The Discovery of Global Warming (New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine)
The Discovery of Global Warming (New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine) – Review
I have to admit that I am not a skeptic of global warming, so I appreciate Spencer Weart’s book as a “friend.” Actually I am very worried about global warming and what will happen to our delightful earth, the one where all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, have to live on and where we need to go on vacation and bequeath to our children and grandchildren and so on. Not to mention the animals!!!! I was so impressed by Dr. Weart’s brilliant description of the logical debate process that I would recommend it to any student for that alone. Just how does science make a consensus that now is generally considered accepted fact, and I mean anything, not just global warming? For instance, the ice ages and even the continuation of early life was formerly considered ridiculous, largely because of spiritual considerations. Not to mention evolution!!! One thing that very impressed me was how he eventually talked about the technical publication community, how that works, what happens, and how years of a person’s life can go into really saying just one main sentence in a science paper. Dr. Weart also showed how politics meets with science, often in a very bad manner. Nobody can remain objective anymore. Billions, nay trillions, of dollars are at stake. I literally laughed at his oft-repeated refrain (capitalization is his) More Money Should Be Spent On Research. I only cry that this book was originally published in 2003 and not in 2006. Maybe he will do an update soon. I hope that our grandchildren will soon read books like this and smile, “Why did they still worry so much about that???” Either global warming will turn out to be a chimera (unlikely) or the future people will discover effective ways to counteract it (I hope.) All in all, many kudos to Dr. Weart! Thanks for a beautifully written book.