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Global Warming: The Truth behind the Myth is a provocative discussion of the relationship between global climate and the greenhouse effect. Dr. Michael Parsons, an esteemed scientist and writer in the area of atomic spectroscopy and environmental analysis, uses the term "myth" to capture the essence of the misunderstanding and exaggeration behind the popular view of global warming. The author explains the computer models that are used to predict climate change, points out their flaws, and offers insight into the views and opinions of the computer modelers themselves. While there is no question that the greenhouse phenomenon exists, there are many uncertainties about computer predictions and the assumptions used in the computer models. Important factors such as solar variation, El Nino, cloud dynamics, and ocean currents significantly influence the earth's climate, and yet most computer models have neglected to adequately incorporate them. Global Warming is not an anti-environmental book. Rather, it is an authoritative attempt to put the facts associated with global climate into proper perspective along with other environmental problems, such as overpopulation, depletion of nonrenewable energy resources, and pollution. Dr. Parsons presents the scientific facts on both sides of the various issues and documents them so that the reader will be able to come to an intelligent, unbiased opinion. Written primarily for the general public, this intriguing book will also be enlightening for teachers and students, politicians, agricultural economists, environmental engineers and geologists, climatologists, conservationists, public health officials, policymakers, and scientists in general.

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Publishers Weekly Review

Parsons makes the Panglossian argument that we should not worry about global warming. ``Deserts could become producing farmlands!'' ``[M]aybe a warmer world is a better world.'' In addition to allaying readers' fears of global warming, Parsons has two other goals. The first, detailing many of the physical and biological factors that shape worldwide climate, he does fairly well. The second, asserting that all climatological models are incorrect and that therefore there is no reason to believe that global warming will occur, is suspect. He notes correctly that the models are not complete but ignores the fact that the shortcomings are well known and that the majority of atmospheric scientists have still concluded that global warming is of serious concern to humanity. Instead, he contends that scientists exaggerate their findings ``because of the need for popular and political support to fund the very expensive climate research.'' It's a good bet that any book whose preface claims ``This is not an anti-environment book'' is exactly that. Parsons's book is no exception to that rule. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

The skepticism implied by the title of this book is followed by skillfully reasoned arguments against environmental predictions obtained by inadequate computer models that overlook important factors such as solar variation, cloud types, and atmospheric particles. Parsons asserts that the myth of global warming results from the mixing of known facts with unfounded assumptions based on simplistic computer modeling. Building from a recognized relationship between carbon dioxide and a greenhouse effect described by the French scientist Fourier in the 1820s, Parsons cites the major contribution of Svante Arrhenius in 1896 and G.S. Callendar in 1938 in describing the impact of carbon-based fuel combustion. Readers are urged to judge the validity of complex computer models by carefully examining input data, including all factors, testing the models, limiting extrapolation, and avoiding "adjustment" factors. Apart from one curious inclusion suggesting that the nuclear reactions taking place on the sun are the same as those of an atomic bomb, the questions raised by this author demand attention. All levels. R. M. Ferguson Eastern Connecticut State University