Customer Reviews

The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The IPCC AR4 report too technical for you? Want to learn about the climate change? Then this is a good book for you. "The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change" by climatologists David Archer and Stefan Rahmstorf was published this year and does a decent job of explaining the status of climate science to non-scientists.

That doesn't mean the book isn't technical. It is chock full of color graphics, charts, tables, and photographs documenting every aspect of climate science. But the authors work hard to present the information in language that educated non-scientists and scientists and professionals in other fields can more readily understand. Overall they accomplish this goal, though I do think that parts of the book are still technical enough to confuse your "average Joe." Conversely, I don't think they explain some of the charts well enough - there is a tendency to have a narrative and reference a chart or graph, but then not explain the graph in detail. This is intentional as the book is designed to communicate the information on a level that non-climatologists can understand, but I did find myself wanting to drill into the figures more than was enabled.

Still, these are minor quibbles and I find the book to be a very useful addition to the reading list of anyone interested in the topic of global warming or climate change. The authors are both practicing climatologists and professors of climate science. Rahmstorf was one of the lead authors in the most recent IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (called AR4). Both contribute to the RealClimate.org blog on the topic.

The book itself focuses on the state of the science and looks at what evidence of climate change we have already seen, what is happening with snow and ice in various parts of the world, how the oceans are changing, and how climate is measured. They also have chapters on what we might see in the future with respect to climate change, impacts of those changes, and how we can avoid the worst of it. They briefly touch on climate policy in the last chapter, but they focus on the need for action, the global nature of the cooperation required, and the differences between developed and developing nations, rather than discussing any specific policy solution.

I definitely recommend the book. Readers will find it both informative and enlightening.

If you want an authoritative source on climate science, of course you could go to the IPCC Reports. That assumes, of course, that you're willing to plow through hundreds and hundreds of pages of detailed information. Now, there's a good alternative. The Climate Crisis is a clear, accessible introduction to everything we know about the earth's climate. The authors are leading scientists at the University of Chicago and the Potsdam Institute for Impact Research. There are lots of vivid maps and charts to accompany the crisp, straightforward prose.

This ia a book about a real crisis developing on our planet. It is
about carbon dioxide, water vapour, ozone, methane and nitrous oxide
changes because of the human influences on the atmosphere.

You will see that David Archer and Stefan Rahmstorf have put together
a most enlightening repository of facts and prospects. The contents:
{retrospective) What we knew and when we knew it, Earth's energy budget, CLIMATE CHANGE SO FAR, Snow and Ice, How the oceans are changing, The past is the key to the future, What the future holds,
Impacts of climate change, Avoiding climate change and climate policy.

Take the time to read this book on climate change and climate science
basics - you will be glad you did!

Dag Stomberg
St. Andrews, Scotland

Climate scientists David Archer and Stefan Rahmstorf's "The Climate Crisis" is an authoritative introduction to the science behind the theory of climate change. It provides a tutorial on the physics, findings, predictions, and ramifications to the earth and humanity of "BAU" aka "business as usual".

Amazon reader David K provides an excellent description of the book in his reader review so I won't attempt to match his outstanding effort. Instead I'll focus on this book's relevancy given it's been four years since the last IPCC synthesis report was published which is the dominant basis of the scientific findings and predictions for this book. Obviously the climate science community had to rely on what they'd discovered prior to that year; but they've also made enormous progress since then; so, is there a more relevant tutorial that incorporates findings since 2007?

I went through Amazon's top 50 sellers for climatology looking for a more up-to-date tutorial and would argue there is none, this book remains the standard-bearer where only James Hansen's book, "Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity", appears to approach the volume of findings, physics, and explanations contained in this book though at a mere fraction. That's because Dr. Hansen's book also focuses on his own hypotheses that are not [perhaps yet] peer-accepted, e.g., "The Venus Syndrome". He also covers some of the history of the American political debate from his perspective as a primary player and writes about his personal public policy prescriptions. In addition to sticking more with the peer-consensus science, Archer and Rahmstorf published more graphical illustrations, provide a far more comprehensive review of the science, and are far better about citing their assertions. I recommend the Hansen book, but only after the reader first understand the basic physics of the earth's climate and the consensus perspective that is the basis of this subject book. Lastly Archer and Rahmstorf do present some findings published after the 2007 IPCC report and prior to this book's Jan-2010 publication date.

One disappointing observation that I find concerning reviewing publications like this book, the IPCC's reports (this book uses the same graphs and illustrations as the IPCC reports), and that of Dr. Hansen's book which mostly come from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Science ("GISS"), a leading research center of the climate, is the lack of - and amateurish quality of graphs published by the climate science community. From my perspective the threat of global warming at least equals and perhaps far surpasses the threats to humanity's well-being posed by the Cold War and authoritarian movements of the 20th century. And yet reading the reports out of the leading centers for climate science and the global community's synthesis reports suggests these scientists are operating on shoe-string budgets far below the importance of the subject matter.

My observation is especially relevant when it comes to communicating science's predictions of current and projected harm and when illustrated, is done so amateurishly. Any successful top Fortune 50 company does a far better job using graphics and other media beyond text to better communicate and reinforce their message with the public, in spite of the fact none of those companies' criticality even remotely approaches the importance of this issue. I don't expect climate scientists to be graphical artists, I would instead expect our governments to take this seriously enough to adequately fund their ability to effectively communicate to the public where I find this a major failing by policy makers. [A failure that doesn't even remotely approach the rank immorality of American conservatives denying the reality of global warming.]

The radiative forcing graph is an example of a good graph, along with color-legend maps of warming anomalies, however the well-done graphs are relatively rare while complex ideas begging for illustrations remain skant.

So while I can't help Amazon readers with the lack of quality graphical presentations to better communicate the predicted implications to the earth and humans, I will use the comment section of my review to link to some recent scientific findings that will help bring the reader more up-to-speed to what the climate science community's peer-review findings now explain and predict since the 2007 IPCC report.

This is exactly the book I was looking for. The scientific details are provided and explanations are clear. Even more importantly, the writers are honest about what the current state of climate science can and cannot tell us. The conclusion is inescapable, global climate change is occuring and humans are the cause. How can there possibly be any doubters left?

Having just read a large number of books on the subject of Climate Change I can vouch that this is by far the best one. Written by two top scientists who participate in the work of the IPCC it gives you the knowledge of thousands of thousands of IPCC reports in a nutshell without oversimplification. On the contrary--the authors actually correct some of the information in the original reports and contextualize it. They use lots of helpful graphs, photos and tables to explain what we do and also what we do not yet know about the reasons for and consequences of climate change. Everybody should read this book! It's worthy of a lot more than five stars.

A clear, concise rendering of the 2007 IPCC report for non-climatologists written at a university entrance level. The authors take us through the scientific methods behind the IPCC report. Concepts are explained clearly without journalistic embellishment but with a degree of readibility sometimes lacking in the actual IPCC document it explains and is based on. Imparts the appropriate sense of urgency to the looming catastrophe that is likely without prompt action, but avoids notes of despair while pointing out the roadmap for action. Ideal reading for an entry level understanding of this important topic. The textbook of record for Climate Change 101.

I've read several books on this topic. I would say if you are going to read only one book about climate change, make it this one.

This book is full of scientific data, presented in an easy-to-read, introductory textbook format. It has lots of charts and graphs that make the data easy to understand.

If you are a "doubter" you owe it to yourself to read all the scientific evidence in this book. If you are already a "believer" then you will find the details for why 97% of climate scientists say human-caused global warming is real.

Another excellent book on the topic: Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, published by National Geographic. It's a very readable summary of the scientific evidence.

For info about technological solutions, this PBS NOVA show describes possible solutions: Nova: Power Surge: Are We Finally on the Brink of a Clean Energy Revolution?.

"The Climate Crisis" by David Archer and Stephan Rahmstorf is an excellent introduction to climate change. Based on the IPCC Fourth Report, the book covers all the relevant topics with extensive illustrations that serve to create a very coherent picture of where we currently are, how we got here, and what we can do about it. The writing style of the authors is much more fluid than that of typical scientific reports and papers. They present the science in a way that is very accessible to the non-specialist reader, while the factual correctness of their material is embodied in the extensive graphs and illustrations that they include. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the subject of climate change.

The authors of this book, Archer and Rahmstorf, are both well-respected and widely published authors in the field of Climate Science. They have published a combined total of more than 100 scientific research papers in the field of climate science.

These scientists were concerned that the main scientific findings about climate change, especially those from the most recent IPCC assessment (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) were not readily accessible or understandable by most people, so they collaborated and wrote this extremely useful summary of the current state of the climate. Their book is based heavily on the 2007 IPCC assessment reports plus additional scientific information that has been discovered since 2007.

This book was published in 2010 and is one of the most current and understandable books on the climate that there is.

What this book includes:

Ch 1 - A brief introduction to what climate is and how the climate is changing, an overview of what climate science is, how climatologists do what they do, and what the IPCC is and how it works
Ch 2 - An introduction to earth's energy budget and climate forcing factors (things that affect earth's climate)
Ch 3 - A summary of recent climate change to date including changes in earth's global temperature, effects on precipitation, atmospheric circulation, changes in intensity of storms, and information that helps us identify roles of natural forces and humans on global and regional climate
Ch 4 - Climate change and its effects on high latitude ice sheets (Greenland, Antarctica) and mountain glaciers, as well as on snow, ice, and permafrost.
Ch 5 - The effect of current trends of climate change on the world's oceans, including temperature, salinity, acidity, sea level, and currents
Ch 6 - paleoclimatology at the scale of millions, hundreds of thousands, thousands of years, and recent changes...included the significance of the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum, glacial cycles, and abrupt climate changes
Ch 7 - Cimate models and the difference between scenarios resulting from climate models and predictions
Ch 8 - Effects of climate change on distribution of species, ability of nature to shift or adapt, global and regional effects, food, water, human health, coastlines, river deltas, flooding, and the difference between adaptation to and mitigation of climate change
Ch 9 - Mitigation of climate change including strategies for carbon emission reduction, possible futures of energy, changes in transportation, industry, energy production, agriculture, forestry, waste management, costs
Ch 10 - Climate policy including reference to 1992 and Rio, Kyoto Accords, UN initiatives, possible policy targets, and conflict, cooperation and climate policy

This book does not include what I would consider a strong introduction to the very basics of climate change, but is VERY good with what is happening now.

I teach a general education science class on the science of climate change, and I opted to use this book as the main course text. I had to supplement the course with a series of additional readings, but this book is an excellent choice for what is happening today with climate.

My students, most of whom are not science majors, find the book interesting, informative, and with few exceptions, readily understandable.

I like the book because it is readable, it's applicable, and it's AFFORDABLE!

5 solid stars for a great overview book on climate change.