Introduction to Modern Climate Change

This does exactly what it says on the cover: it is a clear and up to date introduction to our changing climate, and at undergraduate geography level. It is well written and supported up by good scientific plots. Dessler constructs a simple energy balance model, discusses carbon cycling and shows why the only sensible answer to the question “why is the climate changing” is that it is a result of human impacts. He then summarizes with some useful graphics some of the key impacts so far. Particularly striking for me was a plot of property values against time for a house in Houston TX, that was flooded twice – one massive flooding event didn’t alter the value too much, but the second massive flood caused the value to crash (Figure 9.5 if you’re interested). The last 1/3 of the book is a very useful introduction to climate change policy through adaptation and mitigation including economic regulation and geoengineering. There is also a good chapter on the history of climate science and politics which explains how we have arrived where we are. I am a climate scientist and I like how Dessler finishes the book, “I do not know what the future holds. But I do know that, if we are going to navigate the coupled problems of energy and climate, we are going to need people like you to get involved in all parts of the problem: The political, the economic and the scientific. Given the enormous creativity and inventiveness of humans, there is no question that we can solve the problem. I encourage you to get involved and ensure that we do.”

On the back it says that all illustrations are in color whereas in the book all illustrations are monochrome which makes them next to uninterpretable.

Bon livre! Très bonne revue de l'effet des changements climatiques et de l'argumentaires des climats-sceptiques.

Il libro è molto interessante. Peccato che sia stampato in bianco e nero. Dalle foto delle altre recensioni noto invece che dovrebbe essere a colori. Le didascalie dei grafici fanno infatti riferimento a colori ma essendo in bianco e nero non è possibile distinguere.

I'm not a climate scientist, nor did I acquire this book as a requirement for a class, but if I were teaching a class on this topic, Modern Climate Change 3e would be on the short list of books I would want to teach from. As the author says, this is a quantitative topic, so the book does make its points using numbers and math, but at the same time the book is very accessible to those without a strong science background. A knowledge of high-school algebra is sufficient, and although a passing knowledge of chemistry and/or physics would be beneficial, it is by no means necessary. I really like the author's no-nonsense approach to spelling out what's going on, and the time he takes refuting popular bad faith arguments. The book is concise and accessible while still being thorough, a difficult combination to pull off. I think this is an excellent choice for a one-semester class on climate change accessible for non-science majors. I also think this is an excellent choice for someone seeking self-education on the foundations of this topic. The book works really well for self-instruction outside the classroom environment. Strong recommendation.

I was looking for a book from an actual climate scientist to explain the physics of climate change, what the data says, and what can be done about it. This book does as excellent job and was what I was looking for. The author clearly explains the physics behind climate change and how the data supports the causes. He explains the natural carbon cycle of the earth and how the extraction and burning of fossil fuels on a massive scale has greatly altered that carbon cycle and why the CO2 we are currently emitting will take thousands of years to be completely removed from the atmosphere.