Buy used: $46.79

$16.51 delivery November 1 - 22. Details

Used: Good | Details

Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Follow the Author

H. H. Lamb

Climate, history, and the modern world Hardcover – January 1, 1982

by H. H. Lamb (Author)

4.7 18 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

eTextbook

"Please retry"

$65.98

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$192.00

$218.71

Hardcover, January 1, 1982

$46.79

—

$33.36

Paperback

"Please retry"

$69.95

$65.33

$9.14

eTextbook
$18.10 - $65.98 Read with our Free App
Hardcover
$46.79

5 Used from $33.36 1 Collectible from $24.95
Paperback
$9.22 - $69.95

16 Used from $9.14 13 New from $65.33

There is a newer edition of this item:

Climate, History and the Modern World
$69.95
(18)
In Stock

In this internationally acclaimed book, Hubert Lamb explores what we know about climate, how the past record of climate can be reconstructed, the causes of climatic variation, and its impact on human affairs now and in the historical and prehistorical past.

This second edition incorporates important new material on recent advances in weather forecasting, global warming, the ozone layer, pollution and population growth. Providing a valuable introduction to the problems and results of the most recent research activity, this book extends our understanding of the interactions between climate and history and discusses implications for future climatic fluctuations and forecasting.

Print length

480 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Methuen
Publication date

January 1, 1982
ISBN-10

041633430X
ISBN-13

978-0416334302
See all details

Wolfgang Behringer
30
Paperback
$23.93
$11.07 shipping
Only 12 left in stock - order soon.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

18 global ratings

3 star

1 star

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Zane Tatro

Just what I ordered!

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2023

Verified Purchase

Book arrived earlier than anticipated and was received as described! No damage and the proper edition of the book

Helpful

Robert G.

Classic summary of human climate history

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

Standard summary of climate history from human records and archeology. Authoritative, thoroughly documented - a classic

Helpful

Jim Shockley

What I really liked about the book was the author's presentation of the ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

This book is a text book, and as such kind of heavy going at times. There are perhaps 90 pages on meteorology that just were over my head. This book was ahead of its time, it said that the warming was coming and attributed it to an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere.

What I really liked about the book was the author's presentation of the history of climate. Whether you agree with the idea that the primary driver of the current warming is CO2, or something else, this history of climate should be of great interest.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

William C. Foster

Where is North America ?

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2008

Verified Purchase

Lamb's subject is global and his coverage reflects it. It is his lack of balance that bothers me. His origial work all but ignored North America; this was .corrected somewhat in the second edition. But there is substantial evidence of the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age in archeological studies and in 16th and 17th century diaries and journals of European expeitions in North America that Lamb ignors. Still, no one else has focused on the available information in any systematic way that has been published to my knowledge...so five stars...there simply is nothing better on North America to date.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Frank Watlington

Dr. Lamb's silent history of climate and the modern world

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2013

Verified Purchase

Lamb's exhaustive survey is not only dated but flawed by his anglo-eurocentric perspective. South America and the Caribean are left out and virtually ignored (except for the Mayan realm). No mention is made of the El Niño phenomenon although the subject was well established by the date of his second edition. Even Columbus went unmentioned, as well as a vast scientific literature in Spanish.
Francisco Watlington, Ph.D
Professor of Geography
University of Puerto Rico

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Excellent Resource

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2021

While this is an older resource (the 2nd edition was published in 1995), it is filled with excellent information about the complexity of the global climate system and shows just how variable climate has been over time. The history of climate change and the climate system is treated scientifically, so look elsewhere if you want something to fit an agenda.

This book can be wordy and expects a certain amount of education in the reader, so it is definitely not light reading, but it is packed with fascinating information and provides great insight into the impacts of past climate changes on humanity.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Gderf

Climate change throughout the ages

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2016

More complete than any of Brian Fagan's books, this is also realistically ambivalent on predictions and causes. Lamb's book is most like Singer and Avery, who propose a 1,500 year cycle that, regardless of human causation, has a high degree of inevitability. Not limited to the title indication of modernity, the book goes back in time to follow long term warming and cooling cycles going back to rising sea levels since the last ice age, 15,000 YAG and the Piora Oscillation, a cold wet Holocene age cycle, about 3,300-2,900 YAG.
There was the Medieval Warming before 1300 followed by wet weather of the early 1300s before the Little Ice Age (1300-1850) involved floods and starvation, including the Irish Potato Famine where population has not recovered to 1845 levels and starvation during the Wars of the Roses. Then came recovery 1700-1950 where cooling since 1950 might continue. Lamb takes us through overlapping climate cycles in Europe, China, India and Africa. The rise of Islam was accompanied by drought stress akin to biblical era famines in Egypt. Except for the occasional interesting episode, relationship of climate to history makes for somewhat tiresome reading but the conclusions and chapter summaries are very well done.
The 20th century was warmer than the prior two, with warming being local, mainly a product of growth of human population. Storms and average wind speeds are increasing. There is no satisfactory explanation of variations. Resumption of the warming trend from about 1950 might be CO2 induced, expected to peak around 2100 followed by the next ice age in 1-2,000 years. There is uncertain overlapping of effects with humans adapting by fertility and life span changes.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Pamela Cook

A Scholarly Overview of Climatic Changes in Historical Times

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2000

I used this book as a reference to write a position paper on global warming for a graduate course in Environmental Science. Professor Lamb's book is a fascinating account of how climate has impacted human history. Originally published in 1982 the new edition (1995) includes material on global warming, atmospheric pollution, population growth, and implications for future climatic fluctuations. This is a one stop reference.

31 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Jugs

“If you want to know the future…..read history.”

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

An excellent book, clear, concise, factual, no political bias.
Well laid out in a logical format, covers all the main points & shows not only that we have had climate change for 4.5 billion years before Al Gore, but how cyclical and stable the present climate actually is.
Lots of maps, graphs & photos
An 18 page index that makes navigation of the book easy; plus 21 pages of notes & further reading.

“If you want to know the future…..read history.”

Read Lamb’s book in conjunction with –
- ‘The Inconvenient Skeptic: the Comprehensive Guide to Earths Climate’ By John H Kehr.
- ‘Heaven & Earth the missing science’ by Ian Plimer.

2 people found this helpful

richardw

Looking for balance and perspective in Climate Science? Here it is.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2017

Verified Purchase

A beautifully written, clearly expounded account of the earth's climate through the ages by HH Lamb, the pioneer of climate science and founder of the Climatic Research Unit at the UEA. It allows the reader to put into scientific, evidential context many of the more outlandish claims made about climate today. How refreshing to read a book that helps one understand rather than telling one what to think.

One person found this helpful

D. J. King

Climatology

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2012

Verified Purchase

This very old book, now back in a ridiculously highly priced reprint, is an excellent source for synoptic knowledge for meteorologist and climatologists alike.
For the amateur forecaster, as I am, this book confirms nearly all of the really old saws,sayings/rhymes. It does not deal with jet streams, El Nino, La Lina or volcanis ash.
A real treasure if you can find the original edition.

3 people found this helpful

Michael Barry Lancaster

Not fake news

Reviewed in Canada on May 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book details how the climate really is. It should be read by every journalist how writes about climate. And, for that matter, anyone remotely interested in climate.

John Page

Awesomely erudite

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

Yes, climate has indeed altered history. I'm not competent to evaluate the sections on climate theory (which may well be out of date by now), but this book is a mine of information on the importance of climate in history.

See more reviews

Image Unavailable

Follow the Author