Chris Mooney is a freelance writer and the author of two books, 
...and I have read a lot of them, including Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and Elizabeth Kolbert's Field Notes from a Catastrophe.
Nevertheless, the book I just reviewed in the latest New Scientist--Gabrielle Walker and Sir David King's The Hot Topic--trounces them all. This it does by being simultaneously more comprehensive, and less ideological, than any other global warming book I'm aware of. Or as I write of Walker and King:
Their overview of the science and policy of climate change is a model of clarity, comprehensiveness and, above all, sanity. It truly does find a middle ground in the climate debate - and in the process, probably counts as the single most important book on the subject to read between now and December 2009, when the world will, we must hope, negotiate the successor to the Kyoto protocol.It is ironic that, at least in the US, King has been depicted as some kind of climate radical. Sceptics have pounced on King's undeniably impolitic claim that global warming poses a greater risk to the world than international terrorism and used it to frame him as an unhinged extremist.
The Hot Topic demonstrates otherwise. Walker and King mount a reasoned defence of several environmental heresies, such as the need to rely upon nuclear power in the future and the idea that some people and some parts of the world will surely benefit from having a different climate. They also don't shrink from discussing the importance of efforts to adapt to climate change - another potential heresy, in that many environmentalists believe that highlighting adaptation distracts from efforts to ratchet down emissions. In the hands of Walker and King, though, adaptation becomes an essential part of the climate policy story....
Alas, at the moment this spectacular book only seems to be out in the UK. You can pre-order the U.S. paperback here. For the Amazon.uk link, see here.
However you get it, though, I can't encourage you enough to check out this book.
Environment
Politics
Comments
nice! thanks for the heads up! i've just added it to my reading list!
~C
Posted by: ~C4Chaos | February 11, 2008 10:11 AM
I saw that review in New Scientist and was hoping you'd call attention to the book here.
Just out of curiosity, Chris, what do you think of Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers, which I reviewed comparatively with Kolbert's Field Notes (click my name)?
And have you seen Seymour Garte's Where We Stand: A Surprising Look at the Real State of Our Planet (guest reviewed at http://www.scienceshelf.com/WhereWeStand.htm and promoted at http://www.wherewestand.net ), which takes the point of view that we should put more focus on the most plausible scenarios, especially those based on the assumption that some human actions will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions? It's not as comprehensive on climate change, since it covers a wider range of issues, but it is definitely less ideological than most other books that address science and technology from a political and policy viewpoint.
Posted by: Fred Bortz | February 11, 2008 10:51 AM
Chris said:
Sound familiar?.
Posted by: Horatio Algeranon | February 11, 2008 10:25 PM
btw, i just picked up a copy. here's my first impression.
thanks again!
~C
Posted by: ~C4Chaos | February 21, 2008 7:15 PM