Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Discovery of Global Warming : by Spencer R. Weart ISBN: 0-674-01157-0 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Scientific Consensus is that there is Global Warming.
Comment: This is a short book written recently (2003) by Spencer Weart, the director of the Center for History of the American Institute of Physics. If you are not aware, that is the premier professional society for physical scientists working in the United States. Also it is the main society through which many scientific publications are produced and through which conferences are held almost monthly.
This is a short but easy to read book and it is cross referenced to the web page www.aip.org/history/climate. The book contains a number of notes and references on climate change and history.
In the book Weart explains that contrary to many notions in the popular press the main parameters that cause global warming are fairly well understood. As the earth rotates on its axis, it is warmed by day as it faces the hot sun and then the temperature drops at night as the surface is cooled by thermal radiation losses into cold space. These temperature oscillations and the nature of the radiation balance were first understood by the French scientist Joseph Fourier. These were further clarified by the British scientist and engineer John Tyndall about 150 years ago when he discovered that CO2 and water vapor acted as radiation barrier that would stop energy losses from the earth, and would retain the energy on the surface of the earth. This blanket raises the temperature of the earth and reduces the daily 24 hour cycle variations in temperature (the days are warmer and the nights do not get so cold). It is generally agreed that the water vapor and CO2 acting together control the efficiency of this thermal blanket or what is sometimes loosely referred to as greenhouse gases controlling the atmosphere that works like a greenhouse insulating window system.
In addition there is a feedback mechanism. If the planet gets a bit too cold, say by a decrease in the CO2 levels, the water vapor is reduced and the planet surface can get even colder. The oscillations can be predicted with some confidence - but not 100% accurately - by computer models. It is clear that the trends are accurate even if scientists cannot predict all the fine details.
The author presents a history of global warming studies in an easy to read style covering the last 200 years. He does not use any mathematical formulas but he does produce scientific data on the earth's temperature and the rise in CO2. He does spend a lot of time discussing the work and the impact of politics and public relations by the polluters. The book is neutral but presents a fairly convincing case that we are in the throes of a climate change that might take many decades to become clearly apparent to everyone. But among the scientists themselves, there is a general consensus in the scientific community that global warming is occurring - contrary to stories in the media that scientists do not agree on global warming.
This is a short (4 star) book and it is a good read and education - highly recommend.
Jack in Toronto
Rating: 4
Summary: Putting Global Warming On The Front Burner
Comment: Discovery of Global Warming
I love scientific detective stories. The fact that the climatological investigation into global warming is ongoing is no barrier to learning about all the legwork that has gone into it. This account is especially welcome, as it is an objective account of how the idea of global warming has developed over the years. It is literally a textbook example of the workings of aggregate knowledge.
Especially good is the account of climatology's trip up the blind alley of The Coming Ice Age in the 1970s. This as much as anything tarred the proponents of the global warming hypothesis as a bunch of Chicken Littles who couldn't make up their minds. But while it may have made convincing policy makers more difficult, like so many other missteps in science it ultimately led to a better understanding of what was really going on. And many observed facts have survived through the revolutions of interpretation. You can't argue with the Keeling Curve, which measures the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, for instance.
The objectivity continues even in concluding sections, when contemporary politics enter the story. In this account the Kyoto Protocols are a missed opportunity, although their shortcomings and the legitimate objections to them are fairly-enough presented. Plus all the loose ends and shortcomings of the global warming model get spelled out in frank detail. But the existing scientific consensus, that CO2 buildup is real, artificial, growing, and a menace, gets the last word.
Dr. Weart's call to action in the end is bitter: more regulation, higher taxes, the whole "wise men" approach to public policy. Principal blame for the crisis is affixed to the U.S., too-as if it is America and not the sainted Third World burning down the world's rainforests. Some of the prescriptions sound like they would indeed be money savers though, such as aggressively heading off methane leaks by mending pipelines. In all, this is an informative, challenging account of how we know what we think we know about global warming. Recommended to everyone with any interest in the issue.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great balanced survey of the history of climate science
Comment: An excellent short summary of the rise of global climate concerns in the scientific, political and public awareness. Weart details the steps in the discovery of global warming as a concept, including the various transformations that climate theory went through on its way towards adequately explaining what has happened in the past and reliably predicting the general shape of things to come. He explains the science well for the beginner (that is to say, not too deeply) and covers many bases - including solar, atmospheric, oceanic and biomass inputs that shape our climate and the creeping realization that climate change can change (and has changed in the past) much faster than anyone suspected 100 years ago.
While covering the science and history in some detail, he also takes great care to acknowledge the inherent uncertainties of climate science, focusing his attention later in the book on the public and political interplay in the process of discovery and discussion about climatic change. He also leaves room for continued debate, although it's clear that he has been convinced of the potential dangers of global warming by the available evidence. For those who find the book short on scientific material, a link is included to a website maintained by the author which contains much more material and data. The author also lists links to other prominent sites for climate change information, including sites which argue against its existence. Overall, I appreciate both the passion and the evident fairness that the author brings to his subject which leads me to give it 5 stars.
 |
Title: The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era by Jeremy K. Leggett ISBN: 0415931029 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment by James Gustave Speth ISBN: 0300102321 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
 |
Title: Climate Change Policy: A Survey by Stephen H. Schneider, Armin Rosencranz, John O. Niles ISBN: 1559638818 Publisher: Island Press Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
 |
Title: Climate Change: A Multidisciplinary Approach by William James Burroughs ISBN: 0521567718 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 15 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
 |
Title: The Heat Is on: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription by Ross Gelbspan ISBN: 0738200255 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
