Capture the complexity...conveys the awesome, brutal facts!

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	• With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change Fred Pearce Beacon Press, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An Insider's View

"With Speed and Violence" shows what I and others (in the mainstream climate science community) have to live with -and sleep with every night.

If you really want to know what is going on in the top researching peer-reviewing climate scientists' minds...read this book. It is the speed of the changes that is making mainstream scientists nervous. Society can cope with slow big changes...but has a real hard time with fast, big changes.

By the way, as a previous reviewer stated, mainstream, publishing researching scientists do not scare easily and really do have to act and talk in public like Dr. Spock in Star Trek...not like the fringe scientists who do not do peer review or whose published work does not stand up under mainstream scientific scrutiny (look at the peer journals such as SCIENCE). This book let's them talk in an unguarded fashion as if they were in a private restaurant with you.

Let me let you in on an insider word. Mainstream scientists (not fringe groups) are using the strongest word they are allowed to use in public- the word "alarming" about climate change. Look it up on an internet search engine.

This means many are now losing sleep at night. It does not necessarily mean that the worst will happen... but it means that it is a strong enough possibility in their deepest thoughts to be taken seriously...and they are trying to warn the public as much as possible within the boundaries of the system.

Real science works on probabilities. Mainstream scientists warned of bird flu with perhaps a 20% probability at most of happening...same with Y2K. This "global warming" (climate distortion), however, has a *95%* probability of happening in the next 100 years to the mainstream climate science community...However, just how bad the possible effects will be is where the real probability questions come into play...no one knows...the book does a good job of explaining this.

Much of the information in this book is indeed some of the latest "peer-reviewed published" information out in 2007. It does a nice job of pulling it together in an understandable way...and yes, after having been immersed in the peer-reviewed evidence for 11 years...I too somethimes lose sleep at night. Read it.

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The most important book I've ever read

This is the most important book I've ever read. Each chapter is about a climate scientist's work and thinking, covering about 25 researchers. The climatic record in glacial ice cores, sea floor sediment cores, rocks and tree rings shows that climate has changed drastically in very short time periods in the past. Humans are perturbing the system beyond anything that has happened for millions of years. No one knows what the climate system will do, but many possible scenarios are cataclysmic and could happen soon. This book is authoritative and fully believable; it's about Nobel Prize winners and top-flight scientists, not politicians and hacks. Before I had read half of this book I went and bought a Toyota Prius, switched my home to a green electric utility, installed 100% compact florescent bulbs in my home and bought the most efficient laundry appliances available. If you like science, it's also a fascinating read.

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When scientists admit they are very afraid

My favorite quote from the book: "Hansen says the world, or more particularly Greenland, is on a slippery slope to hell."
Scientists, if you remember the archetypal Spock on Star Trek, generally don't go around making pronouncements or admitting to emotions; rather, they hedge, cautiously state facts, and keep their moods to themselves because they are "subjective", the cardinal weakness in the ethos of science. They don't want to be laughing stocks, lose their grant money or get blacklisted from their elite journals. Their careers and name are very important to them. So it is very impressive when great numbers of these types from the world over admit to a profound "unease" ranging to "terror"- and say they are kept awake at night by current findings regarding climate tipping points. We should be afraid, if they are.
This is a great book to make us afraid. Other reviewers here have laid out in detail what is in the book; I just say, read it and pass it on. It is "an easy read" too, even entertaining, for those who don't like getting bogged down in dry science writing. And if you like to have the hair stand up on the back of your neck. In particular, see: "Chimneys" ,"Amazon Jungle", and "Methane from Melting Permafrost".
Lesley Thomas, author of arctic eco-novel Flight of the Goose

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For those who want one good book on the topic, this is it!

I've just finished reading With Speed and Violence, and I was so impressed with it that I decided to post my first Amazon review to show my appreciation. I do a lot of reading about global warming and climate change--academic papers, magazine and news articles, and probably more than two dozen books by now. I found Pearce's book to be a thorough yet concise overview of all the main topics in the science, as well as including a few interesting areas that are not given a lot of coverage. But what makes this book stand apart is the way the author covers each topic in a separate, brief chapter that centers around an interesting anecdote with terrific writing that makes challenging science clear and compelling. I'm sorry if I sound like a commercial, but I do highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who only wants to read one book on the subject. And if you think global warming is scary, take a look at this author's other book, When the Rivers Run Dry, for an equally wonderful but eye-opening read.

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Capture the complexity...conveys the awesome, brutal facts!

A brilliant work that captures the complexity of our planet's climate chaos and change, making it all highly understandable and conveying the awesome, brutal facts! With all the articles and books on this subject, none better shines a bright light on the entire range of this massive phenomenon.

reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6

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