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To understand and constructively participate in the current debate on global warming and its consequences, it is essential to have a guide to the playing field. Dr. Melvin A. Benarde's book is this guide and more. It is, in fact, a Baedeker through the minefields of uncertainty which currently bedevil much of the discussion on global warming. He contends that predictions of global warming and its consequences generated by mathematical models are too often taken as holy writ. When, in fact, he states, they can only be seen as tentative. Anything else severely tortures the data. Without this rendering the current discussions border on babble. Bias, prejudice, and hidden agendas are everywhere and can be obstacles and pitfalls for the unprepared and unwary. By no means does he shrug off the idea of a possible warming trend. Dr. Benarde takes this fully into account and discusses in generous detail the alternatives reasonable people would pursue in the face of prodigious uncertainty. Consequently the book goes well beyond any of the others currently in print in describing the shortcomings of the warming thesis, why the stable climate of the past 10,000 years may, or may not, change, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of a warmer world. Clearly, this fully documented book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the panoply of issues inherent in the possibility of climate change and contributes to much needed meaningful dialog.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Reasons for Seasons
• A Beneficent Greenhouse
• Models and Modeling
• Potential Dislocations...and Advantages
• Approaches to Solutions
• Glossary
• Tables
• Geologic Time
• Index

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CHOICE Review

Extensively researched, well documented, and authoritatively interpreted, this is a quite comprehensive guide to understanding the current debate on global warming and its consequences. In five lengthy chapters, Benarde describes the complexities that produce the seasons; benefits of the greenhouse effect created by the Earth's atmosphere; the sometimes conflicting evidence and limitations of models of the warming thesis; the uncertainites of climatic stability in light of long-term phenomena (e.g., glacial periodicity); the advantages and disadvantages of a warmer world; and, alternatives to the carbon-dioxide-producing energy machinery of today (e.g., cars). Stylistically, several of the very long discussions would have benefited from sectioning, but the organization is clear and the treatment relatively jargon-free. Well illustrated, with pertinent glossary, adequate index, and sufficient bibliography of significant references. General through professional. E. J. Kormondy; University of Hawaii at Hilo

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

About the author MELVIN A. BENARDE is the author of eight books, including Our Precarious Habitat: Fifteen Years Later (Wiley, 1989), Asbestos: The Hazardous Fiber, Race Against Famine, and The Chemicals We Eat. He is Director of the Asbestos Center and Professor of Epidemiology at the Center for Environmental Studies, College of Engineering, Temple University. Since earning his PhD in microbiology and public health at Michigan State University in 1954, Dr. Benarde has received many awards and has been involved in many professional organizations and community activities in the environmental and public health spheres.