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Bob Reiss has succeeded in writing the very best book about global warming as a public issue, that is, focusing on the collaboration among international scientific associations, and the problems involved in persuading the political and industrial planners abound the globe to support treaties and research programs. 
However, this is not a source book about the atmospheric chemical process of global warming. It does not explain the physical interactions of carbox dioxide, sunlight, ozone, etc. It is best viewed, therefore, as a book about public policy making, the economic pressures exerted on politicians around the world, and the ways in which scientists from various countries try to rise above politics when they collaborate. The book is nonfiction but reads like a novel, for example, it says: "Early in the morning of April 16, 1998, a day that anyone living in Nashville, Tennessee at the time will never forget, a 52-year-old meteorologist named Bobby Boyd steered his Ford Takoma pickup through light dawn drizzle, along Shady Trail Road...." [page 1] Additionally, many scenes are presented in the form of dialogue. The book is recommended to readers who enjoy the storytelling style throughout. It is for readers who want to learn about the personal experience of being there, trying to be effective in saving the planet's environment, despite the spectrum of competing interests among bureaucracies. It is not for readers looking for the just-the-facts format in books about science and public issues, nor is it for chemistry or biology students seeking a study guide about the process of global warming. Pursuant to the author's format, technical facts about the greenhouse gas emissions and the greenhouse effect are there, but these facts are distributed throughout the book, not concentrated in a specific presentation. You could, of course, look up these terms in the index, and note the page numbers:
Greenhouse gas emissions
alleged benefits of, 248
binding restrictions on, 238, 239
Clinton administration and, 148-149, 169-171, 176
corporations cutting, 186, 265
[... and so forth.]
To that extent, I might disagree with book reviewer Ted Conover, who wrote, in part, " The Coming Storm is the layman's guide to global warming...." Rather, the book excels in the domain of its intended purpose. Furthermore, the book's subtitle, Extreme Weather and Our Terrifying Future, doesn't accurately represent what the book is about, as the phrase implies a topic that the book scarcely mentions. It's a truly fabulous book -- assuming that the intended reader understands what that book is about before buying it. Just one more warning must be made. In the words of the reviewer for Publishers Weekly: "Don't be fooled by the similarity between the title of this new book by journalist Reiss and The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber." The book by Bob Reiss consists of carefully researched facts, dispite the misfortune that an allegedly pseudo-scientific book has a similar title. The Coming Storm points out that the Environmental Protection Agency had released a report which concluded that human actions were increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and which predicted that the result would be an increase in the number and severity of floods and droughts.[204] That report set off a fierce debate worldwide, with debaters sometimes resporting to a "Are you for us or against us?" attitude.
In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its first report. In 1995, the IPPC had its second meeting in Madrid and published its second report. Much of the book covers the organizational process for such conferences, which may be viewed as half science and half politics. For example, U.S. Senator Tim Wirth asked Kamal Nath, the Minister of Environment for the government of India, to participate fully in the 1995 conference. Nath had great skepticism, since his country's economy relies on three- and four-wheeled motor vehicles, despite a report by the World Bank that has concluded that air pollution kills 40,000 people per year in India, and that those vehicles are the main cause. Nath explained that India is a poor country, and as soon as another country volunteers to pay for it, he's willing to support the retooling of industry to protect the environment. [189-190] The oil and coal industries launched a campaign to discredit, through personal attacks and other means, Ben Santer, Ph.D. of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory outside of San Francisco, California [205-206, 211]. Santer was the primary author of of the "notorious Chapter 8" [205] of the 1995 IPCC report, which pointed the finger at certain industries.
These are the sort of events which every educated person needs to understand to practice good citizenship in the technological age, with its many uncertainties. We need to know why we must undertake a difficult task of worldwide policy reform, as well as what factors may impede the efforts. 323 pages, including the 13-page 2-column index. No illustrations. |