| 
 enlarge | Author: Roy Spencer
Publisher: Encounter Books
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $10.92
You Save: $11.03 (50%)
New (39) Collectible (1) from $10.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 1249
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 184
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 1594032106
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.73874
EAN: 9781594032103
ASIN: 1594032106
Publication Date: March 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! 2008 Hardcover.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Well founded challenger of global warming and evolution July 30, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
Dr. Spencer is an award-winning scientist. He uses his intelligence to challenge a number of widely accepted scientific theories, including global warming and evolution.
From Wikipedia:
Intelligent design, Spencer wrote in 2005, "Twenty years ago, as a PhD scientist, I intensely studied the evolution versus intelligent design controversy for about two years. And finally, despite my previous acceptance of evolutionary theory as 'fact,' I came to the realization that intelligent design, as a theory of origins, is no more religious, and no less scientific, than evolutionism. . . . In the scientific community, I am not alone. There are many fine books out there on the subject. Curiously, most of the books are written by scientists who lost faith in evolution as adults, after they learned how to apply the analytical tools they were taught in college."
 Good Science Is Impossible Once Politics Takes Hold July 23, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
James Hansen, a climate scientist at NASA, where the author of this book also worked in climate science, famously told a Congressional committee that global warming skeptics should be charged with crimes against humanity. I know nothing about the legal merits of such a charge, but it's clear that Dr. Hansen has much too much emotional investment in a particular viewpoint to ever be capable of doing unbiased science in the field. Good science is impossible where emotions rule. Perhaps Dr. Hansen had Dr. Spenser specifically in mind when he made that statement, and one can only imagine the cross agency resentments that must of boiled along for years, Dr. Hansen screaming incessantly about global warming to whatever reporters would listen and Dr. Spenser calmly dismissing it as a crisis problem, not nearly as bad as Hansen was saying according to Spenser's satellite data. The whole specter of two senior scientists in a field in the same agency charged with doing essentially the same thing -- measuring global temperatures --who held very different views of a key question ought to put a stake right through the heart of the idea that there is any scientific consensus on global warming.
Dr. Spenser does a good job of explaining how politics and human nature work to produce and sustain global warming hysteria. I would have preferred that he spend some time taking the government controlled system of research funding to task for its role in creating this monster. Far from just providing scientists with a meal ticket, this hysteria threatens to destroy our economic well being with oppressive environmental regulation. Perhaps it's time that the environmentalist bureaucracy is charged with crimes against humanity for attempting to appropriate resources needed to address real problems in effective ways. The NASA bureaucracy wants to take over the whole world, it would seem, or at least share it with the UN climate agency.
In any case, as one might surmise, the book spends considerable time where the action really is -- not in science but in politics. The science is not difficult to summarize briefly: we just don't know about future climate and we have no reliable way to predict it. What's harder to explain is how this state of affairs translates to the political situation we find ourselves in, and Spenser does a fine job of explaining that in a tone of detached bemusement, reassuring us that this is the fellow unbiased enough to give us the straight scoop.
A Climatologist's View on Global Warming Hysteria July 20, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Endorsed by both MIT Climate Scientist Richard Lindzen and laissez-faire economist Walter E. Williams, this book is another great addition to the growing number of books that debunking the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming hysteria. This book is *not* written by a conservative who denies the existence of global warming for political convenience.
I think the main attributes of this book that make it worth reading in addition to other leading books on this topic (e.g., Bjorn Lomborg's books and the Singer-Avery book) are as follows:
* The author is a climatologist who has included two, clearly written, chapters on how the weather works.
* The author values laissez-faire economics. Specifically, he cites his appreciation for the ideas of Fredrich Hayek and Julian Simon on numerous occasions.
* This is one of the most recent books. This is especially important, since the view that cosmic rays are largely the driving force behind climate change is relatively new (for more information see The Chilling Stars by Henrik Svensmark and Nigel Calder), and is not discussed in several relatively recent books such as Bjorn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist.
I highly recommend this book to those who value laissez-faire economics and want a relatively quick, but informative read to separate the facts from fiction in the ongoing global warming debate. Be warned that the author has spliced jokes throughout this book. Although some might find this sophomoric, I perceived that this was not too overdone.
Hoping more would read... July 16, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
It troubles me that fellow educators will only smile condescendingly at your invitation to have them watch a video, show them what you're reading. Especially say science teachers. In my own field, if someone handed me a book that might challenge some grand notion, or present some new idea ...I would feel some obligation (if I haven't read much from that position already) to become acquainted with what the other views or new idea is saying. What has become of education that no longer obligates itself so? How can we be so disinterested in our own areas of study? The free exchange of ideas stops with prejudice and ego, and so does arriving at a balance of knowing truth.
This is an excellent book that should get into as many hands as possible. I've seen the video, "The Great Global Warming Swindle" and Spencer's book brings a balance to what scientists are saying in that video as well. Intriguing to say the least to come to a better layman's understanding of the complex intricacies of what makes weather, how the earth like a living system compensates. The statistic alone of man adding one molecule of CO2 to every 100,000 molecules of air every five years...plus the complexities of a full understanding of climatology sure puts it clear to see how this has become a faith issue, with a religious fervor...that is very agenda driven, and for something other than truth! Considering politicians are deciding where YOUR tax dollars and future is heading under the guise of the Global Warming mantra, I highly recommend this book!!!
Funny and easy-to-understand truth about climate and economics July 14, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Easy to read and understand terms about climatology and economics (with a twist of humor.) I learned more about these subjects in this short book than I did in college. I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to know how the climate really works and how global warming hysteria policies are causing more damage to humanity than so-called global warming is.
|
|
|
