Customer Reviews

Next One Hundred Years, The

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

 

 

Even today this book is the best read on the subject, I found so far. Concise, insightful yet entertaining, as in the hunt for (better: discovery of) the Keiling curve for CO2 concentration in the atmosphere - involving locations around the world and "peaking" in Hawaii. I also found it a fair treatment, giving some of the difficulties that the study of climate change is facing scientifically and politically. The emphasis is on science, thankfully. Jonathan Weiner learnt and teaches a lot through this book. Such as that global warming is a very slow process and manifests itself more in extremes and indeed will take yet another 20, 50 to 100 years until nature will prove the adherents or shock the skeptics of global warming. (Too late then.)
The action film "The Day After Tomorrow" due out in mid 2004 is a simplified, well meant dramatization of this subject. I recommend that you read this book before seeing the film and you will know the facts and then can enjoy the film even more (and smile and shake your head the wiser for it). Will take you a couple of feature film lengths to read this book, and fortunately the book is available via the indirect sellers on amazon.com.

Jonathan Weiner's book concerning the Earth and its biosphere and what is imperiled by the major increases in the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of natural resources is one of the most important books for Ecologists, Environmentalists and leaders from all walks of life to read. This book allows the layman with a rudimentary science background to grasp the fundamental scientific facts supporting global warming. It tries to cover many different indications of global warming, from air bubbles frozen for thousands of years in Antartica to ocean temperatures, ground temperatures, carbon monitoring, and many other points of evidence. It introduces one to the history of the exploration of this phenomenon, giving a kind of personal tour of each major discovery and what its implications are. It incorporates actual weather disasters such as the drought of 1988 and how it affected farmers, people, politicians and news reporting. It takes you on the scene to the places where atmospheric composition is being carefully monitored. It covers the full range of toxic gases and what their build up could mean in the future. Most importantly, it describes the interelationship between toxic gases and air polution. In general, it seems to have a more detailed view of global warming than other books on the same topic.
Finally, it leaves you with little doubt that time is running out, and something must be done, sooner rather than later. This book should not become out of print, and should be read by leaders the world over. It resolves the ambiguities surrounding the global warming controversy.

Although nearly 10 years old this book is a very readable popular science assessment of the plight of our planet. It provides a provocative view of the forces that will shape our environment in the 21st century. I was inspired to begin collecting information on climate change that might one day form the basis of book of my own.

"Weiner guides us up the slopes of a Hawaiian volcano and inside dwindling Brazilian rain forests. His narrative brings a light, colloquial touch to an ominous subject." Reed review


Climate change:
The study of climate change is facing political opposition, trying to deny scientific indicators. Weiner studied and teaches the reader a lot through chapters of this basic facts book, as the nature of global warming, a very slow process which is obviously detected in extremes, and will take yet another century when nature will shock the adversaries of global warming. Weiner's warning report, on our Earth and its biosphere, endangered by the explosive increase in burning of carbon fuels and the exhaustion of natural resources is a necessary basic reading for every responsible human in the 21st century. The book conveys what ecologists, environmentalists and economists could say to our global leaders from all walks of life, and allows the lay reader with a high school science to perceive the alarming scientific facts on global warming.

Greenhouse Effect:
The greenhouse effect has been widely used to describe the trapping of excess heat by the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide strongly absorbs infrared energy and does not allow as much of it to escape into space. The rise of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere has been monitored for four decades ( since 1958). CO2 concentration follows a wavy line known by as the Keeling Curve. Keeling was the first to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, while in Caltech, on a continuous basis, and was the first to report that global carbon dioxide, measured in ppmv (parts per million by volume,) was rising in the atmosphere.

Climate-change Legislation:
While climate-change legislation continues its political roller coaster ride through Congress, another effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions is underfoot. The Environmental Protection Agency has sent its final finding on whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are a danger to human health and welfare, Reuters reported. The EPA sent its final endangerment finding to the White House Office of Management and Budget, where it will be reviewed within the next 90 days. BNET letter 10/10/09

Book review:
Even today, this is the best easy introduction to the subject, a must read for the US legislative bodies, to help them determine how serious it is to participate in shaping of our country/earth, and avoid a looming international series of crises brought on by the long-term results of the greenhouse effect well dramatized in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow".

Although written more than 10 years ago, this book lays out in understandable terms to the non-professional scientist reader the foundation of the current global warming debate. Jonathan Weiner{winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for "The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time"}, gives compelling evidence that although a complex issue, global warming, climate change, ozone depletion, etc., are very real phenomena.

For those who wish to read more about the policy debate within government, NGO, and business circles; I recommend another Pulitzer Prize winner, Ross Gelbspan's "The Heat is On: The High Stakes Over Earth's Threatened Climate[1997]." I suggest reading Weiner's book first because it helps comprehend the jargon that professional science types tend to use.

While writing about the soon-to-be-deployed GPS for Magnavox in 1990, I read Jonathon Weiner's, The Next Hundred years. His scientific, evidence-based narrative prepared me for what what was coming: global warming, pollution, oil spills, flooding, population pressure, ozone destruction, melting ice caps, deforestation, desertization, erratic weather, acidic oceans, coral reef destruction, extermination of many fish and large water mammals, and air, soil, and water contamination.

In brief, Weiner warned about the harm being done to our diminishingly-beautiful planet -- and with remarkable accuracy.

But just as with the criminal sale of poisonous, disease and death-causing cigarettes, no serious corrective action will be taken. There are too many rewards for government officials and corporate powers. Until those that have a vested interest in perpetuating this destruction feel the pain and damage in their own back yard, this destruction of our delicate planet will continue.

I read this book when it came out over 15 years ago or so and it is still the book that I remember when someone asks me to recommend something that explains environmental change issues. He has such a concise and personal way of making you see the living sphere of Earth, all the parts of it, and how they are interconnected. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick but in depth read on the causes and effects of global pollution and degradation.