Customer Reviews

Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

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If the tech writers for Panasonic and Canon could write as clearly as Mark Maslin, I could probably program all my electronics without asking my teenage son for help! In 148 pages, he provides as much fair and balanced insight into the science and the politics of "global warming" as any five other books I've looked at, and as much information as most of us might need to behave as responsible citizens. Although the book is already "out of date" in view of the recent release of the 2007 IPCC report, none of its main points, either of science or of societal concern, have been supplanted.
Maslin is clearly convinced that anthropogenic climate change is occurring, and that it would be proper to take precautionary steps to deal with its possible effects. But he gives the skeptics their due, dispassionately summarizing their objections and responding respectfully when a response is available. He is NOT an alarmist, though he plainly thinks that some alarm is a reasonable reaction to the best-case scenarios as well as the worst.
I don't usually squeal that such-and-such book is a MUST-READ for everyone's sewing circle, Sunday School class, and dog-walker. If I had the means, however, I'd send every household in the USA a copy of this book along with the seasonal catalogues. My thanks to Jay, the only previous reviewer, for bringing this useful little book to my attention.

As a novice to almost all of the issues surrounding the global warming debate, I found this book to be an informative read. The primary purpose of the book is to introduce many issues surrounding the warming of the planet, not simply the issue of the causal link between Co2 emissions and temperature change. Chapters center around issues such as the history of the debate surrounding the warming of the planet, future projections of our climate, possible surprises to the climate (e.g., adjustments in deep-ocean circulation), and political solutions to the problems created by global warming. As a result of this multifarious approach, the skeptic will not find much to assuage his doubts on the subject.

Maslin explains that the prevalence of the global warming theory was engendered by a sharp upsurge in the global annual mean temperature, what is referred to as the "hockey stick" because charts of recent temperature trends resemble a hockey stick. Yet the theory of human induced climate change was first propounded in the late 19th century but was dismissed because other factors were believed to be the source of climate adjustments. Such vacillation from climatologists over the years surely contributes to some of the skepticism regarding climate change, and their promotion of global cooling in the 70s doesn't help their case. But Maslin believes that the short period of cooling which gave rise to the theory can be explained under the broader theory of global warming, explaining the cooling as a product of "the decadal influence of the sunspot cycle and that pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide aerosols, cooled the industrial regions of the globe" (29-30). Skeptics also purport that the correlation between Co2 and temperature is one in which rises of Co2 _precede_ a temperature rise. Maslin responds to this by referring to the work of Sir Shackleton, whose study of the last four glacial-intergalacial cycles exhibited Co2 spikes prior to increases in temperature. (I should note that this is of course an instance in which Maslin responds to skeptics, but these are unlikely to fully persuade skeptics because of the lack of specificity.)

Maslin references the IPCC report on the future impact of climate change. They project that sea levels will rise approximately 18-59cm and that the temperature will rise 1.8-4 degrees Celsius by 2100. This is the area in which there are the most uncertainties. For instance, climatologists are unaware of how much galactic cosmic rays and clouds will effect the development of the climate, a point acceded by Maslin. Maslin also discusses what he calls "suprises" that global warming could present. Gas hydrates, a greenhouse gas 21 times as strong as Co2, which are stored below the world's oceans and permafrost could be released as a result of the heating of these latter entities. Other examples are reviewed including the potential for a transformation of the Amazon into a Savannah environment.

This is a good book on the topic. It covers a lot of information in a small amount of space. But this may be a source of one of the problems I had with the book: too much convoluted material for an introduction. At times the book's perpetual references to geological and scientific terminology and theory can be overwhelming for someone without a background in the field. A reduction of the issues covered, in favor of further explanation of those covered, may have made for a better introduction. Furthermore, the charts and diagrams in the book are sometimes extraordinarily difficult to understand in their present context; surely, he could have done a better job with these. Also, Maslin didn't dive into the issue of Co2/temperature link as much as I would've liked him to. Others have complained about the inanity of the last chapter--his vision of a zero-carbon world. The complaints, I believe, are justified, but the chapter is only 6 pages, so don't avoid the book on account of this!

I'll start this review by an admission: I am a global warming skeptic. To be a skeptic does not mean that I am unwilling to be persuaded by good arguments and well presented facts. To the contrary, as a scientist I am trained to be skeptical all the time and yet be willing to go out of my way to see all sides to a reasonable argument and if proven wrong to accept what the arguments establish. With that attitude in mind I have approached this little book as well: so far I have not been persuaded with most arguments on behalf of global warming proponents, and the recent spate of scandals that revealed some big holes in their arguments has only reinforced my skepticism. Nonetheless, I wanted to see what the experts in the field have to say about global warming, and I figured out this book would be as good of a starting point as they come. And if this is indeed a definitive introduction to the subject, then I am afraid that my previous skepticism will remain largely intact.

The very opening of the book is extremely unpromising. The author in no uncertain terms says in the preface what Global Warming in his opinion is all about: redistribution of wealth and resources from the wealthy western industrial powers to the underdeveloped third world countries. I have never seen as a tendentious opening of a book about what really should be a scientific topic. It puts most of the scientific consideration herein in question.

It takes 40 pages before we even get to the science behind global warming, which is almost a quarter of the entire book. This part of the book is actually the most interesting and certainly worth reading. It presents some interesting science behind climate and how it has changed over time. It describes the state-of-the art measuring and theoretical work that is ongoing in the field of climatology. Any science buff out there will certainly appreciate these chapters. Even so, there are several sleights of hand that had been utilized to skip over some more contentious topics. For instance, the evidence that in the past increase of CO2 in the atmosphere preceded the increases of global temperature is anything but watertight. And speaking of water, it is also well known that water vapor is the single most potent greenhouse gas, and yet it is hardly mentioned in this book. At the few places where it is mentioned it is dismissed by saying that the effects of the increased water vapor in the atmosphere are "poorly understood." This in itself raises a red flag in my eyes.

There are a few other sentences that trouble me to say the least:

In discussing satellite date the author says "The final problem with satellite data is that 20 years is just too short a time period to find a temperature trend with any confidence." And yet, throughout this book 20 year (and shorter) trends have been used as definitive proofs of certain aspects of global warming.

In dismissing the critics' suggestion that a lot of global warming predictions are very imprecise, the author suggests that we don't expect much precision from other walks of life, like from predicting which horse will win the race or which football team will win the match. I personally cannot imagine any serious scientist who would be willing to dismiss criticism of their work by comparing it to horse races or football matches.

The worst parts of the book are the ones that deal with social, political and economic issues. The author is completely out of his depth when it comes to these topics. In fact, many of his statements about economic considerations make me wonder if he even understands such elementary concepts as supply and demand, or if he does if he really cares about them and considers them relevant.

As some other reviewers have remarked, this book is not likely to win over the skeptics. And if there is any merit to the direst predictions of the global warming researchers, that is a crying shame to say the least. If the sky really is about to fall, it would serve us all to have a measured, succinct and to the point book that presents all the best science and evidence without devolving in all sorts of tangential directions.

The book arrived much earlier than promised. It was a used book but looked brand new. Excellent customer service. Thank you.

This book deserves much pride for putting so much good, varied and accurate information in so few pages. This edition has been updated in 2009.
The author covers several aspects of the global warming theory and of its political, social and economic implications. The scientific part of the book is of a quite high level (I am thinking about the ocean circulation perturbations that would follow a melting of either Greenland or the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. I had to read this part a couple of times to grasp it). That's maybe a problem in that this book is not really a "short introduction" but rather an "advanced introduction" to global warming. I would recommend another book to start with, for example Mann's Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming for those who do not know much about the field.
This book is however an excellent further reading. I like a lot the short history of global warming that starts the book, the parts about the disinformation campaigns orchestrated by fossil fuel lobbies and the Republicans in the 1990's and when G.W. Bush was at the White House. This puts the "skeptics" movement into the right perspective. I have also enjoyed a lot the Chapter about "surprises" (tipping points), although as mentioned above this part is sometimes too advanced for the book to pretend to be a "short introduction".
The author provides many references and does a great job of objectivity by acknowledging the limitations of our current knowledge of the climate system. He answers specifically to some classical "skeptics" thesis, which might help clarify some extremely outdated (but still repeated today) critics.
I have skipped the last chapters about solutions to global warming because I find them too much "classical". These parts are nice browsing through if you have never read about these aspects previously.
A very nice book that is perfectly suited as a second reading to the global warming issue, full of precious information and references for further reading.

This is the International Year of Biodiversity:2010. Having said
that, what about the UK Climate Change and the recent developments of other Countries' Policies?

A very short introduction to a very long problem potentially.

The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) website is suggested.

Where does the buck stop; does it with governmental power and
authority? To a large extent, but what about ever so many people
all around the planet.

"The European Union has maintained a coordinated position on
climate change, usually speaking through its presidency."

In this book the author offers the latest word in advanced sustainable development implementation.

Mark Maslin has written a very important book.

I strongly recommend this book.

Dag Stomberg
St. Andrews, Scotland

If you are looking for a brief, but thorough survey of the issues surrounding, this should do ya. Maslin covers the wide range of concepts touching the subject in a clear, if sometimes technical, manner. As he demonstrates, while the fact of global warming is beyond dispute, there are a host of issues about which there is uncertainty. Maslin presents each of these issues, states clearly what the arguments for and against are, and clarifies what scientists need to know to understand it with greater precision. Ocean currents, the capacity of forests to absorb greenhouse gases, the political difficulties surrounding doing something to forestall serious environmental catastrophe -- all of these are dealt with fairly and honestly.

Maslin is clearly worried about the prognosis for planet earth. He presents a range of either possible or probable scenarios if some kind of global and organized cooperation between nations is not undertaken to deal with global warming. He cites scientific and economic studies showing that as much of 20% of the global GDP going towards the effects of global warming by the end of the 21st century (as opposed to 1%-2% now) if something is not done to counter the effects of global warming.

The only part of the book that I disliked was the closing section, which presented a fantasy of the green city of the future. It isn't merely that the picture presented seems unlikely, it was written in a sappy prose style that reminds me of some of the simplistic social service cartoons that were made in the 1950s. In Maslin's defense, he took that section from another scholar, which he plainly admits. The book would have been stronger without it.

Apart from that one section I found this to be an accessible, if sometimes technical, introduction to what is the dominant issue of our age.

The updated new edition of this book provides a full coverage of global warming including the evidence for climate change, possible future impacts and abrupt climate changes, brief history of global warming debates, Kyoto Protocol (global warming pact) and solutions.

I find these accounts both compelling and clear. It is exciting to read about the real possibility of extreme climate changes due to melting of Greenland and/or Antarctica, change of the North Atlantic driven deep ocean circulation, lethal threat of unstable gas hydrates (mixture of water and methane) beneath the oceans, and burning of the Amazon rainforest. The review of future impacts are quite comprehensive which include topics like coastline, storms and floods, heat waves and droughts, El Nino effect, health, biodiversity and agriculture. However, there are some illustrations which are not self-explanatory. On the whole, it is a good read.

The information contained in these 148 pages is worth more than the bloviating and obfuscating in "Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths," "Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming," and all the other books whose mission it is to "refute" global warming for a simple reason: the aim of the book is to explain a phenomenon with evidence, not to refute something based on a pre-determined conclusion.

Maslin gives an explanation of what global warming is, discusses the history of contemporary scientific concerns about global warming, the models for the future, the impacts of climate change, possible surprises, the political solutions offered, some possible technical alternatives that will help, and then gives his conclusion. The author is not optimistic about the political solutions thus far offered, and believes that alternative energy sources are the best solution. He says, "Though great strides forward have been made in alternative energies, it seems unlikely that these will produce energy on the scale we require in the next few decades. As I am a great believer in humanity's adaptability, I am sure these will be available by the end of the century. But a considerable increase in investment is required if we are to convert the renewable energy by the end of the century." In essence, if the global community acts now, argues Maslin, then the effects of climate change can be mitigated, but this will require long-term planning. "So global warming challenges the very way we organize our society." Buy the book and educate yourself about these vital issues.

Maslin succeeds in giving the reader an overview of global warming, from the evidence for it, the mechanisms by which it occurs, and how we can expect it to progress, to the steps that might be taken to mitigate or adapt to it and the politics of doing so on a worldwide scale. Unfortunately, his exposition is often lacking when it comes to the science and often left me looking for other sources on the web to supplement the text.

For example, soon after the beginning of the first chapter Maslin cites ice core evidence, which indicates a very strong correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature over the past 650,000 years, as our main source of evidence for the role of carbon dioxide in global warming. It is not until two chapters later that he notes the objection that correlation doesn't imply causation and provides additional evidence that carbon dioxide actually causes global warming. Another example of poor exposition is his discussion of El Nino-Southern Oscillation, supported by a detailed but cryptic diagram - the kind of diagram that would make a lot of sense to someone who already had a good understanding of ENSO - with very little additional explanation, forcing me to search the web for a better account. Such unhelpful diagrams are encountered throughout the book, culminating in a set of graphs using a fancy threshold-bifurcated model to make the very simple point that an anthropogenic (manmade, that is) change to the environment could either be reversible, or not.

In one of the last chapters of the book Maslin describes his vision of a zero-carbon future, describing the homes, workplaces, cities, etc. of the future. Ostensibly a discussion of how our lives will have to change in order to decrease our carbon footprint, the chapter is laden with irrelevant fantasy ("The community centre notice board is testimony to the number of activities occuring there.") and bad science fiction ("Space exploration thus becomes cost-effective at the end of the 21st century."). Subpar exposition is one thing, but gratuitously wasting the reader's time with this kind of prattle is inexusable.

Considering the existence of a vocal minority of global warming skeptics in the scientific community, I had hoped for a less sloppy, more confidence-inspiring account of the evidence for global warming. Instead I find myself looking for a better survey of the debate so I can finally stop wondering what to think about global warming.