Customer Reviews

Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past

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This book is absolutely brimming with scientific information. The author, a geologist specializing on past climate changes, takes the reader on a fascinating quest: to quantify the variations in past climates and to understand the mechanisms precipitating these variations. Spanning a period starting about 55 million years ago, the book covers a variety of methods that scientists use to tease out information on past climates. Understandably, determining what has happened in the distant past can be very tricky and is open to interpretation; this is where the author brilliantly illustrates the scientific method at work. It is clear from this book, especially the final chapter, that the author is convinced that humans are at least partly responsible for the currently observed global warming; consequently, he worries about the future if nothing is done soon to remedy the situation. The writing style is quite clear, friendly, authoritative and accessible. This book can be enjoyed by anyone, but would likely be appreciated the most by science buffs - whether they agree with the author's views on the human contribution to climate change or not.

This book is full of interesting information about various ways scientists have tried to get a hold on past climates and what may have caused climate change, but it's not an easy read. I found myself repeatedly wondering where the story was headed.

The overall impression the book leaves is that although scientists have found some very clever ways to interpret the past, it's an almost hopelessly complicated endeavor. There are simply too many variables at play at the same time, and the idea that anybody really knows precisely what caused this or that change seems very unlikely.