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| Qty | Store | Section |
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| 1 | Hawthorne | Environmental Studies- General |
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The Discovery of Global Warming: ,
by Spencer Weart
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780674016378 |
Only 1 left in stock at $10.95!
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
In 2001 a panel representing virtually all the world's governments and climate scientists announced that they had reached a consensus: the world was warming at a rate without precedent during at least the last ten millennia, and that warming was caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases from human activity. The consensus itself was at least a century in the making. The story of how scientists reached their conclusion--by way of unexpected twists and turns and in the face of formidable intellectual, financial, and political obstacles--is told for the first time in The Discovery of Global Warming. Spencer R. Weart lucidly explains the emerging science, introduces us to the major players, and shows us how the Earth's irreducibly complicated climate system was mirrored by the global scientific community that studied it.
Unlike familiar tales of Science Triumphant, this book portrays scientists working on bits and pieces of a topic so complex that they could never achieve full certainty--yet so important to human survival that provisional answers were essential. Weart unsparingly depicts the conflicts and mistakes, and how they sometimes led to fruitful results. His book reminds us that scientists do not work in isolation, but interact in crucial ways with the political system and with the general public. The book not only reveals the history of global warming, but also analyzes the nature of modern scientific work as it confronts the most difficult questions about the Earth's future.
Review:
A soberly written synthesis of science and politics.
Review:
The Discovery of Global Warmingraises important scientific issues and topics and includes essential detail. Readers should be able to follow the discussion and emerge at the end with a good understanding of how scientists have developed a consensus on global warming, what it is, and what issues now face human society.
Review:
Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Spencer R. Weart, director of the Center for the History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics, dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists' views and the public reception their work received.
Review:
It is almost two centuries since the French mathematician Jean Baptiste Fourier discovered that the Earth was far warmer than it had any right to be, given its distance from the Sun...Spencer Weart's book about how Fourier's initially inconsequential discovery finally triggered urgent debate about the future habitability of the Earth is lucid, painstaking and commendably brief, packing everything into 200 pages.
Review:
Weart has done us all a service by bringing the discovery of global warming into a short, compendious and persuasive book for a general readership. He is especially strong on the early days and the scientific background.
Review:
Weart has done us all a service by bringing the discovery of global warming into a short, compendious and persuasive book for a general readership. He is especially strong on the early days and the scientificbackground.
Review:
I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Spencer Weart's account provides much valuable and interesting material about how the discipline developed--not just from the perspective of climate science but also within the context of the field's relation to other scientific disciplines, the media, political trends, and even 20th-century history (particularly the Cold War). In addition, Weart has done a valuable service by recording for posterity background information on some of the key discoveries and historical figures who contributed to our present understanding of the global warming problem.
Review:
The Discovery of Global Warmingincorporates a vast amount of information into a short, readable and punchy narrative. It is an excellent introduction to the subject for the non-specialist and the academic reader alike. In addition, the companion online project will doubtless prove an invaluable resource to the field.
Review:
The Discovery of Global Warmingraises importantscientific issues and topics and includes essential detail. Readers should be ableto follow the discussion and emerge at the end with a good understanding of howscientists have developed a consensus on global warming, what it is, and what issuesnow face human society.
Review:
It took a century for scientists to agree that gases produced by human activity were causing the world to warm up. Now, in an engaging book that reads like a detective story, physicist Weart reports the history of global warming theory, including the internal conflicts plaguing the research community and the role government has had in promoting climate studies.
Review:
This is a terrific book...Perhaps the finest compliment I could give this book is to report that I intend to use it instead of my own book...for my climate class. The Discovery of GlobalWarmingis more up-to-date, better balanced historically, beautifully written and, not least important, short and to the point. I think the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] needs to enlist a few goodhistorians like Weart for its next assessment.
Review:
The Discovery of Global Warmingand#133;tells a marvelous story that is far more complex than the title indicates. This book is not just the history of the study of rising atmospheric [carbon dioxide] concentrations, global warming, and associated politics. In addition, it is the history of climate science in a much broader sense, and how climate science grew out of diverse fields such as meteorology, astrophysics, and oceanography. The book provides not only a superb summary of the history of this field, but also outlines the path that led the science of global change into the political arenaand#133;I have nothing but praise for The Discovery of Global Warming. It is concise, well written, and delightful to read. For the non-scientist, there is much to be gained by reading this book. At the same time, a person with a scientific background and some knowledge of this subject matter will also enjoy the bookand#133;The book is marvelously referenced, so the interested reader can easily go back into the original scientific literature and find the papers discussed here. As an added bonus (and this is a big bonus), The Discovery of Global Warmingalso has a phenomenal companion web site, with two-dozen essays interconnected by several hundred hyperlinks, along with over 1,000 historical and scientific references not included in the book.
Review:
The evolution of the climate question from science to politics and back and forth has been the subject of surprisingly few in-depth treatmentsand#133;Spencer Weart's The Discovery of Global Warminggoes a long way toward rectifying this situation. Weartand#133;is most effective at laying out the early scientific developments, and discussing how scientists moved the issue onto governmental research agendasand#133;Weart highlights the importance of the actions of networks of scientist in constructing a bridge form science to policy on an arcane issue of no apparent urgency to the general public. He correctly points to the key leadership role of Swedish climatologist Bert Bolin in shepherding his colleagues toward consensus, beginning in the late 1960s. Weart's exploration of the science-policy interaction in the 1970s, which focused largely on increasing support for research, is thoroughand#133; One of the most useful features of this book is the timeline of events following the last chapterand#133;The clear value of this book to scholars, reporters, and the interested public will hopefully spawn additional efforts that will fill these gaps, and lead to a greater understanding of scientists as political actors. The Discovery of Global Warminghas done us all a great favor by pointing the way.
Synopsis:
A Capricious Beast Ever since the days when he had trudged around fossil lake basins in Nevada for his doctoral thesis, Wally Broecker had been interested in sudden climate shifts. The reported sudden jumps of CO2 in Greenland ice cores stimulated him to put this interest into conjunction with his oceanographic interests. The result was a surprising and important calculation. The key was what Broecker later described as a "great conveyor belt'"of seawater carrying heat northward. . . . The energy carried to the neighborhood of Iceland was "staggering," Broecker realized, nearly a third as much as the Sun sheds upon the entire North Atlantic. If something were to shut down the conveyor, climate would change across much of the Northern Hemisphere... There was reason to believe a shutdown could happen swiftly. In many regions the consequences for climate would be spectacular. Broecker was foremost in taking this disagreeable news to the public. In 1987 he wrote that we had been treating the greenhouse effect as a 'cocktail hour curiosity, ' but now 'we must view it as a threat to human beings and wildlife.' The climate system was a capricious beast, he said, and we were poking it with a sharp stick.
About the Author
Spencer R. Weartis Director of the <>Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. How Could Climate Change?
2. Discovering a Possibility
3. A Delicate System
4. A Visible Threat
5. Public Warnings
6. The Erratic Beast
7. Breaking into Politics
8. The Discovery Confirmed
Reflections
Milestones
Notes
Further Reading
Index
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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gracevc, January 18, 2007 (view all comments by gracevc)
I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating look at the long, slow discovery of global warming. The style was engaging, and he made complex scientific research easy to understand for someone with no advanced science background, though a little bit of knowledge or interest in the field helps. I wish all skeptics would read this book! They would be convinced. However, the book is not preachy or biased; he simply provides an interesting narrative that expanded my knowledge of the scence behind global warming and the scientific process. Read this book! You will not be disappointed. I borrowed it from my local library first, and liked it enough to later buy it.
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780674016378
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Libri
- Author:
- Location:
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Subject:
- Environmental Science
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences - Meteorology & Climatology
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences - Oceanography
- Copyright:
- 2003
- Series:
- New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine
- Publication Date:
- September 2004
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 240
- Dimensions:
- 8.22x5.50x.63 in. .48 lbs.
