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An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming

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Author: Nigel Lawson
Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
Category: Book

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

22 reviews
Sales Rank: 431

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1

ISBN: 071563786X
EAN: 9780715637869
ASIN: 071563786X

Publication Date: April 10, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.

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Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

a lone voice of reason? July 20, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a clear, well-argued short polemic. Lawson is not arguing against the consensus scientific establishment view that man is contributing to global warming, primarily through increasing CO2 emissions. His book is about what policy makers have been advised to do to remedy the perceived immanent threat of global disaster that continued global warming will entail. Lawson is sceptical of decisions that are made in an alarmist environment. He does ask a radical-seeming question given current consensus opinion (and it is only radical in this sense): will global warming be all bad? Tied to this, he questions whether humans may have the capacity to adapt to changes in the climate, as available historical evidence suggests the species has generally done. Fundamental to Lawson's main argument is that adaptation to global warming may be better than mitigation, given the costs of mitigation.

It should be stressed: this book is not about the truth or otherwise of a phenomenon, but what certain groups of people (the scientific community, politicians, think tanks, cultural commentators, the media, entrepeneurs and developers of innovative technologies) do as a result of treating something as though it were true. And, besides its clarity, concision, and academic rigour, this, for me, is the strength of Lawson's polemic. Should we have expected members of mid-Victorian society, briefly afflicated with God-given predictive insights, seeing that industrialisation's addiction to coal would inevitably lead to late-C20 global warming, to halt 'progress' and return to older agrarian modes of living within their inherent gross disparities between rich and poor? Similarly, should we be making decisions about what will be best for societies hundreds of years in the future, as the Stern Review proposes, even though these decisions will, according to a distinguished British Chancellor, be economically disastrous to both the developing and the developed worlds?

Something has been made of the fact that Lawson could not publish this book in the UK. While I live in a reasonably rural area, this book is not being stocked in any of the bookshops that are within a 20 mile radius of my home. There clearly is an ideological hostility towards anyone who is looking at global warming from the wrong angle in this country at the present time. That, sadly, is unlikely to change any time soon. It is a sign of a frightening residual religious mentality in the UK, which denied any other idol has unleashed on the rack of sin a new myth of final times, while all around life carries on as usual -- full of heartbreaking natural disasters, oppressive financial insecurity and the atrocious success story of the free market.

4 out of 5 stars

Good for those short on time July 7, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

At just 106 pages excluding references this is not a weighty tome. However the author points out that this developed from a speech, to a pamphlet, and finally to a book. It provides a good grounding for the subject in terms of the science and potential effects and takes the IPCC line as a base and plays a bit of what-if, rather than trying to debunk the idea entirely, which is a much more sensible approach.
I'd certainly recommend it for those that are frustrated by the one sided media hype and need to get some more balanced background without embarking on a degree in climate and socio-economic sciences to do it.

1 out of 5 stars

Complacent and Irresponsible - a non-scientists response to the scientific evidence of climate change June 29, 2008
5 out of 20 found this review helpful

If you are looking for a hard-headed critique from the other side of the climate change debate you will not find it here. A few points that Nigel and his editors should consider:
1. The fact that the warmest years of the last decade or more have not happened in strictly ascending order is not a rational argument that climate change is not happening, any more than a snow flurry in spring means that summer will not happen after all.
2. When plants take in Carbon Dioxide and release Oxygen to the atmosphere it is not called 'breathing', as any moderately able GCSE student will be able to confirm.
3. When the political and scientific realities do not match up, however difficult it may be, it will be easier to change the politics.
In summary, if you are looking for reassurance that your children and grandchildren will not suffer from the consequences of our current actions, you will find none here. I suggest all readers stick to the science of the IPCC reports and their interpretation, and take appropriate action.

5 out of 5 stars

Buy this book - you wont regret it. June 29, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

Buy this book - you wont regret it, in fact - buy for your friends and family as well. Buy in duplicate for the ever existent family member who bores us all to distraction with predications regarding the end of the world should we fail to get energy saving lightbulbs. Buy in triplicate for your local councillor who is trying to get your vote for a 'green' scheme that will cost you time and money.

5 out of 5 stars

An Appeal to Reason. A Cool Look At Global Warming. June 28, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is a very good book. It follows a number of books written about the " great climate change" swindle.
Of course the various rat-bags, idiots,ex flower people,toad lickers and mushroom eaters, will always decry and will continue to debunk the real scientists who show up these luddites and their hysterical pseudo science.