Hot Talk Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate (Paperback)

by S. Fred Singer (Author), Frederick Seitz (Foreword) "A driving force behind the push for a global climate treaty has been the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)..." (more)
Key Phrases: ocean fertilization, global climate treaty, future warming, Year Fig, Little Ice Age, Framework Convention (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"For those who believe that the collapse of the Kyoto summit would herald an environmental disaster, we suggest [this] antidote." -- Barron’s

"Outstanding, up-to-date, scholarly and objective analysis. I highly recommend this excellent book to specialists and non-specialists alike." -- Hugh W. Ellsaesser, participating scientist, atmospheric and geophysical Sciences, E.O. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

"The careful analysis of data by Dr. Singer is in sharp contrast to the hysterical simplicities of ‘global warming’ zealots." -- Thomas Sowell, senior fellow, Hoover Institution; columnist, Forbes

"This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand this problem, especially as it affects working Americans." -- William J. Cunningham, economist, AFL-CIO

"[These] arguments are not advanced as idle speculation but firmly crafted from reliable data and almost seamless logic." -- Choice

Review

"Hot Talk, Cold Science will be difficult to dismiss, though many will undoubtedly wish to do so.”  —Frederick Seitz, past president, National Academy of Sciences; president emeritus, Rockefeller University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Independent Institute; Revised edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 094599981X
• ISBN-13: 978-0945999812
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,069,642 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I found Dr. Singer very persuasive, May 28, 2000

By	Joseph H Pierre "Joe Pierre" (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hot Talk Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate (Hardcover)

Unlike the previous reviewer, I found Dr. Singer to be a very persuasive source of information. Probably it has something to do with one's political predisposition.

S. Fred Singer is a preeminent authority on energy and environmental issues. Among other things, he designed the first satellite instrument for measuring atmospheric ozone and was a principal developer of scientific and weather satellites.

A research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, and president of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, he is also Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science and a member of the Energy Policy Studies center at the University of Virginia. His academic honors and qualifications are too many to list here, but many of them are in the About the Author section in the book

To accuse him of intentionally slanting his opinions because his work has been utilized by some energy companies is scurrilous and denigrating. His work has also been utilized by government agencies, because he is an acknowledged expert in the field.

This book is replete with facts, figures, graphs, and a great variety of evidence to back up his opinions. There are eight pages of closely typeset references of people who agree with his conclusions.

Singer, in the book, discusses the scientific case against the Global Climate Treaty, and says that there is no detectable anthropogenic (man caused) evidence of global warming, and further that the consequences of modest global warming would be positive, rather than negative.

He discusses the so-called "greenhouse effect," and recommends prudency over panic. He says that, contrary to the major thrust of the Second Atmospheric Report of the IPCC (1996), studies by Hansen, et al, conclude that anthropogenic aerosol gases are of lesser importance, but that the ozone depletion of the last 20 years can cancel up to 50 percent of the greenhouse gas climate effects.

This book is a very good source of information, from a scientist who taught us how to measure these effects, and which will dispel many of the myths being peddled by socialists who are today masquerading as environmental wackos in order to attain their political ends.

I recommend it to you.

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

38 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good job, August 27, 2001

By	E. Rodin MD (Sandy, UT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dr. Singer presents an excellent review of the problems associated with determining the future extent of global warming. He emphasizes the differences between land , ocean, and atmospheric temperature measurements. He also points out correctly that all forecasts depend on models and as we all know weather forecasting is far from an exact science even for the short time of a week or a few months. We still don't know, for instance, if we'll have good snow for the Olympics in Salt Lake City and they are only less than half a year away. How can we have the audacity to pretend to know what the temperature is going to be a hundred years from now? Models can only give answers based on information which is currently available but that is bound to change even within a decade. To engage in massive government intervention on basis of a perceived threat, which in turn rests on inadequate data, would qualify for inclusion in Tuchman's "March of Folly." Dr. Singer is to be congratulated for having had the courage to go against public pressures and present the facts as they exist.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jury Still Out on Global Warming, August 4, 2001

By A Customer

This is a clear, concise presentation of the case against belief that there is a reason to fear global warming. If global warming did occur, the oceans and seas would not increase to envelop the earth as predicted, but they would decrease by evaporation into the clouds and then rain to produce more ice cap at the poles. Many other fears are dispelled by this book which should be must reading after all the science fiction produced in the press.