Customer Reviews

Global Warming in a Politically Correct Climate: How Truth Became Controversial

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

M. Mihkel Mathiesen's book is a much needed, albeit not exhaustive, review of the leading environmental issues of the past forty years. It presents a sad legacy of irrationalism, lies and fanaticism triumphing over truth.

He begins with the DDT ban and works his way through acid rain, the asbestos ban, the ozone hole and, finally, to global warming. In each case he points out the distortion and, on the part of government officials, withholding of scientific evidence, which refutes the claims of the environmentalists.

I was especially surprised concerning the events and lack of scientific information on the part of Joseph Califano, William Reilly and the Environmental Protection Agency concerning the asbestos ban. I was unaware that there are three different types of asbestos and that 95% ever used is the harmless form, chrysolite or white asbestos. Typically with environmental issues, the news media, our much vaunted "Fourth Estate," failed in its duty to "inform the public" concerning this issue. Fear and panic sold much better than truth.

The most extensive chapter is "Catastrophic Global Warming." Mr. Mathiesen presents the history and scientific findings on both sides of the issue. However, in the end, the environmentalist side comes up wanting.

I have several criticisms of the work. There is no table of contents or index and I would like to see more references. The forcefulness of the Introduction may put off all but the converted.

Despite this, Mr. Mathiesen's book is an important and welcome addition. The points raised by this book deserve clear, honest, rational answers. It is too bad that our politicians and news media have for so long ignored the issues raised here by Mathiesen.

I recommend this work for anyone interested in clarity and truth in environmental issues.

Mr. Mathiesen has given us a very simple, easily understood overview of the inner workings of so called "green" groups and the way the media is manipulated to keep us all in a constant state of agitation and anxiety over the "state of the world". If it's not chemicals then it's global warming or bio-tech food....time to revisit the sensational headlines and look at the actual results of studies that take place which contradict and occasionally outright disproves some of the sacred cows of of the politically correct, influential "green movement".

Explore scientific studies you may not have had an opportunity to consider in the past, ignored in the race by media to create sensational headlines. Learn about the power given to "green" groups to manipulate laws and regulations and explore the philosophies that drive the movement. (Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson: "It doesn't matter what is true; it only matters what people believe is true. [Greenpeace] became a myth and a myth generating machine.")

What have you got to lose? If you're tired of feeling anxious, worried and guilty all the time thanks to the media, perhaps looking at the state of the world from a different perspective will give you a whole new lease on life.

A concise and very readable expose of the most recent scams perpetrated on the public by the professional scaremongers. The graph of the Vostok ice-core derived temperatures is especially revealing. Even more revealing is the cliche-filled review below by the poseur scientist wannabe from the Netherlands. He demonstrates clearly the self-serving condenscension that Mathiesen writes about. No honest scientist would demonstrate such bias. The scientific community is not certain that warming is anthropocentric. I know that for certain from atmospheric scientists with whom I am acquainted.

I only give the book four stars because it delves too much into other environmental scams (after all the title is "Global Warming...") but the information is interesting and useful. The book is well worth reading even if you have read similar books as this is the most recent.

The reason I read this book is because I wanted to see if the negative reviews I read on Amazon had any merit. As usual, the anti American leftists (who write these negative reviews) do not dare to engage in an honest discussion of the ideas they disagree with. Instead these so called "enviornmentalists" engage in smear tactics as a means of disuading people from knowing and learning the truth about the enviornment. The true goals of these so called "enviornmentalists" is to scare people into giving up our hard fought liberties and freedoms and turning our Nation into an undemocratic socialist State where only the elitists have any power or privilege. I suggest that you read Pimm's book and learn the truth about the enviornment. Thank God some one dares to speak the truth and stand up to the horrible slander and lies of the left.

THe only reason that I give this book four stars instead of five is that it could have been more tightly written. But, the book is lucid and informative.

What gives the book credibility for me is the righteous indignation it seems to have aroused from the reviewer from the Netherlands, who refuses to identify himself (other than claiming to be a major scientist) and fits Mathiesen's descrition of the genre perfectly; full of wide ranging claims to worldwide acceptance by credible scientists, except of course those who Mathiesen has cited in his book who the reviewer dismisses as lunatic fringe.

This book should certainly be read by anyone in a government policy making position. Before billions (pounds, roubles, dollars, even French Francs) of taxpayers' monies are spent on CO2 reduction, we taxpayers have the right to ask "are we getting what we are paying for?" Mathiesen's book starts a healthy dialogue: that is worth it all by itself.

Still another nail in the coffin of anthropogenic global warming. It is really scary how eager the public is to be misled. DDT, Acid rain or global warming all show the politicians, the media and sadly the scientists jumping on the bandwagon to convince the public of a lie.
Published in 2004 it doesn't contain the newest theories in climatology but is a great and chilling read, primarily for its take on earlier environmental scares.

Global Warming in a Politically Correct Climate: How Truth Became Controversial

I'm not one of the idiotic anti-American leftists several reviewers throw into this discussion (relevance??). I've read most of the lay literature on both sides trying to figure out what is going on. This book provides very little to aid in my efforts. If you read it carefully, the author cherry picks and spins just enough to create what appears to be solid arguments but doesn't have the courage to attach references or sources. Or perhaps he was wise to in that this thesis would not survive a cursory glance at the science. I was particularly offended by his patent distortion of or lack of knowledge of asbestos and its consequences.

I wrote a review for this book some months ago, and, having gone through it in more detail, it is even more appalling than I thought the first time around. The sycophantic reviews extolling its virtues sadly ignore a number of important facts.

First, check the citations. What we find is a veritable who's who of contrarian nonsense, from the much lamented Dixie Lee Ray to perhaps the worst book on the subject of the environment ever written, "Rational Readings..." edited by Jay Lehr. With very few exceptions, Dr. Mathiesen is entirely reliant on non-peer reviewed sources to support his arguments. Why so? If this book was to be taken at all seriously by my peers in science, then why not provide an exhaustive overview of the state-of-the-art studies in the respective fields? This would mean a disproportionate number of papers from very rigid journals such as Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which reject something like 93% of the manuscripts they receive on the basis of the their scientific quality. Comic books like "21st Century Science and Technology", which rely on idealogical bias rather than scientific accuracy are completely discredited by the scientific community. This could be why most anti-environmental garbage ends up there - if these papers are so comprehensive and credible, wouldn't it be prudent for them to be published in the pages of the most respected journals?

For this book, the entire content is therefore undermined by the dubious sources of its material. The author is speaking patent nonsense when he claims that no molecules of CFC's have been found in the stratosphere; there are dozens of studies I will very happily present to him if he so wishes in quality journals. The same is true for other environmental "scares" he wishes to debunk. By 1963, over 100 studies (published - oops, there I go again - in peer reviewed journals) showed a link between asbestos and cancer. Most scientists also do not refer to global warming as "catastrophic", an intentional misuse of the term by the author. Although global warming will undeniably affect the functioning of many of the world's ecosystems, and already is doing so, we are not yet sure to what extent the consequences will be catastrophic, although in some ecosystems there may be highly deleterious consequences. Let us just say that it is one of many examples where humanity is experimenting on its own life support systems.

Quite honestly, this is one of the worst "science" books on the environment that I have ever read, and this would include trash like Gregg Easterbrook's "A Moment on the Earth" and Bjorn Lomborg's "The Skeptical Environmentalist". As awful as these last two books are, at least the authors attempted to cite some relevant studies in reputable journals to support their hollow arguments (even though neither author, like Dr. Mathiesen, has contributed anything at all to the debate beforehand in peer-reviewed journals).

I bought this book as a result of hearing about it on a local radio show. I then proceeded to read it and my goodness, it is right to the point.

Chapter One with its 'Choreographgy of Catastrophe' explains what we all have to pay for.

Excellent stuff.

We are all sick and tired of ozone holes, global warming, asbestos catastrophies and acid rain. Here's a book that tells us the truth about all this and advises us that being sick and tired is just right.

In a brilliant short volume the author takes the wraps off, analyses the truth behind the myths and shows the trail of money generated by these hoaxes.

A must read.