Customer Reviews

Environment: The Science behind the Stories (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I agree that the book is rather useful and very practical. However, POLITICS IS A PART OF THIS FIELD. like it or not. and when facts are stated that some politician did or did not do something related to the environment, all of a sudden the authors become POLITICALLY BIASED. which is wrong and that is exactly what this book is trying to make u understand. DON'T JUST TRUST THE MEDIA for scientific facts, MEDIA IS POLITICIZED as well. true facts are available elsewhere, and this textbook does a rather good job in providing the facts.

I got nothing personal to "pick" with the 1st reviewer or Mr.Bush. But I do dislike the type of misinformation and the logical fallacies used in the 1st review. [no offense, there is at least one logical fallacy in your review, go figure]

All I know, is that nobody is perfect and Bush was not a saint by any means. He indeed made mistakes; who's to say he did not make mistakes. On this virtue, who is to say that maybe some of his decisions regarding environment were not mistakes? Only true source I can trust are the scientists, and hands down republican and democrat environmental scientists (and NOT environmentalists-the activists) agree on the implications of mr.Bush's decisions. Of course Kyoto had it's own issues, but that does not exempt mr.Bush and his decisions from judgment and the judgment is not based on the political side of his actions which was basically that I do not sign this protocol since i find other countries not singing it (fair enough) but rather his lack of attentiveness and providing ANY real, researched and acceptable alternatives and thus letting the issue limbo which amounts to INACTION which is very much open to a fair scientific criticism when u look at the global implications.

After all, I think people should side with science when it opposes their politics, because politics come and go and get buried in history, however environmental/scientific facts & effects can last many many years and affect far more than the political constituency who gets offended.

POLAR BEARS are officially on the brink of extinction, GLOBAL WARMING is now a scientifically proven phenomena and no matter what your political figures dictate to you, they are no stronger and more truthful than mother nature. Most reputed scientists do a good job to stay unbiased and I believe the authors have remained quite unbiased, except that negative facts against some ppl are considered bias to their groupies...

u give a 1 star out of 5 to an almost excellent textbook, only because u r politically quite intolerant, now I believe that's one major BIAS right there: TO RUIN the whole thing, for seemingly just 1 problem.

the book is over 600 pages, and u repeatedly pick on page 77 and only based on that u give it 1/5 stars. that's so much for fairness and even if they were biased as u think, it still would not do justice to give them only 1 star, after all you're only in disagreement over 1 single page.

reading through your review, I think you may truly benefit from a business ethics course my friend. after all, democrats are correct about certain things at times, just like how republicans are correct about some other things. If I sat in my economics class and thought "gosh this is just some right wing proud corporate-America/capitalist propaganda", I would have never been able to live my life with a relaxed mind!

This person sent it in the same day I ordered it and got the item within a week. The condition was exactly as described. I am satisfied.

I was very satisfied with this order. This was my first time using amazon and I will definitely use and buy from this person again.

I was a little worried about the version. BUt when I went to the University bookstore, it was the one on the shelf and it saved me big bucks

Overall this is a superior and very effective textbook for teaching (compare to Raven et al, Botkin and Keller). One BIG criticism that limits or diminishes the text overall however is that Withgott and Brennan are unabashedly politically partisan throughout the text. For example, page 77, in the section entitled , "Science can be politicized" , Withgott and Brennan use the opportunity to go after the Bush administration. The impression is clearly left that the Republican party is the enemy of science and that Democrats are the friends of science. Fairness would dictate a more balanced approach to this section, especially now that we have a bicameral Democrat government with a Democrat executive; are students to believe now that science will not be politicized? Are students to believe that the Union of Concerned Scientists does not politicize science? UCS practice of flying scientists to Washington and then giving them detailed talking points and coaching prior to shuttling them to a meeting with their Senator is not being political? What about the political agenda from the left? Did the NASA scientist quoted on page 77 not have a political agenda as well? Check out [..[............] .. to judge this for yourselves.
The book contains many many more of these types of political bias. Reading through Chapters 18 and 19 is like reading through the Democrat parties talking points. Are we to assume ,as Withgott and Brennan suggest, on page 542 that the Democrat majority Congress is the best friend of the environment? I feel these types of political commentary throughout the text do no service for the causes of environmental activists like Withgott and Brennan. Partisan attacks throughout the book only diminish the work of scientists because they are then associated with these attacks. I think Withgott's background as a San Francisco based journalist clearly has framed his approach.
Again, overall, the book is very very well done. I like this text and would recommend it over any of the others I have seen for an Intro Env Sci course; but, I only wish the authors had left out their own political bias. This would have strengthened the book greatly!

THE CONDITION OF THE BOOK WAS JUST AS DESCRIBED. THE SHIPMENT WAS FAST. THANK YOU...

I ordered this book alone and I had to pay delivery fee for a faster delivery for an environment class. The delivery was quick and I got this book on Saturday morning after I had ordered it on Monday or Tuesday that week. It came in a box and the book was absolutely brand new. Amazon did a good job of preserving this book and it was much affordable than what the bookstores had to offer.

Product received quickly and it was as expected. Saved a bundle over college bookstore.

Authors take jabs on the Republican Party and the Bush administration every chance they get. The majority of the time it is irrelevant and has no credibility.