The Discovery of Global Warming: Revised and Expanded Edition / Edition 2

by Spencer R. Weart

Overview

The award-winning book is now revised and expanded.

In 2001 an international panel of distinguished climate scientists announced that the world was warming at a rate without precedent during at least the last ten millennia, and that warming was caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases from human activity. The story of how scientists reached that conclusion—by way of unexpected twists and turns—was the story Spencer Weart told in The Discovery of Global Warming. Now he brings his award-winning account up to date, revised throughout to reflect the latest science and with a new conclusion that shows how the scientific consensus caught fire among the general world public, and how a new understanding of the human meaning of climate change spurred individuals and governments to action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674031890
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/31/2008
Series:	New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine , #13
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	967,822
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.12(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

Spencer R. Weart is Director Emeritus of the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics.

Table of Contents

• Preface

1. How Could Climate Change?


2. Discovering a Possibility


3. A Delicate System


4. A Visible Threat


5. Public Warnings


6. The Erratic Beast


7. Breaking into Politics


8. Speaking Science to Power


9. The Work Completed...and Begun

• Reflections


• Milestones


• Notes


• Index

Editorial Reviews

Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Weart dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists’ views and the public reception their work received.

Andrew C. Revkin

Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Weart dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists' views and the public reception their work received.--Andrew C. Revkin "New York Times Book Review"

From the Publisher

Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Weart dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists’ views and the public reception their work received.

New York Times Book Review - Andrew C. Revkin

Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Weart dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists’ views and the public reception their work received.
— Andrew C. Revkin

New York Times Book Review

The Discovery of Global Warming describes the intellectual journey toward that conclusion, with all of its false starts, flawed hypotheses, inventiveness and persistent uncertainties. It reveals the effort as one of the great exercises in collective sleuthing, with pivotal insights provided by experts in fields as varied as glaciology, physics and even plankton paleontology. Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory, Spencer R. Weart...dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists' views and the public reception their work received.—Andrew C. Revkin

The New York Times

Humankind is smarter than the frog caught unawares in a pot of water that slowly reaches its boiling point. Weart -- whose style is dry to the point of brittle -- shows that we, unlike the frog, at least will know we're getting cooked. — Tom Graham

The Washington Post

This short, well-written book by a science historian at the American Institute of Physics adds a serious voice to the overheated debate about global warming and would serve as a great starting point for anyone who wants to better understand the issue. — Dan Veragno

USA Today