The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines

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The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 70 ratings · 23 reviews

The ongoing assault on climate science in the United States has never been more aggressive, more blatant, or more widely publicized than in the case of the Hockey Stick graph -- a clear and compelling visual presentation of scientific data, put together by MichaelE. Mann and his colleagues, demonstrating that global temperatures have risen in conjunction with the increase...more

Hardcover, 395 pages

Published March 6th 2012 by Columbia University Press (first published January 1st 2012)

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Sep 16, 2012 Todd Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: environment-science

Michael Mann is at the forefront of the climate debate, both as a researcher into the science of global warming and as a target of those who have politicized the issue. Mann is a professor at Penn State University and directs the Penn State Earth System Science Center. The results of his research demonstrate not only that the earth is warming in a way that is unprecedented in the planet’s history, but that this warming is due to human activities (a view that is shared by the vast majority of the...more Michael Mann is at the forefront of the climate debate, both as a researcher into the science of global warming and as a target of those who have politicized the issue. Mann is a professor at Penn State University and directs the Penn State Earth System Science Center. The results of his research demonstrate not only that the earth is warming in a way that is unprecedented in the planet’s history, but that this warming is due to human activities (a view that is shared by the vast majority of the world’s climate scientists). Mann’s main contribution was the famous hockey stick graph (see below) showing the increasing global temperatures since the start of the industrial revolution. The gray shading represents the error associated with early data that was extrapolated from proxy data (such as tree rings, corals and ice cores).

Of course by producing such a visually compelling image, Mann’s research has put him in the cross-hairs of the climate denialists, a group that consists of fossil fuel and business interests, and political partisans with an anti-regulatory mindset. It should be noted that the few remaining skeptics with a scientific background obtain their funding from these same partisan interests, leading one to question their impartiality. As Upton Sinclair said: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

Despite these moneyed interests who have been significantly motivated to not understanding, the graph has stood up to intense scrutiny and additional studies have only strengthened the conclusion that temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere during recent decades were the highest in the past 1,300 years! Of course, since the graph’s creation, things have only become worse with the temperatures reached during the summer of 2012 breaking new records around the world.

Mann himself lays out this evidence quite conclusively in the book and also goes into some detail about the depths to which the motivated reasoning interests have sunk to attack and smear when their efforts to sow scientific doubt have failed. Even though their tactics haven’t changed, the “thank you for smoking” crowd still seems to be effective despite a solid track record of being wrong, and wrong again (think asbestos, leaded gasoline, acid rain, the ozone hole, cigarettes, mercury and so on).

Mann’s e-mails were also stolen as part of the so-called climategate “scandal” in which denialists cherry picked certain phrases in order to manufacture the impression that scientists were fudging the data. Once again, Mann and his colleagues were vindicated by eight independent investigations that all found that there was no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct.

Unfortunately, it’s far easier to raise questions and doubt than to do the hard work of gathering evidence, performing experiments and publishing papers in peer reviewed journals and these unscrupulous tactics continue to play with a scientifically illiterate public. The good news is that scientists are finally starting to fight back (as evidenced by this book) making it harder and harder for vested interests to continue to deny reality.(less)

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Jul 25, 2012 Frederick Bingham rated it 5 of 5 stars

An account by one of America's leading climate scientists from the middle of the climate wars. This is a man whose scientific findings have gotten him into all kinds of trouble with people who cannot stand the truth. He was dragged in front of a hostile Senate committee along with two of his greatest detractors. He was sent an envelope filled with mysterious white powder. A dead rat was left on his doorstep in the middle of the night. 10 years of his email was stolen from a server in England, an...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Chris Mooney rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first became familiar with the name Michael Mann in the year 2003. I was working on what would become my book The Republican War on Science, and had learned of two related events: The controversy over the Soon and Baliunas paper in Climate Research, purporting to refute Mann and his colleagues' famous 1998 "hockey stick" study; and a congressional hearing convened by Senator James Inhofe, at which Mann testified. Inhofe tried to wheel out the Soon and Baliunas work as if they'd dealt some sort...more

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May 03, 2012 Ross rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is an interesting review of the current efforts of the fossil fuel industry, principally Big Oil, to discredit the scientific fact that the burning of these fuels over the last 200 years is warming planet earth. The author focuses mainly, understandably, on the attacks directed at him personally. Only a small part of the book is devoted to the science or the history of the author's contribution to the science that has made him a target. This book is not suitable for readers who would like t...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Don Shelby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dr. Michael Mann is more than an exceptional scientist - he is a soldier for truth. Real science, as practiced by Dr. Mann, is like that. Only verifiable facts are left standing as survivors at the end of the battle. But, Mann is no pallid research scientist closeted in the laboratory. He is on the front lines, and taking fire from some of the most well armed forces ever arrayed against science: ideologues, those fearful their vested interests will be harmed by the truth of the science, think-ta...more Dr. Michael Mann is more than an exceptional scientist - he is a soldier for truth. Real science, as practiced by Dr. Mann, is like that. Only verifiable facts are left standing as survivors at the end of the battle. But, Mann is no pallid research scientist closeted in the laboratory. He is on the front lines, and taking fire from some of the most well armed forces ever arrayed against science: ideologues, those fearful their vested interests will be harmed by the truth of the science, think-tanks funded by the fossil fuel cabal and by those politicians who legislate with the intention of raising campaign dollars for their next office and currying favor, lugging the water, of well-healed funders who wish to keep us all confused and paralyzed.

The book is a riveting account of how one discovery came to symbolize the battle. Mann takes us inside the war, blow by blow. He names names. When you have finished Dr. Mann's book, you will know who the enemies of our children and grandchildren are. You may be shocked to find that the large portion of those who have tried to destroy what Dr. Mann and his colleagues have discovered (a finding supported by a dozen new investigations) are not scientists working in the field of climate change, but are often lawyers, politicians and foundations funded by special interests afraid of a paradigm shift. They are sowers of doubt, not fact. Every attemmpt to debunk the "hockey stick" has been found to be sloppy, erroneous and weak. Dozens of other separate and independent lines of investigation have shown what the hockey stick graphically portrays: that the earth has been on a warming trend over the period covered in the science. You will come to a fundamental conclusion that those people who deny human caused climate change cannot exist in the same plane of reality as science. No wonder they strike out at Mann and other scientists. What will take you by surprise is how dirty the opposition to science fights. How, when Mann's science can't be toppled, they turn to attempts to assassinate his character, to have him investigated, to be charged with fraud - to make him disappear.

Your impression of the scientist as a white coat, a nerd, a loner, will be forever changed by this book. Dr. Michael Mann is a fighter, and our grandchildren will read of him in school, as we read as schoolchildren the heroics of the Greatest Generation. The book is inspiring. Dr. Mann is an inspiration.(less)

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Jul 10, 2012 Peter rated it 3 of 5 stars

A very important topic, but in the end the book was too much about Michael Mann and not enough about climate. A five-star topic, but a three-star treatment of it.

Mann provides a first-person account of his contributions to the derivation of the iconic "hockey stick" graph, as well as the personal and professional attacks that he suffered in its aftermath. (The "hockey stick" is the global temperature graph that bounces along more or less flat or declining for almost a thousand years before shoo...more A very important topic, but in the end the book was too much about Michael Mann and not enough about climate. A five-star topic, but a three-star treatment of it.

Mann provides a first-person account of his contributions to the derivation of the iconic "hockey stick" graph, as well as the personal and professional attacks that he suffered in its aftermath. (The "hockey stick" is the global temperature graph that bounces along more or less flat or declining for almost a thousand years before shooting upwards in the last hundred years.) I appreciated Mann's explanation of some of the finer points, but I finished the book wondering whether this focus on one graph and the experiences of one scientist had been constructive. Mann's graph (independently confirmed by many other researchers) is only one thread in a much broader tapestry of climate science. Although a lightning rod, Mann is only one of many scientists whose good work has contributed to our understanding. I finished the book wondering whether this detailed recitation of such a narrow slice of climate science had done a disservice to the broader topic.

I have no doubt that many of the attacks on Mann were nothing but shoddy and dishonest attempts to confuse the public and thereby delay mitigating action. I agree with almost everything Mann says. Nevertheless, I regret the fact that the interminable pseudo-debate on climate science prevents us from moving on to more challenging and important non-scientific questions. What should do we do about climate change? What is it possible to do about it? To the extent that we'll be reaping the consequences of today's greenhouse gas emissions for at least the next century, how do we adapt to that? How do we manage natural landscapes in light of that? What accounts for the stunning divergence between the public understanding of science and the scientists' understanding of science? These are vital questions.

I resent the fact that the fabricated "debate" about climate science has been used so successfully to delay action, and I wonder whether this book's focus on one small piece of the science will prolong that debate. Overall, I'm glad Mann wrote his book, and I think people should be familiar with it. If you're going to read it though, read it quickly, because we've got a lot more ground to cover.(less)

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May 28, 2012 William rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics

If you are a skeptic or in doubt and actually have an expectation to get some direct replies of the Hockey stick dispute from McIntyre you will be greatly disappointed. The funniest (or saddest) reply Mann comes up with is where the "deniers" claim he got rid of Medieval Warming and Little Ice Age - Mann's reply is: "it's there" (!) Where? Because I cannot see it. Emperor new clothes, perhaps?

The term "Hockey Stick" is a statistical derogatory term for "Junk Science" or even "Fraud", so Mann's...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Bill O'driscoll rated it 4 of 5 stars

Penn State professor Mann was one of the researchers who proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is hotter than any time in the history of civilization and that humans are the cause. In thanks, industry-backed hacks and know-nothings assailed him in the media and threatened him and his family. "Hockey Stick" (the title refers to a particularly notable graph he helped popularize) is a good primer on climate science, clearly written for a lay audience. But it's a great study guide on how t...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Dawn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Although this book had interesting parts, they were very spread out. The book mostly discussed the graphing techniques and statistics used to generate the Hockey Stick Graphic demonstrating a large increase in the Earth's average temperatures during the last decades. Environmental effects caused by increased average temperatures were not really discussed. The book also advertizes that it's about the political disputes caused by the publication of the graph. It does mention this, normally in the...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Jeff Wills rated it 5 of 5 stars

Most of us have heard the apparent debate about global warming. But if you stop and actually take the time to read closely and actually study the information coming from climatologists who've actually conducted the scientific studies (over a dozen now) on global warming, you realize there really isn't a debate. Human caused global warming is a reality. The scientific community has reached a consensus. The real questions ought to be about how we go about mitigating the problem. It's a global prob...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Jorge rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, politics-economics

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars by Michael E. Mann

"The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars" is the interesting and revealing story of the fossil fuel industries assault on the science of global warming and its quest to undermine the policies devised to address it. This book tells the real story about the "controversies" behind the iconic symbol of the hockey stick and the scientists involved in the climate change debate. Dr. Michael E. Mann is a member of the Penn State University faculty, a...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars

First, with the enthusiasm and attention to detail expected of a dedicated and careful scientist, Dr. Mann explains his and other's research on the temperature history of the planet and how it has changed in recent decades. Then, in even greater detail, he describes the ordeal he and others have been put through due to the politicization of his scientific results. It is shocking and disheartening--and it's not over. Though Dr. Mann and his fellow climate scientists are winning on the merits, the...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Brian Cole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Its disturbing to read about the lengths the doubters will go to put down science they don't like or that threatens their livlihood no matter the consequences to everybody else. Dr. Mann with others arrived at the hockey stick showing that climate change was happening. He then goes on to show how Exxon/Mobile and the Schaiffe brothers sought to challenge his work and conclusions. Climate gate is discussed and explained.

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Dec 16, 2012 Hunter Daughtrey rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is one of the clearest explanation of how science is done and of the attack on climate researchers. I would challenge any denier to read it with an open mind. It is a thorough documentation of the history of the controversy. To those who would argue that it is self-serving, I believe that he provides a strong defense of his research and a clear account of what he had to endure.

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Aug 30, 2012 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

As an engineer and someone who was brought up conservative (and mostly still am) I've never had so much disrespect for the Republicans as I have after reading this book. Their dishonesty and tactics are reprehensible. I'm angry at having been duped for so long.

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Nov 17, 2012 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-nonfiction

An important book that documents one of the most serious assaults on science in our lifetimes, with consequences that could affect human history for centuries or more. The book does such a careful job of documenting the lies, disinformation, threats, and ill will of the fossil fuel industry that I cannot imagine anyone who's read it continuing to describe global warming as a "hoax," the ludicrous claim made by Senator James Inhofe. Unfortunately, such careful and exhaustive documentation of the...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Bill Stepien rated it 4 of 5 stars

I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that as more information becomes available to more people, groups with an agenda employ spin and obfuscation to muddle public thinking. As the stakes get higher, however, one would imagine that in a democratic society some sort of social responsibility would take over and all parts of the political spectrum would realize that the issue at hand was too important to confuse the public about. This book outlines, in excruciating detail (and some science I don't ful...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Susan Paxton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Important reading; unfortunately the people who should read it, the lackwit deniers, won't read it. For the rest of us, a clearly written account of Mann's research and the attacks on it by the wreckers and their lackies who are hell-bent on destroying civilization for their own short-term profit.

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Apr 11, 2013 John Gordon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

Michael Mann is the climate scientist who came up with the "hockey stick" graph that so dramatically illustrates the phenomenon of the recent anthropogenic climate change. While he has acted with honesty and integrity, he has been hounded and harassed in the most vicious and underhanded manner by those who disagree with him. The overwhelming support of the scientific community - and the evidence - is on his side, yet, there are still those who refuse to accept it. This book is a fascinating read...more

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Nov 28, 2012 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

super book! demolishes climate change deniers and the whole notion of a "ClimateGate" scandal.

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Jun 28, 2012 Victoria added it

going to read it soon

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May 08, 2012 Abcdarian marked it as abandoned

What I read of this book was very good, though a bit heavy going. It just got so depressing learning about all the fossil fuel industry funded scientists, media people & general nay-sayers that I had to give it up. I fear for the future of real science, to say nothing of the future livability of our planet.

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Jun 21, 2012 Chris Boraski rated it 2 of 5 stars

A lot about the politics of the Climate Wars debate, wasn't too interesting for me. I mostly skimmed it and read the first and last chapters.

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About Michael E. Mann

Michael E. Mann is an American physicist and climatologist, currently director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. He was a Lead Author on the Observed Climate Variability and Change chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report in 2001 and was organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences Front...more

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