The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change [Paperback]

Richard C. J. Somerville (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 1998

The Forgiving Air is an authoritative, up-to-date handbook on global change. Written by a scientist for nonscientists, this primer humanizes the great environmental issues of our time--the hole in the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, acid rain, and air pollution--and explains everything in accessible prose. A new preface takes into account developments in environmental policy that have occurred since publication. Highlighting the interrelatedness of human activity and global change, Richard Somerville stresses the importance of an educated public in a world where the role of science is increasingly critical.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A very readable and clear book about some complex global environmental problems. I recommend the book highly." -- Paul Crutzen, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

"[A] splendid book. . . . Proves that complex science can be made understandable in lay terms without being condescending to the reader or compromising accuracy about the subject." -- Norman L. Christensen Jr., American Scientist --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Richard C. J. Somerville is Professor of Meteorology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (March 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520213882
• ISBN-13: 978-0520213883
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,129,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Interesting Book on Global Warming by a Scientist, January 17, 2009

By 

Man Kam Tam (Calexico, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Chang (Paperback)

Do you know that the atmosphere remembers our past behavior? And there is a limit to the forgiveness of the air. Another popular question is whether we can say that people are changing the climate? The actual language on the December 1995 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports is that "The balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate." Another common question is that suppose human beings are warming the Earth, what should we do? Richard C.J. Somerville's "The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change" suggests the following: (1) stabilizing and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, (2) developing renewable forms of energy, and (3) protecting the atmosphere. The world population is another factor.

My primary interest on the book is weather computing. According to the author, computing weather is a calculus problem. To be specific, it is an initial value problem. Many problems involving calculus are too complicated to be solved exactly. Fortunately, there exists method to find an approximate solution.

We can predict weather for three days or up to a week now. The limit on weather prediction is about three weeks due to the system is sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Thunderstorms and hurricanes are still too small to be resolved by the weather model's grids. A weather service would reduce the grid size of its model for better predictions when a faster computer is available. But models are not yet realistic enough to reproduce droughts or monsoons.

Predicting climate is a new field. We don't even know what is predictable. Climate prediction may be a boundary-value problem. Anyway, temperature is the single most important indicator to represent all the complexity and severity of climate change. However, scientific research is time consuming. On the other hand, the second edition of the book is available. There may be good news on predicting climate.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Forgiving Air, Understanding Environmental Change, Second Edition, November 17, 2008

By 

Clinton Winant - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Chang (Paperback)

A very readable book for anyone trying to understand and sort through the misinformation surrounding climate change. It explains The Ozone Hole, The Greenhouse Effect, Acid Rain, El Nino and a host of other climate related events, and their outcomes both actual and predicted. Be sure to get the updated second edition.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Understanding of Climate Change, July 29, 2009

By 

Dr. James Conca, Director (NMSU CEMRC, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Chang (Paperback)

This second edition of Richard Somerville's The Forgiving Air. Understanding Environmental Change is the necessary next step in understanding the key environmental issue of our time - climate change. An internationally renowned atmospheric scientist, Somerville brilliantly enlightens readers of any level about the greenhouse effect, the ozone hole, air pollution, acid rain and other issues that will affect our lives for decades to come. The impact is all the more powerful given the author's principal role in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, work which led to IPCC sharing of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with, among others, Al Gore. Dr. Somerville treats the science and its implications in an objective and easily comprehensible manner, including discussions of the policy ramifications of solutions to these extreme environmental problems.

Somerville embarks on this scholarly journey with a thorough coverage of the issue of the Antarctic ozone hole, broadening the discussion to the stratospheric ozone layer in general, skillfully separating natural effects from those induced by human activities. But the dominant subject of this book is climate and climate change. Illuminating the science behind computer-based weather and climate simulations, the author clearly describes the difference between weather and climate without resorting to obtuse scientific jargon or impenetrable mathematics. This book is written in plain English with the goal to communicate with all readers while assuming no prior knowledge of the topic. The Forgiving Air also contains a useful glossary and annotated bibliography. I highly recommend this book as an introduction to this most pressing global environmental issue and as a guide to policymakers and the greater public.