Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning [Hardcover]

George Monbiot with research assistance from Matthew Prescott (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Allen Lane (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0713999233
• ISBN-13: 978-0713999235
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,962,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monbiot busts many of the easy assumptions and forces us to make the hard choices, October 6, 2009

By 

Amos B. Batto - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning (Paperback)

This is a book for people who need practical solutions and aren't afraid to look reality in the face and make hard decisions. It was really an eye-opener. I didn't always agree with Monbiot in every detail, but he certainly inspired me to think about how we can effectively tackle global warming. After reading Heat, I understand much better the challenges which we face and what must be done on a day to day level. Some of his policy prescriptions are grim, such as largely eliminating the use of airplanes, but Monbiot has inspired me to hope again. What he proposes is entirely possible and practical and he focused my attention on what we really should be doing rather than the silliness of what we are currently doing. After you read Heat, you will find most politicians and the solutions they proffer to be utterly idiotic and useless. Nonetheless, you will also become convinced that people in the developed world can cut their emissions by 90% and life might even be better if we do. I look forward to living in the world that Monbiot envisions and hope that we can achieve it as a species.

I am not an expert so it is hard for me to analyze whether Monbiot is right in every field where he proffers solutions, but I am convinced that Monbiot is pointing to dozens of possible solutions which we should be actively discussing and planning. Every year that passes I get more pessimistic that the human race will act, but at least I now have a road map of where we should be heading, whereas before reading Monbiot, I just had a nebulous sense of insoluble doom. He gives me hope and points me in the right direction for where to focus my energies. I just wish that more people would read the book and start having practical discussions about carbon rationing systems, passive houses, conversion of Portland cement factories, HVDC electricity, and all the other topics covered in the book.