|
August 30
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning (Hardcover)
by George Monbiot
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Bruce said:
"This book starts with a simple premise. Since a two degree centigrade increase in global temperatures by 2030 will have devastating effects on the climate, the world has to reduce it's carbon footprint drastically; and Britain's fair share in this r...more
This book starts with a simple premise. Since a two degree centigrade increase in global temperatures by 2030 will have devastating effects on the climate, the world has to reduce it's carbon footprint drastically; and Britain's fair share in this regard is a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The rest of the book is an exercise in seeing if there is any way for Britain to do this and still maintain a modern economy. Monbiot writes clearly. The arguments are laid out well with lots of footnotes documenting every idea. He is very thorough in working through the problem. There are few stones left unturned in searching for a solution to the problem. Monbiot looks at how well Britain's homes are insulated and what can be done about it, how electricity can be generated without generating greenhouse gases, how it can be transmitted more efficiently, the transportation problem, and finally he looks at two high carbon footprint industries to see to what extent they can reduce their emissions (supermarkets and concrete production). The book is full of ingenious pragmatic ideas for meeting the stated goal (e.g., moving bus terminals to major highway intersections outside of city centers, and switching to direct current for long-range power transmission), as well as obvious ideas (e.g., goodbye airline industry for mass transit). Every idea mentioned is doable. The book concludes that in fact a 90% reduction in Britain's carbon footprint can be combined with a modern society, but that it will be an immense undertaking and time is running out. Working through this problem with Monbiot is an exercise every informed citizen needs to undertake. Turning this thought experiment into an exercise in reality is something every citizen should be working for. The book is really a breath of fresh air in that it takes climate change seriously, but is not a doomsday book. The problem can be solved if the political will is there. The political will won't be there if people don't educate themselves on these issues.
The book was penned in 2006. Since then Monbiot has become a little more pro nuclear energy and less skeptical of the idea of peak oil. Unfortunately, little progress has been made in the first world on implementing any of the ideas in the book. In fact, there are few signs that first world governments are even taking the problem seriously. An exception might be with regards to allternative energy generation, but that is being motivated by peak oil not by climate change. Humankind is apparently determined to enter a dark age and undergo a population crash. ...less
"
|
|
August 23
|
|
New comment on Bruce's review of
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
(see all 2 comments)
|
|
August 14
|
|
New comment on Thomas's review of
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
(see all 2 comments)
|
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations (Paperback)
by Eugene Linden
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in August, 2008
Bruce said:
"This book is about climate change and its affects on civilization. It starts out reminiscent of Jared Diamond's Collapse in that it goes through example of civilizations that died at least partially because of rapid climate change. The book then be...more
This book is about climate change and its affects on civilization. It starts out reminiscent of Jared Diamond's Collapse in that it goes through example of civilizations that died at least partially because of rapid climate change. The book then becomes a primer on how rapid climate change can occur and how man made global warming could cause a rapid climate change event. The interesting emphasis is on the notion of sudden rapid climate change. Too many people believe climate change will be a slow grinding process that gives us a chance at least to continually adapt to the problem. This makes clear that that is not necessarily so, that Earth's past includes severe and sudden climate changes. The book is very well done as a climate change primer and appropriately circumspect in its conclusions. It's not simply a run for the hills doomsday book. Rather it does a good job of educating the public on various aspects of climate change. Eugene Linden has always been an excellent popularizer of science topics and this book is no exception. ...less
"
|
|
July 13
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
Iron Sunrise (Paperback)
by Charles Stross
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
read in July, 2008
Bruce said:
"This is a sci-fi thriller that use a variation what one might call the puppet master theme (people whose minds are taken over by implants and controlled by others) as part of the plot. I'm always bothered by the puppet master theme in novels because...more
This is a sci-fi thriller that use a variation what one might call the puppet master theme (people whose minds are taken over by implants and controlled by others) as part of the plot. I'm always bothered by the puppet master theme in novels because it is apparently not appreciated how unrealistic the theme is. Except for the puppet master theme there is nothing over the top with regards to the science. Several of the characters are interesting and the plot is complicated enough with a few twists to make it an interesting thriller. This is not the sort of sci-fi that is visionary or contains profound ideas about the future. Rather, it's a nicely done thriller in a futuristic setting. ...less
"
|
|
July 06
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy (Hardcover)
by Gwyneth Cravens
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Bruce said:
"For me this book was annoying. It is a "green nuclear" book that argues that nuclear power is necessary to save the world from global warming. The author does this by taking tours with a nuclear scientist through the whole nuclear cycle f...more
For me this book was annoying. It is a "green nuclear" book that argues that nuclear power is necessary to save the world from global warming. The author does this by taking tours with a nuclear scientist through the whole nuclear cycle from mine to power plant to waste storage repository. The author also takes a tour of a coal plant which emphasizes how bad coal is from an environmental standpoint for generating energy. Much of what the book does is talk about radiation pollution, and the book does a good job of allaying fears in that regard. I suppose with the public in general this needs to be done, but that is what I found annoying about the work. Radiation pollution is not the problem with nuclear power--despite the public's perception it never was. The problem with nuclear power is the cost. The book hardly addresses cost at all except to say it is cheap. But that is just begging the question. In fact, the cited cost of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository, military radioactive waste cleanup projects, nuclear research facilities, and other places she toured suggests otherwise. These are just a few of the costs that are never considered when people price out nuclear power. So too, the author buys the claim without questioning it that there is not enough continually reliable renewable energy to provide base load electricity needs for the power grid. This is just incorrect (for example, the author has apparently never heard of high-altitude wind turbines, or wave surge power plants). In particular, high-altitude wind energy has the potential to be cheaper and much simpler to implement than a nuclear revival and at a fraction of the cost. The nuclear scientist, Rip (D. Richardson Anderson), is the person that escorts the author on her tours and explains to her why nuclear power is the way to go. Rip does a great job of making the case for nuclear. But, when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail, and if you are a nuclear scientist then it is not surprising that nuclear power is the answer to our energy crisis. The book does a good job of educating the public about the safety of nuclear power, and that is important given that there is going to be something of a nuclear revival. But in suggesting that nuclear power is necessary to save the world, the book is a failure; mainly because the author just didn't do her homework with regards to alternative energy sources. ...less
"
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Hardcover)
by Oliver W. Sacks
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Bruce said:
"Like other books by Sacks this work consists of a series of essays on people with neural disorders. This one is a little different from earlier works in that all the disorders affect a person's musical ability. As always Sacks is a wonderful essayi...more
Like other books by Sacks this work consists of a series of essays on people with neural disorders. This one is a little different from earlier works in that all the disorders affect a person's musical ability. As always Sacks is a wonderful essayist and the stories are quite interesting. In that regard, the three star rating is unfair. If this had been my first Sacks book a sense of wonder would have definitely warranted a higher rating. However, given my familiarity with earlier Sacks works and even familiarity with some of the specific cases he discusses this book does not elicit that sense of wonder. Nevertheless, this is a fine piece of science writing and if you haven't read anything by Sacks or you are particularly interested in musical ability then I highly recommend this book. ...less
"
|
|
July 02
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
The Best American Science Writing 2002 (Best American Science Writing (Paperback))
by Matt Ridley, Alan Lightman
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Bruce said:
"This year's edition was not as interesting to me as the 2003 edition. Sarah Hrdy's essay arguing that like many animals humans practice cooperative breeding, that is, raising children is most successful when it is a community (or at least extended f...more
This year's edition was not as interesting to me as the 2003 edition. Sarah Hrdy's essay arguing that like many animals humans practice cooperative breeding, that is, raising children is most successful when it is a community (or at least extended family) effort was probably my favorite work in the book. Five years later the "Eco-optimist" essay on Bjorn Lomborg, the environmentalist skeptic, is truly anachronistic. Statements like "the price of oil adjusted for inflation is half the price in the 1980's" just seem laughable with oil over 140 dollars a barrel. I also liked Atul Gawande's essay about a newscaster that undertook an operation to prevent her from being able to blush given that I live in Indiana and have seen this newscaster on television. Finally, I would recommend "George Divoky's Planet," an essay about a 27 year long study of black guillemots, an Arctic bird. By virtue of its length the data set from the study has proven very useful in documenting the affects of global warming in the Arctic. It provides a great riposte to the essay on Lomborg. None of the essays are bad (afterall, this is a best of book), but all in all it apparently wasn't a great year for science writing. ...less
"
|
|
June 26
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
Rolling Thunder (Hardcover)
by John Varley
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
Bruce said:
"This work is an homage to the juvenile science fiction of Robert Heinlein. In that regard it is very well done; it is very Heinleinesque. I grew up reading Heinlein's juvenile sci-fi, and very much enjoyed it. One way in which this book is similar...more
This work is an homage to the juvenile science fiction of Robert Heinlein. In that regard it is very well done; it is very Heinleinesque. I grew up reading Heinlein's juvenile sci-fi, and very much enjoyed it. One way in which this book is similar to those books is that it has what I call a Manichean shallowness to it. The world is black and white, there are certain values propounded as simply common sense, and there is no critical thought provoked vis a vis those values. This is probably okay for juvenile fiction (once again I greatly enjoyed those books as an adolescent), but as an adult I find it a bit annoying (and in fairness some of Heinlein's more adult work such as _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ is very thought provoking with regards to values). There are two ways in which the work is different from a Heinlein juvenile novel. One is the sexual explicitness. That just was not possible in the 60's for a juvenile work, though the sexuality in the book very much reflects Heinleinian values. The second difference is the length of the book. It's just flat longer than Heinlein's juvenile works, and by the time the protagonist reached the Jovian system I had begun to wonder if the story was going to go anywhere at all. The author does an excellent job of describing the Jovian system. The aliens are imaginative, and we do finally get some excitement. All in all it is an outstanding homage to Heinlein's juvenile works, but as an adult I prefer more adult works. ...less
"
|
|
June 23
|
|
Bruce
gave
to:
Promise of the Wolves: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Dorothy Hearst (Goodreads author!)
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
|
| |
|
