The Change in the Weather: People, Weather, and the ... (ISBN 0385320078)

Amazon.com Review:
In the summer of 1995, Chicagoans endured weather of extremes they had never seen: daytime temperatures that, adjusted for humidity, exceeded 125 degrees Fahrenheit and nighttime temperatures that did not fall below 90. In four days, 583 people died of heat exhaustion and related causes. It was by far Chicago's greatest mass disaster, and one for which the city was utterly unprepared. William Stevens, a science reporter for The New York Times, opens his vivid--and sometimes frightening--book The Change in the Weather with a look at the Chicago disaster, moving on to consider it and other calamities in the context of millions of years of climatic change. In the last several decades, violent storms, long considered to be aberrations of nature, have come to seem almost the norm. The jury is still out, but much evidence suggests that the so-called greenhouse effect is fueling these ever-more-powerful storms. With global warming come hotter average temperatures; hotter temperatures mean increased water vapor, the stuff from which storms are made; more storms mean more flooding; more flooding means more soil erosion and the destruction of the world's estuaries and coastlines; and so on. Stevens carefully describes some of the scientific debates on global warming and ever-nastier weather, and on what, if anything, might be done to reverse or slow these apparent trends. Lacing his narrative with interviews with leading climatologists, Stevens offers an engrossing scientific detective story--one that threatens to become a horror story in the very near future. --Gregory McNamee

A Good Survey:
The Change in the Weather was pretty much the book I was looking for. With evidence building about past global climate based upon ice core samples, pollen studies to determine changing fauna over time, soil stratification and so on, I was interested in a survey that described earth's history of climate change. It may be too soon to have a complete picture, I learned, but a great deal is offered here, along with climatic effects on humankind and vice versa. The book has a lot to recommend it as an introduction to a current and important topic. I enjoyed the early sections of the book which present a synopsis of the formation of the earth, early life forms and, ultimately, climate's influence on human development, agriculture, civilization, and modern society. Even if you are familiar with more detailed analysis of these events, as I am, the journey was nice. Along the way, you get a good feel for dramatic historical changes due to climate (and a sense of what could lie ahead). There is a history of the study of meteorology that was new to me that put into perspective how the science of weather evolved. The science here is not detailed, but it is a good survey. We see a bit on the state of computerized weather modeling today as well. Then we get into today's issues on global warming, greenhouse gasses and the possible effects. This is good stuff and the major weather events described from the last decade or two bring back instant recognition and recall, pointing out, I think, how aware of and affected by these events we really are. An interesting point is that global warming could result in higher over night temperatures and higher lows rather than high temperatures. The book ends describing the attempts by world governments to come together to determine responsible actions (a sorry likelihood). Another strength is Stevens's fairly unbiased approach to the later topics of global warming, carbon dioxide emissions, fossil fuels, and so on, which can generate powerful emotions and heated argument. If you are looking for hard science, atmospheric mathematics formulas, and fluid mechanics, this isn't the place. But if you are interested in today's weather on a broader scope, this is very good. While I was reading the book, here in Milwaukee we had back to back days with record high temperatures, and, for the first time recorded, a tornado touched down in Wisconsin in March--right out of the book!

Involving, revealing examination of climatic forces.:
This survey of people, weather and climate changes examines questions behind today's climatic forces, considering how human actions have contributed to climate and contrasting scientific reality with beliefs about the climate. An involving, revealing account armchair readers will appreciate.

Are We Causing Global Warming?:
I read this book because I wanted a better understanding of the whole global climate change debate. On the plus side, the author does a good job of explaining the difficulty in determining if the climate is changing. He convinced me that global warming is occurring. The weight of the evidence appears to be overwhelming in this regard, although it's not clear if it's just short term variation or the beginning of a long-run trend. The author discusses how a scientific model shows a human cause for warming, but I'm not entirely convinced. But the models seem to be improving rapidly, and it may not be long before the evidence is overwhelming. My biggest complaint is that the author did not place human influences into context. For example, how does the release of CO2 from burning fossil fuels compare to natural releases such as forest fires? How does deforestation affect global warming? If the planet is warming, doesn't that imply more plants, including plankton, which convert CO2 into oxygen, thus offsetting the impact? The author mentions that quantification of the carbon cycle is not well understood, but an understanding of it is critical to understand global warming. The author suggests that consequences of inaction could be severe, but he uses mostly anecdotal information and speculation because scientific information is lacking. Quite frankly, I'm not convinced that action is necessary. Science does not seem far enough along to warrant changing behavior to fend off problems that may never occur. And if the models are right and global warming will cause serious consequences I expect them to occur gradually. I have faith that future generations will be in a much better position to deal with these problems than we are today.

The change in us:
Those interested in weather, the history of weather (since the formation of the solar system), weather forecasting and the scientific basis for predictions of climate change need go no further than William Stevens' excellent exposition. In clear and entertaining prose Stevens leads the reader step-by-step through the mathematically daunting ropes of the most complex real world phenomenon yet tackled by science. To his credit, despite overwhelming evidence that human activity has already affected the climate (and will, even if we went cold-turkey on fossil fuels tomorrow, warm the planet for a century or more), the author gives due space to the handful of credible doubters in the research community. Stevens balanced presentation makes global warming tangible and at one stroke both less scary and far more troubling than one might assume from the popular press. Polar ice cannot possibly disappear in a couple of decades -- there is too much, it is too cold and too deep. Sea levels wil certainly rise, but slowly. The Bahamas and Marshall Islands won't disappear for at least eight decades, even under worst case scenarios. On the other hand, as climatologist Wally Broeker observes, "The climate system is very volatile. It can do some weird things. It is an angry beast, and we are poking it with sticks." If catastrophic melting and sea change must be gradual, change itself can occur suddenly. Historic climatic shifts have occured with lightning speed -- shifts of 5-7 degrees Fahrenheit in less than a decade. While that kind of jump would not (alone) melt the poles, it could cause catastrophic local changes, from 500 year floods to unrelenting drought. Ocean currents could stall, Europe could plunge into a mini ice age, and diverse plant communities (together with the animal species dependent upon them) could vanish. There is strong fossil evidence that such sudden switching, triggered by changes in atmospheric chemistry, solar radiation, and volcanic disturbances has happened fairly often and to date no one understands why gradual change suddenly flips. Even today we are seeing one strange aspect of warming: deeper snow. A Letterhead wrote lately to say that last week's dump on New Hampshire is the deepest in his memory. Warmer air holds more moisture resulting in more intense rain and snow falls, and longer droughts. The extremes will continue to get more extreme. Stevens' viewpoint is less calamitous that that of Ross Gelbspan (THE HEAT IS ON, Ross Gelbspan, Addison Wesley Publishing Co., 1997), and his explanation of science theory and methodology is better: An excellent resource. Thanks to Gore's efforts, this topic enjoys higher awareness now than when I originally wrote this review in 2001, but education on the subject remains urgent and this volume deserves serious attention.

Incoherent:
Anyone making a concerted study of climate change will be disappointed in this book. Mr. Stevens is anything but a scientist. The book is a jumble of facts, speculation, and opposing theories with no cohesiveness. The science of climate change was well developed 25 years before it became a political hot potato. In his attempt to juggle this torrid tuber Mr. Stevens shows his ignorance of a large body of accepted knowledge and that he is unversed in the orderliness of science writing.