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The Bargain Nexus - Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $3.50
Your Save: $ 11.45 ( 77% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.73874
EAN: 9781596911307
ISBN: 1596911301
Label: Bloomsbury USA
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2006-12-26
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: 2006-12-26
Studio: Bloomsbury USA
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: You will be scared reading this book!
Comment: Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
We fire our concerns about climate change thinking that we will not have to deal with the effectos of the global warming. Elizabeth Kolbert does not permit you to lie yourself. The picture of the climate change that is already here and the effects that it might have on us, not on our sons and nephews is so vivid that my plunge you in depression. You should read it, unless you want to act like the boiling frog.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good overview
Comment: I am giving this book 5 stars, not because I think it's the best book on global warming, or even the most complete, but because it is a good overview that is readable in one or two sittings. Many of the annecdotes and examples in this book can be found in other books on the same topic, but this one does a good job of bringing together some important ones. Besides the evidence on global warming and the discussion of where we stand, two things jumped out at me about this book. The first one was the fact that the author traveled all over the world and not only interviewed some key players, but also actually spent time with many of them in the field tagging along and helping out on the research. The other thing that struck me was how the author included interviews and little biographical details about some researchers who have been working on this issue. You get to see a little bit of what guys like Jim Hansen are like. One of the constants among skeptics of global warming is their tendancy to downplay the research and the researchers and try to create the impression that it's all a big hoax by people who are politically-minded and who are just out for grant money. Nothing could be farther from the truth in most cases, and books like this tend to show how outlandish such suggestions actually are. The community of scientists who have been working on this issue include people who have been at it for many decades and who are well-respected. The work they do is painstaking and clear in its conclusions. The author chooses a number of interesting examples, but as she points out, she could have chosen others with different details, and the basic story would be the same. This is a fine book to start with if you are interesting in what global warming is all about and want something that is easy to get through.
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Summary: I was not an environmentalist. Now I am.
Comment: This book will change the way you look at your impact on the world. Whether you consider the environment to be an important issue or not, it is well worth your time to read this short yet powerful book. The world is changing, fast, and it is becoming impossible to reasonably deny that fact. News reports are consistent: the world is warming faster than expected, and the results are found everywhere we look. More powerful hurricanes, ancient glaciers melting, ice caps shriveling, animals extinct and behaviors changing, more powerful storms and floods, longer droughts, incredible fire seasons. These are the signs of a changing climate.
In her Field Notes, Elizabeth Kolbert carefully walks the uninitiated through the spin and bias commonly found when discussing climate change, and sticks with the facts. Though she begins with anecdotal evidence, the claims stack one upon another to create a neat picture, one which clearly shows the many different impacts the warming climate has already made. She quickly reviews other data, from studies which cover a broader scope, but it's the anecdotes--people watching ancient glaciers in their backyards melting away--that will leave an impact and understanding. We are already experiencing the effects of global warming, and those effects will only become more pronounced as we continue down this dangerous path.
My one complaint with this book is that it leaves you with little guidance on what the reader can do to help. What steps can we each take to lessen our impact on the planet?
While "Top 10" lists of steps to lower your CO2 emissions are common online and in print, it takes more than a switch to CFLs or a hybrid car to really make a difference. It takes a conscious effort to reduce, conserve, reuse. Energy efficiency is more than switching one inefficient device for a more efficient one. These steps help, but more is necessary to reduce, if not reverse, the damage that will be done over the coming decades. It's time to consider alternatives. Instead of air conditioning in the spring or fall, why not open a window and use a ceiling or desk fan? Instead of buying that hybrid car you've been eying, why not keep your current car and start bicycling for all trips within 3-4 miles? Turn off your computers at night! Keep your tires inflated to the proper PSI, and your engine properly tuned! Buy less meat (the average American eats far too much as it is) and buy more local produce. These are some real steps, among many more, that you can take to reduce your negative impact on the environment. We do not have to turn back the industrial clock 100 years to reduce our impact on the environment...we only need to be more efficient in how we use the new technologies of the last century. In time, new developments such as renewable energy will catch up with the problem of global warming, but it's up to us to ensure the impact of our current lifestyle does not leave an unnecessary burden for future generations.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Comment: This book came to us in very good condition and earlier than we expected. Thanks!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: a mind opener
Comment: My grandson mentioned this fascinating and informative book which was a must read for incoming freshman last year at Tulane. I was so impressed when I read it that I have been giving and recommending it for high school graduation gifts.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Long known for her insightful and thought-provoking political journalism, author Elizabeth Kolbert now tackles the controversial and increasingly urgent subject of global warming. In what began as groundbreaking three-part series in the New Yorker, for which she won a National Magazine Award in 2006, Kolbert cuts through the competing rhetoric and political agendas to elucidate for Americans what is really going on with the global environment and asks what, if anything, can be done to save our planet. Now updated and with a new afterword, Field Notes from a Catastrophe is the book to read on the defining issue and greatest challenge of our times.
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