming and what we need to do about it straight from the experts' mouths, this is the book for you. It covers everything about global warming from the media's bias to the various policies we need to implement to avoid catastrophic climate change, to the consequences if we fail to avoid it. Absolutely fantastic book.
Highly recommended.......2007-05-10
I thought this book was really interesting in explaining the US politics behind global warming and the what has not been done in recent years by the US to curb global warming. It goes into great detail about the issues the planet faces if we do not reduce our CO2 output into the atmosphere.
Good advice rarely is heeded...........2007-05-04
Romm brings quite a bit of expertise and gravitas to his arguments. Arguably in the know about government policy practices Romm lays out both a convincing scenario about global climate modification (see no GW balderdash!)and a set of coherent policy solutions to prevent the worst of the problem. Unfortunately, I agree that while a solution is "doable" it won't get done. Goodbye Florida, goodbye Louisiana!
Book Description
The authors explain their theory that sub-atomic particles from exploded stars have more effect on the climate than manmade CO2. Their conclusion stems from Svensmark's research which has shown the previously unsuspected role that cosmic rays play in creating clouds. During the last 100 years cosmic rays became scarcer because unusually vigorous action by the Sun batted away many of them. Fewer cosmic rays meant fewer clouds--and a warmer world. The theory, simply put here but explained in fascinating detail, emerges at a time of intense public and political concern about climate change. Motivated only by their concern that science must be trustworthy, Svensmark and Calder invite their readers to put aside their preconceptions about manmade global warming and look afresh at the role of Nature in this hottest of world issues.
Customer Reviews:
An outstanding book........2007-09-24
Introducing a new theory about climate changing and global warming, the book brings lots of new information about the Earth, the Solar System and our galaxy, the Milky Way, their behavior and relationship with the climate on our planet. An interesting reading that busters the myths about carbon gas emissions and its consequence.
Interesting perspective indeed.......2007-07-31
I read this book not because I like controversial theories but just because I wanted to have a new perspective on climate change. The idea of cosmic rays affecting cloud formation is very interesting indeed since water vapor is the major player in the albedo of the planet and is the largest contributor to the greenhouse effect. Latest investigations though, shows that in the last 20 years cosmic rays have increased, and temperatures in earth continue rising but I wonder if 20 years can settle this debate since I'm not sure changes in some variable are reflected immediately in temperature. I agree that anthropogenic changes have affected earth climate, but I'm not very convinced that is the sole reason. We need to learn more about climate because, for instance, the ices ages cannot be explained just by the Milankovich cycles. In my opinion there is something else and we need to continue monitoring all the variables involved in order to have a better understanding of this important issue.
Astrophysics that creates goose bumps........2007-07-25
Authors present a fresh theory about solar cosmic rays effect on global temperatures. Hypothesis suggests that cosmic rays from exploding stars create low terrestrial cloud formations that cover 60% of Earth and that this, far more than industrial carbon dioxide production, determines global temperatures. Earth is basically still too large for industrial pollution to be the driving force of world temperature. The story illustrates well the introduction and evolutionary acceptance of a new idea that is contrary to an existing conventional wisdom that is already considered "politically correct." Although the authors conclude that their observations could be all wrong, this book will, in my opinion, become a new cornerstone to astrophysics and the establishment of governmental policy that will influence space policy and future nuclear research.
A Simplistic Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Accounting for Climate Change.......2007-07-21
Swedish astrophysicist Henrik Svensmark has collaborated with veteran British science journalist Nigel Calder in this book, "The Chilling Stars: The New Theory of Climate Change", which emphasizes Svensmark's hypothesis that a declining trend in cosmic rays entering the solar system is tied directly with decreasing cloud cover on Earth, resulting in global warming via solar radiation. While this is an intriguing hypothesis, it is also, regrettably, a rather simplistic one, which ignores the complex interaction of energy exchange between the world's oceans and Earth's atmosphere; an interaction that's been recognized by meteorologists, other climatologists, oceanographers, and geologists. Nor does it take into account the strong possibility that increased carbon dioxide - and aerosol - emissions from artificial, man-made sources have had an important impact on this complex interaction between the oceans and atmosphere, and have contributed deleteriously to global warming. Instead of this book, I strongly recommend Chris Mooney's recently published "Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming" which does an admirable job in discussing the complex roles that both the oceans and the atmosphere play in affecting not only our daily weather, but more importantly, long-term trends in Earth's climate. There are other, more notable, instances where extraterrestrial matter has had a profound impact on not only Earth's climate, but also its biodiversity, as evidenced by the terminal Cretaceous asteroid impact (the "K/T impact event") approximately 65 million years ago which wiped out much of Earth's biota, including many marine organisms, and especially, on land, the non-avian dinosaurs (Moreover, it is quite probable that most of Earth's mass extinctions may have had extraterrestrial origins via asteroid impacts.). Regrettably for Henrik Svensmark, cosmic radiation isn't one of these notable instances.
Svensmark chillingly ignores latest scientific data and looks foolish.......2007-07-20
Fails to establish why manmade increases in carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is not causing current planetary warming. Also fails to account for why solar activity is responsible for the earth's current warming when solar activity has been declining since the late 1980's. The amateurish nature Svensmark's theories cannot be saved by rambling pretencious dialogue masquerading as real scientific inquiry.
Book Description
Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds is a book that is destines to become a movement. Arriving just in time to meet the groundswell of demand created by An Inconvenient Truth, it guides readers through an accessible step-by-step program for personal CO2-reduction that leaves them empowered and inspired at the difference they can make toward the issue of our time.
Grounded in over two decades of environmental behavior change research, this illustrated workbook offers readers much more than a to-do list of eco-friendly actions. With practicality and humor, bestselling author and environmental change pioneer David Gershon walks readers through every step of the carbon-reduction process, from calculating their current CO2 footprint to tracking their progress and measuring their impact. By making simple changes to actions they take every day, readers learn how to reduce their annual household CO2 output by at least 15%. And, for those who are more ambitious, there are chapters on how to become "carbon neutral" and help one's workplace, local schools and community do the same.
A recent Yale University study revealed that over three-quarters of Americans not only accept the reality that their lifestyle is contributing to climate change; they believe they have a responsibility to do something about it. Now, with the release of Low Carbon Diet, they have a practical tool to help them succeed.
Customer Reviews:
The books are lost.......2007-08-16
I have not received these items, they seem to have gotten lost in the mail. it says they were delivered, but they cannot be found in the building where they were shipped. Please advise on how to get the books, can we get them resent? we were charged money for them, but still havent seen them.
Leah Elimeliah
an accessible program for losing carbon "pounds".......2007-07-09
This new program to help people move beyond hand-wringing over global warming and onto concrete things they can do to address the problem is accessible, approachable, something many people and families should be able to pick up and use. The book is short, only 72 pages, and only the first few pages are spent on describing the problem: global warming. The rest of the book takes you by the hand and leads you through some straightforward actions you, anyone, can take. There are 22 actions in all, divided into three sections. The first describes "cool lifestyle practices," habits or behaviors you can change immediately (reducing garbage, taking shorter showers, driving less). Each action is quantified, in terms of how much carbon will be reduced as a result. The second section describes "cool household systems," making more significant changes or purchases to your car, appliances, or household systems (sealing air leaks, buying a hybrid car, tuning up your furnace). The third describes spreading the word: to your workplace, friends, community, kids' schools, etc. The idea is to commit to "losing" 5,000 pounds/yr (a roughly 10% cut in the average US household's energy usage). But you can choose which actions you want to take, and which you don't, to reach your goal, making it a flexible tool.
The program can be undertaken by an individual or a family alone, but the recommended process is organize a group of 5-8 households to do it together, over the course of four meetings, supporting each other through the process.
The program grows out of years of research by the Empowerment Institute on what it takes to make social change happen. This differentiates the book from others aimed solely at getting people to understand the problem of global warming. The book's strength lies here: in giving people a user-friendly tool to help move beyond rhetoric and into action.
Fun, Inspiring and Practical.......2007-01-29
The carbon diet program provided our household a way to learn what
our carbon footprint was (shockingly massive) and a way to reduce our
impact on the earth in a fun, inspiring and practical manner.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to do more than just read
about global warming. The Low Carbon Diet is the book you need
to learn how to make a real difference.
Buy Ten Copies--Create a Good Neighborhood.......2007-01-28
This book is about more than reducing the carbon foot-print of your home, it is tailor made for creating a good neighborhood by giving busy neighbors distanced by suburban sprawl or urban anonymnity a really fun and rewarding focal point for coming together.
There are twenty-two specific things that one can do in their home or in relation to their local school or community (most have to do with the home).
I see a real opportunity for a third party developer at Amazon to create a niche business--what I really need as a busy professional is a single Amazon URL where I can go and select all of the low-cost products needed to implement this book's recommendations (e.g. the water-saver showerhead with the instant off-on lever), have them charged to my Amazon account, and delivered to my front door.
I'd also like to see a way for people to register their homes the way we register Wildlife Habitats--completing this check-list should allow registry of the home and count toward the appraisal value.
I recommend the book be bought in lots of 10, used to bring together the other 9 houses nearest you, and then passed on down the neighborhood.
The resource section at the end is helpful, and I was especially struck by the disaster resilience recommendations. I know a lot of otherwise mainstream folks that are starting to sign up for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Red Cross courses on disaster relief, earning the green hard-hat and body covering. Something is happening at the grass roots level--a combination of innate fear that the federal and state governments will fail us as they did with Katrina, and a more constructive sense of responsibility, with more people realizing that resilience starts at the local level with specific individuals planning and preparing so as to prevent local disasters from becoming catastrophes.
For related reading on the psychology of what prevents people from preparing and reacting, see my review of "Catastrophe & Culture: The Anthropology of Disaster." Disasters do NOT have to become catastrophes, we make them so through denial before, during, and after.
Getting to carbon neutral was easy and fun.......2007-01-23
My reaction to global warming has been a mixture of guilt about my consumption patterns, anxiety and fear about approaching planetary changes, and a huge amount of anger and frustration about our nation's apparent inability to recognize the problem and deal with it.
FINALLY... the the Low Carbon Diet (LCD) program gave me a way to convert my guilt, anger and fear into constructive action! I joined a team organized by friends and did the program. Though we took a bit more than 30 days to complete it (people's schedules), it was easy and fun!!
I made some new friends, was encouraged that others feel as passionately about safeguarding our planet as I do, and was supported by my LCD Team in taking really significant actions that have made my household carbon-neutral! And that was amazing!!
The program is intelligently and imaginatively built to be very user-friendly. Being math-phobic, I was dreading the process of calculating my carbon footprint, but with team encouragement, a few preparations and the program's on-line calculator, it only took an easy, stress-free half-hour.
Now I'm working with new and old friends to bring the LCD program to my community, and now feeling a sense of hope for our future and the future of our Earth.
Book Description
There is now clear scientific evidence that emissions from economic activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels for energy, are causing changes to the Earth's climate. A sound understanding of the economics of climate change is needed in order to underpin an effective global response to this challenge. The Stern Review is an independent, rigourous and comprehensive analysis of the economic aspects of this crucial issue. It has been conducted by Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the UK Government Economic Service, and a former Chief Economist of the World Bank. The Economics of Climate Change will be invaluable for all students of the economics and policy implications of climate change, and economists, scientists and policy makers involved in all aspects of climate change.
Book Description
An argument for the urgent danger of global warming in a book that is sure to be as influential as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.
Known for her insightful and thought-provoking journalism, New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert now tackles the controversial subject of global warming. Americans have been warned since the late nineteen-seventies that the buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere threatens to melt the polar ice sheets and irreversibly change our climate. With little done since then to alter this dangerous course, now is the moment to salvage our future. By the end of the century, the world will likely be hotter than it’s been in the last two million years, and the sweeping consequences of this change will determine the future of life on earth for generations to come.
In writing that is both clear and unbiased, Kolbert approaches this monumental problem from every angle. She travels to the Arctic, interviews researchers and environmentalists, explains the science and the studies, draws frightening parallels to lost ancient civilizations, unpacks the politics, and presents the personal tales of those who are being affected most—the people who make their homes near the poles and, in an eerie foreshadowing, are watching their worlds disappear. Growing out of a groundbreaking three-part series for the New Yorker, Field Notes from a Catastrophe brings the environment into the consciousness of the American people and asks what, if anything, can be done, and how we can save our planet.
Customer Reviews:
Eloquent But Only Notes.......2007-10-09
The title of this book is apt: Field Notes. Whether the word Catastrophe is equally apt, or merely good salesmanship, can be left undecided for the moment. Chapter by chapter, Ms Kolbert has written honestly and earnestly. Chapter 2, for instance, recounts the historical development of the concern over global warming, clearly and fairly, in a mere nine pages. Chapter 3 outlines the recent studies of glaciers, and the possible implications of those studies, with equal brevity and clarity. Chapter 1 sets a passionate tone for the whole book, confronting the fearful sense of global warming at the level of villagers whose lives are already impacted; I have kayaked many times in the Seward Peninsula region, over a span of 25 years, and I've personally felt the real urgency that Ms. Kolbert reports. Each chapter of the book is in fact an essay unto itself. Ms. Kolbert is a front-line journalist, not a climatologist. That is the source of her stylistic clarity, obviously, and of her daring in reporting on the crisis at multiple levels. It also makes her vulnerable to the dogmatic deniers of anthropogenic climate change, as is colorfully exhibited in the several ranting one-star reviews on this page.
This is the University of Washington common book for 2007-8.......2007-10-04
The University of Washington has selected this book as its "Common Book" for the 2007-2008 academic year. That means each of the UW's 10,000+ incoming freshman this year have received a copy of the book and are reading it.
An Extraordinary Work: Important and Readable.......2007-09-23
`Field Notes From a Catastrophe' is Elizabeth Kolbert's masterpiece of conciseness and clarity explaining current climate change science and the political obstacles (read the US, Republicans, and Bush Administration in ascending order) to getting serious about attacking the problem. Originally published in 2005, the paperback version has an afterword written in 2006.
Kolbert takes a journalist's approach to explaining the climate change phenomenon (the book began as a series in the New Yorker). She takes the reader to Shishmaref, Alaska an island village rapidly becoming an untenable place to live due to climate-induced sea ice changes, to the North Slope, to the great Greenland ice shield and she brings the story down to a human scale.
Kolbert also leads the reader through the science of global warming making understandable seemingly arcane topics like "dangerous anthropogenic interference" (DAI), which is basically the point where something truly major goes haywire. Kolbert brings the joy of learning to the reader, until one ponders the potential consequences of what she lays out for us. Perhaps most disturbing is the evidence she marshals that the climate has already changed. For example, the climate has warmed sufficiently to allow numerous butterfly species to migrate to new previously too cold locations and to cause the extinction of certain frog species.
Scientists do not, of course, understand everything about climate change (indeed, it is in the very nature of science that an endpoint of total knowledge is never achieved). Those political and economic forces (primarily in the United States) that benefit from the status quo latch on to the uncertainties to create doubt among the public and forestall action. Her interviews with Bush administration officials strike an odd note - they stonewall with robotic incantations. While Europe and most of industrialized world has acted, the US has dithered, delayed, and denied.
Kolbert explains why scientists conclude that it is virtually certain that under the current `business as usual' approach, greenhouse gas concentrations will reach a level that causes massive coastal flooding, large scale extinctions, and crop failures leading to starvation (DAI). These outcomes will not be evenly distributed and are likely to fall heaviest on the poorest countries. Scientists do not, however, know what level of greenhouse gas concentration will cause these impacts. The Bush administration uses that uncertainty as a reason to do essentially nothing and Congress too has failed to force any action.
Kolbert's book inspires the reader to search out even more current information (NOAA's Arctic Change web site is one good source). And the news is alarming. This stuff is not just a tree hugger's paranoid delusion: global heating is happening, it is happening now, and it is getting worse faster than anticipated.
Kolbert's book is a work of journalism (and given the rapidly changing reality, journalism is probably the best source of information) that informs on both the science and the politics of climate change without stridently hectoring the reader. Kolbert presents the facts. The reader would have to be a dim bulb indeed not to get the picture.
Absolutely the very highest recommendation. Kolbert's Field Notes From a Catastrophe deserves more than 5 stars.
Some very misleading reviews here.......2007-08-09
Reviewer T. Ferrell says "The author comes from an assumption that climate was once stable and has recently become unstable. She states this directly several times and it is the overall impression she intentionally leaves."
I'm not sure if the reviewer didn't actually read the book or is deliberately trying to smear it, but Kolbert states many times that the climate has changed in the past.
This is clearly written sober account of global warming and the effects it is having, and will have, on the environment. An excellent, concise read.
Climate has never been "stable".......2007-07-04
While the book was well written as prose, it was intellectually myopic. The author comes from an assumption that climate was once stable and has recently become unstable. She states this directly several times and it is the overall impression she intentionally leaves. Certainly climate change has an effect on people, flora and fauna, but that does not mean that you ignore the fact that there are winners with climate change as well as losers. Example, as the globe warms agriculture moves north expanding into areas previously too frigid to support farming. No mention of this?
But it is not that she just focuses just on the losers. She glosses over issues that might complicate her simple thesis that man is responsible for climate change as "not understood." This is the explanation she gives for example when discussing how atmospheric CO2 was historically low during the ice ages and was high during periods of warming. This is "unknown." She simply ignores the fact that the worlds oceans hold most of the planets CO2 both directly as an absorbed gas, its concentration being directly related temperature. She also ignores the carbon bank in phytoplankton. I believe she does this because it would bring into question her simple thesis. What warmed or cooled the worlds oceans before man was on the scene.
This is a problem for me because a wider view of climate change would reveal the true issues. At one point in time the earth was a snowball entirely covered with ice. At another point in our past the oceans were much higher and the poles were nearly devoid of ice. If global climate has always been in flux do we now propose that man should control the world's climate? If so, what is the best climate? Is it the best thing to have a sizeable portion of the worlds surface are covered in ice or too cold to support agriculture? Who decides? If man does control the weather is the only way to do it to cut back on fossil fuel useage? The author appears to believe so. Does the entity who controls climate take responsibilty for the weather and its effects? A freeze occurs in a temperate agricultural region. Is this now someone's fault?
It's very easy to look who loses with climate change. It is much more difficult to consider the bigger picture. I was not impressed by this book.
Book Description
Climate variability has become the primary environmental concern of the 21st Century. Yet, despite the scientific community's warnings of the imminent dangers of global warming, politicians world-wide have failed to agree on what to do about this potentially devastating environmental problem. This introductory primer informs scientists, policy makers and the general public by clarifying the conflicting claims of the debate.
Customer Reviews:
The Case for Climate Change.......2007-04-06
The book takes a logical stance from the development of observations in science to a political conclusion and what to do about climate change. This is two books. One is the science of global warming and climate change. The other is about politics.
The science side is abbreviated. The authors avoid an in-depth discussion and rely mostly on correlations for explanation. A graph on page 74 is stunning. It is a better match than Gore's correlation from An Inconvenient Truth. I had only hoped that the authors had talked about laboratory results of experiments on greenhouse gases.
The politics side is wordy and a bit predictable, although Dessler and Parson do a good job in making a very logical and well-developed case.
Excellent work.......2007-02-26
How does science work? And how do politics work? How does it all fit together with the data that has come from various sources all over the planet - and is climate change real? All these questions are addressed in an easy read, very neutral. The authors take a firm stand on the issue finally, from a scientific perspective, and the result is clear: Yes, it is real, and it is coming at us, while politicans are incapable and totally overwhelmed by the problem. It is a new kind of threat nobody can deal with, thus we ignore it. Too much for us. Surprising to read from two high profile, Ex-NASA scientists from the US themselves. Alerting at the same time. A must read to be up to date with the debate or quickly get an overview. Stefan Klose - University of Ulm - Germany
Helpful guide to Global Climate Change.......2006-11-10
This is a good very good review of science and policy of Global Climate Change without bias esotheric science or paragraphs going nowhere.
Recomended to the reader who wants to make up their own mind. The book will find a use in introductory survey coures in High School and College.
More graphs and diagrams would have been helpful, although they are available to those scanning the internet.
A must-have for your collection.......2006-08-08
This is an excellent way into the subject for the beginner. There's some very sound science, most of which is agreed upon and a good understanding of how policy making works, or doesn't. The two ideas are brought together along with a discussion as to how we might proceed. One of the strengths of the book is the frequent use of boxes to put alternative viewpoints and summaries to show where we are in the debate. The overall effect is one of the most lucid and readable introductory accounts of the topic that has been published in some while. As such it should be seen as a 'must-buy' and an essential addition to the library.
Average customer rating:
- Not Free SF Reader
- Disappointing
- KSR, the king of Bureaucratic Realism!
- Colder and Colder, But Life Goes On
- Better than FORTY DAYS, but
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Forty Signs of Rain
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Sixty Days and Counting
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The Years of Rice and Salt
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Imagining Abrupt Climate Change: Terraforming Earth
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Icehenge
ASIN: 0553585819
Release Date: 2007-01-30 |
Book Description
Bestselling, award-winning, author Kim Stanley Robinson continues his groundbreaking trilogy of eco-thrillers–and propels us deeper into the awesome whirlwind of climatic change. Set in our nation’s capital, here is a chillingly realistic tale of people caught in the collision of science, technology, and the consequences of global warming–which could trigger another phenomenon: abrupt climate change, resulting in temperatures...
When the storm got bad, scientist Frank Vanderwal was at work, formalizing his return to the National Science Foundation for another year. He’d left the building just in time to help sandbag at Arlington Cemetery. Now that the torrent was over, large chunks of San Diego had eroded into the sea, and D.C. was underwater.
Shallow lakes occupied the most famous parts of the city. Reagan Airport was awash and the Potomac had spilled beyond its banks. Rescue boats dotted the saturated cityscape. Everything Frank and his colleagues in the halls of science and politics feared had culminated in this massive disaster. And now the world looked to them to fix it.
Whatever Frank can do, now that he is homeless, he’ll have to do from his car. He’s not averse to sleeping outdoors. Years of research have made him hyperaware of his status as just another primate. That plus his encounter with a Tibetan Buddhist has left him resolved to live a more authentic life.
Hopefully, this will prepare him for whatever is to come....
For even as D.C. bails out from the flood, a more extreme climate change looms. With the melting of the polar ice caps shutting down the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, another Ice Age could be imminent. The last time it happened, eleven thousand years ago, it took just three years to start.
Once again Kim Stanley Robinson uses his remarkable vision, trademark wry wit, and extraordinary insight into the complexity between man and nature to take us to the brink of disaster–and slightly beyond.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
I
PRIMATE in FOREST
Nobody likes Washington D.C. Even the people who love it don’t like it. Climate atrocious, traffic worse: an ordinary midsized gridlocked American city, in which the plump white federal buildings make no real difference. Or rather they bring all the politicians and tourists, the lobbyists and diplomats and refugees and all the others who come from somewhere else, often for suspect reasons, and thereafter spend their time clogging the streets and hogging the show, talking endlessly about their nonexistent city on a hill while ignoring the actual city they are in. The bad taste of all that hypocrisy can’t be washed away even by the food and drink of a million very fine restaurants. No—bastion of the world government, locked vault of the World Bank, fortress headquarters of the world police; Rome, in the age of bread and circuses—no one can like that.
So naturally when the great flood washed over the city, wreaking havoc and leaving the capital spluttering in the livid heat of a wet and bedraggled May, the stated reactions were varied, but the underlying subtext often went something like this: HA HA HA. For there were many people around the world who felt that justice had somehow been served. Capital of the world, thoroughly trashed: who wouldn’t love it?
Of course the usual things were said by the usual parties. Disaster area, emergency relief, danger of epidemic, immediate restoration, pride of the nation, etc. Indeed, as capital of the world, the president was firm in his insistence that it was everyone’s patriotic duty to support rebuilding, demonstrating a brave and stalwart response to what he called “this act of climactic terrorism.” “From now on,” the president continued, “we are at a state of war with nature. We will work until we have made this city even more like it was than before.”
But truth to tell, ever since the Reagan era the conservative (or dominant) wing of the Republican party had been coming to Washington explicitly to destroy the federal government. They had talked about “starving the beast,” but flooding would be fine if it came to that; they were flexible, it was results that counted. And how could the federal government continue to burden ordinary Americans when its center of operations was devastated? Why, it would have to struggle just to get back to normal! Obviously the flood was a punishment for daring to tax income and pretending to be a secular nation. One couldn’t help thinking of Sodom and Gomorrah, the prophecies specified in the Book of Revelation, and so on.
Meanwhile, those on the opposite end of the political spectrum likewise did not shed very many tears over the disaster. As a blow to the heart of the galactic imperium it was a hard thing to regret. It might impede the ruling caste for a while, might make them acknowledge, perhaps, that their economic system had changed the climate, and that this was only the first of many catastrophic consequences. If Washington was denied now that it was begging for help, that was only what it had always done to its environmental victims in the past. Nature bats last—poetic justice—level playing field—reap what you sow—rich arrogant bastards—and so on.
Thus the flood brought pleasure to both sides of the aisle. And in the days that followed Congress made it clear in their votes, if not in their words, that they were not going to appropriate anything like the amount of money it would take to clean up the mess. They said it had to be done; they ordered it done; but they did not fund it.
The city therefore had to pin its hopes on either the beggared District of Columbia, which already knew all there was to know about unfunded mandates from Congress, to the extent that for years their
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-24
A good followup about the politics of rapid climate change. It certainly would have been interesting to see the difference between what would have happened in Washington D.C. had had the you know what kicked out of it, rather than New Orleans, for example, in real life.
A little bit about betting market modelling of key players and individuals as a surveillance tool is also thrown in.
Then there is whacky Frank, living in his tree house, dodging spooks, apart from his girlfriend, who he is actively undodging and connecting with, so to speak.
Disappointing.......2007-09-03
The book was not engaging .... I had to force myself to finish it, hoping it would redeem itself. More description of looming severe weather events and their effects would have made it a more interesting read. Also the political views are so unrealistic that they border on the unbelievable, and detract from the work.
KSR, the king of Bureaucratic Realism!.......2007-07-31
Just as Federico Garcia Lorca might be said to be a novelist of magic realism, so too, I would argue that Kim Stanley Robinson has established a new novelistic genre: bureaucratic realism.
The problem with this is that bureaucratic realism is as deadly dull in fiction as it is in real life.
If you cherish reading about the lives of people who spend most of their time in committees, worrying about committee politics, and alternate that with episodes of imagining themselves in the jungle as "paleolithic man," (Frank, the protagonist)... you're a more bored person than I.
Combine that with an incorrigible urge to promulgate the kind of '80's REI-camping-gear yuppie old-school health-nut chest-thumping that veers awfully close, awfully too often, to turning into Advertising for New Age Healthy Life Goodies, along with Frank's consummate urge to combine his self-important delusions about leading the paleolithic life with slumming among a cleaned-up, yuppified version of homeless street people (they're smart! they play chess! they play Frisbie! they're formerly Vietnam Vets so they're also heroes! the 21st-century Noble Savage Writ Large, indeed), and you have a novel that is barely tolerable to read without the strong urge to throw it into the gas-log fireplace. In the middle of summer.
There are a few moments of interesting speculation on actual global warming science, and a few moments of intended disaster-movie scenario painting. There is even a spy-vs.-spy chase scene, as if, along with all his hopelessly naive aspirations, the author is thinking this novel might make a good movie.
However, I had to force myself to complete this thing, and I'm sympathetic to KSR's causes, point of view, yuppie scientist Starbucks klatch clique, fascination with the actual processes of science, and so on. How sad.
I would rate this novel 5 stars on the scale of Most Likely to Infuriate Irrational Hillary-Clinton-Hating Rednecks, ahead of Hillary herself, actually. That is its main value as a work of literature, unfortunately.
I'm girding my loins to read the last of the trilogy, since I'm a completist; I hope it takes awhile to get into paperback.
Sigh.....
Colder and Colder, But Life Goes On.......2007-07-29
This is the second book in Robinson's cautionary trilogy on Global Warming. Readers who enjoyed Forty Signs of Rain can expect more of the same. Robinson's great strength is his ability to engross us with even the most trivial details - a technique that supports his understanding of modern science, which isn't all about stunning discoveries made by sleep-deprived monomaniacs who skip meals because they're too engrossed in their experiments to leave the Luh-bor-atory. Robinson sees modern science as tiny incremental gains made by people who work for vast consortiums by day, then go home at night to their quiet lives and needy families and personal exasperations just like the rest of us. On the down side, all this attention to intimate little details like paperwork and meetings and cooking dinner and watching the kids, etc. causes the main plot to move with an almost glacial slowness that will bore some readers beyond endurance. If you're seeking lots of action and adventure, maybe Robinson's just not the writer for you. If you're interested in subtle characterizations and extreme realism (as well as practical suggestions for how to survive in cold weather) this may be just the series you've been looking for. This reviewer can't wait for volume three.
Better than FORTY DAYS, but.......2007-07-15
After reading FORTY DAYS, I would not have bought or read FIFTY DAYS but since I already had it, I did read it. It is somewhat better than FORTY DAYS, but is still full of useless, pointless pages that do not relate or contribute to the story. The book is 603 pages long. Of the first 200 pages, perhaps 25 contribute to the story. Not all of the other pages contribute either. The book has much scientific information added that does not relate and many of the authors political comments that don't belong. Reading FORTY and FIFTY was a waste of time. There is no way I will read SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING. Don't waste your time either. There are a lot of better books ot there.
Books:
- Venice Against the Sea: A City Besieged
- Weak Convergence and Empirical Processes: With Applications to Statistics (Springer Series in Statistics)
- Weather Forecasting Handbook (5th Edition)
- A Course in Modern Mathematical Physics: Groups, Hilbert Space and Differential Geometry
- Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 2)
- An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
- An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology, Volume 88, Fourth Edition (International Geophysics)
- An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering
- Astronomy: From the Earth to the Universe, Media Edition (with InfoTrac®)
- Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern Civilization
Books Index
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The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism)
Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming
The Chilling Stars: The New Theory of Climate Change
America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media
