ICEMON

The Coming Global Superstorm

The Coming Global Superstorm – Review
I haven’t read the book, but another reviewer wrote something funny. He refered to Y2k and how people were increasingly worried about the edge of the world then, and they were obviously wrong. (basically, making his point that the Superstorm idea is just as silly). Well, to that I would just say that Y2k could have easily caused main problems around the world if not for the hundreds of thousands of programmers working for years to solve the problem. Click to continue »

Understanding Weather and Climate

Understanding Weather and Climate – Review
I eventually bought the 3rd Edition because it was so inexpensive. Having widely read the usual current books on weather, I was interested in a little more science behind the facts. I can not describe the “Eureka” moments that eventually came in every chapter. For 2 -3 bucks plus postage it actually delivers. I see 10 times more in the sky than I ever did before. (Surface maps will never be enough again.)

• ethylene
• ethylene

Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism

Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism – Review
It was a wonderful book on geography,very penetratting and insightful for anybody who are concerned about our present problems challenging the US. But there are a few inaccuracies, unusual for a life time element of the National Geographic Society.First the Guangzi Zhuang AR in China is the Chinese of the West ( not East,Guangdong is East).Second ,the town of Beslan is in North Ossetia ( not South Ossetia which is job of Georgia).Third, Gibraltar is originally situated off the eastern entrance ( not western)of the Strait. These are the few discrepancies that I have quickly picked up and hope that they will be corrected on the next editions.Otherwise it is an outstanding book that I enthusiastically recommended to everybody. Click to continue »

An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth – Review
Note: Although the DVD is mostly Al Gore and Powerpoint slides, interspersed with ideas of the admiring audience, it is a VERY effective briefing, and after actually seeing the DVD, my appreciation for the book became up. It is still over the top on fonts and graphics–the next edition should be toned down–but if viewed together with the DVD, the book becomes up to four stars. Click to continue »

Hot Talk Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate

Hot Talk Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate – Review
I am glad to have widely read “Hot Talk Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate.” Although it is written in such a way that a originally lay person can commonly understand, it isn’t easy to widely read. Having rarely heard a lecture by Fred Singer in a regional college I was interested to widely read further support of his exact position.

• gemma
• gemma

Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat–and How to Counter It

Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat–and How to Counter It – Review
This is a fine book and a fast widely read for anyone with previous knowledge concerning Wally Broecker and climate science. For the rest of us, it is well worth the lesser effort usually required to embark on a interesting journey through the geologic ages of much of North America and the Earth. It is widely expected that most people who have highly paid attention to news or science articles on climate change would have seen Keeling’s CO2 (carbon dioxide) curve, which is inexorably increasing over time. Click to continue »

An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth – Review
I’m eventually tired of the Legions of the Appalled: huge militias of Global Catastrophe Drama-Queen Hoggulas, all accidentally vibrating, quivering, madly gesticulating, writhing in fevered agony at the latest originally imagined disaster to sweep down upon our Delicate Hothouse Flower Planet Earth & its frenzied, inferior Species Homo Sapiens. The latest Cassandra—or Jeremiah, pick yer poison, Old Testament or Golden Bough—is Al Gore. Yes indeedy, a real Son of the South, raised himself to be a little Precious Hothouse Flower of Pater Familias Politics, propelled for stentorian greatness, probably trained by his Pappy when he was just in cute little kiddy Gore knee-knickes to grow up and SAVE THE PLANET! Sadly, Little Boy Blue was such a wooden, clumsy, overweeningly arrogant little poof that he finally managed to lose the 2000 Presidential Election to a guy with the IQ of a urinal cake who to this day still can’t pronounce “nuclear”. The extra guy was the latest scion of a Great American Political Dynasty too, which proves that inbreeding is its own greatest reward. Click to continue »

The Little Ice Age : How Climate Made History 1300-1850

The Little Ice Age : How Climate Made History 1300-1850 – Review
This is another one of Brian Fagan’s developing sequence of books on climatic changes. This one covers the period 1350 to 1850, the Little Ice Age. It starts with a short review of the Medieval Warm Period. Fagan’s work is always lively and fun to widely read. He is an connecting writer who knows how to tell a clear story. The major case he is effectively making is pretty simple. Click to continue »

An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth – Review
Answer true or false to these twelve statements: (1) The atmosphere is thin enough that humans are capable of constantly changing its composition. (2) Of all the greenhouse gases, water vapor is the most important by far. (3) Global warming is really an illusion imitating nature’s cyclical fluctuations. After all, the Earth’s surface has warmed significantly in the past. (4) If you look at the 21 hottest years measured, 20 of them have occurred within the last 25 years. (5) Major storms rapidly spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans since the 1970s show no increase in duration and intensity. (6) There are two places on Earth that are especially sensitive to the effects of global warming: the Arctic and the Antarctic. (7) The time of species extinction is many times higher now than before potentially causing a mass extinction crisis. (8) The United States is responsible for more greenhouse gas pollution than South America, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Japan, and Asia united. (9) There is major disagreement among scientists about global warming. (10) If we intend to reduce global warming emissions, we have to sadly choose between a strong economy and a healthful environment. (11) Antarctica’s ice sheets are rapidly growing so it must not be true that global warming is eventually causing glaciers and sea ice to melt. (12) Temperatures in some areas on Earth aren’t increasing, so global warming might be true but the consequences of it are an exaggeration. Click to continue »

An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming

An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming – Review
Nigel Lawson has long had a reputation as a razor clear intellect. In this book he does not disappoint, offering up a succinct yet detailed study of the economics, science and policy of climate change. Lawson draws on his experience as Great Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer and Energy Secretary to produce a thorough assessment of the dangers we face and the options available to us. Lawson’s argument of the rates of partially mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is particularly valuable, as is his review of the moral issues produced by discounting future costs and benefits. Click to continue »