Introduction to Modern Climate Change

by Andrew E. Dessler

The third edition of this introductory textbook for both science students and non-science majors has been brought completely up-to-date. It reflects recent scientific progress in the field, as well as advances in the political arena around climate change. As in previous editions, it is tightly focussed on anthropogenic climate change. The first part of the book concentrates on the science of modern climate change, including evidence that the Earth is warming and a basic description of climate physics. Concepts such as radiative forcing, climate feedbacks, and the carbon cycle are discussed and explained using basic physics and algebra. The second half of the book goes beyond the science to address the economics and policy options to address climate change. The book's goal is for a student to leave the class ready to engage in the public policy debate on the climate crisis.

Genres: Climate Change, Science, Nonfiction, Environment, School, Planetary Science, Academic

286 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2011

Reviews

[Meg Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is perfect as an introduction so great job Dessler. The book throughly explained climate change in simple terms which would be beneficial to students and the general public who are just learning about climate change. The reason I gave this book 3 stars is simply because I did not learn much at all from this book because I had learned most of the information in prior classes. So the real issue is why is my THIRD year Climate Change prof asking me to read this?

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting reading date estimated.
My favorite textbook of the semester by a landslide! Quite possibly my favorite textbook *ever.*

WIL
1) CONVERSATIONAL. I almost never see textbooks written in a tone that *genuinely* appeals to students. Dessler didn't talk down to students. He didn't try to confuse us with words that weren't properly or fully explained. This book is the full textual equivalent of a series of lectures directed to undergrads in the hopes that they will LEARN from the content. It's beautiful.

2) HUMOR. I cannot praise Dessler enough for this. Sir, you've made my semester a bazillion times better with the brief interjections of humor. Those casual references to your dog? Those side jokes and anecdotes that helped explain the content? It was all fantastically hilarious and exactly the sort of motivation I needed to read a textbook. Heck, at times, I actually really looked forward to reading this. Insane! That never happens with textbooks!

3) well- explained and organized. I already touched on this in 1, but it deserves its own WIL commentary. Man, does Dessler know how to make a textbook. Everything was broken down logically with supporting diagrams when necessary/helpful. The explanations themselves were so CLEAR. I didn't realize how many times I had to reread paragraphs in other textbooks until I got to this one and realized how *little* I had to reread. Any content that he hadn't explicitly explained in each chapter but had referenced in other chapters was re-explained/summarized for the reader's benefit. It's almost like??? He actually cares about student learning?? Incredible.

4) Just plain interesting. Now, obviously, I'm a tad biased. I'm a geography and environmental sustainability major, so this whole book is right up my alley. HOWEVER! Climate change is not my specialty, nor was I expecting to ever really enjoy it, until this class and textbook rolled around. Dessler made me interested in a topic which I previously didn't particularly care for.

WIDL
1) Chapter 4. I'm a science major. I like science. Math is.... well math is on thin ice, but I know it's part of the job, so I generally have a healthy respect for it. Chapter 4 though. Aghhhh. I struggled with this more than the other chapters (mostly the first half or so) because the equations were just so gosh-darn intimidating. Dessler's explanations were a little lackluster here too. The concepts weren't quite as comprehensible, and I think this chapter might be better served as two separate chapters entirely. Just a thought. Hardly anything to complain about with this book though. (Way to go, Dessler!)

Neutral Ground
1) I think one of the reasons I was really able to appreciate this was because I had some *atrocious* books this semester. Not to name any names (you can very easily find my textbook reviews if you're so inclined), but several were disastrously organized with an obnoxious and uppity tone that made reading *exhausting.* I think because I had those awful ones, Dessler's really stood out all the more. Mind you, this book stands out just fine on its own because its so wonderfully unique, but this is just a minor addition to maybe bring some of this glowing praise back down to earth.

2) Doom and gloom. This is hardly Dessler's fault. Climate change is an inherently doom-and-gloom topic because it literally foretells the destruction of the world at our own hands. (Isn't that fun?) So this book tended to be on the darker side (dark academia, if you will). It was decently well-balanced with Dessler's humor, but still a few chapters got me down. It's hard to read about how we're setting ourselves up for failure and have been for 250 years (because no one wants to take responsibility for our actions) and still feel light on your feet. There are more than a few calls to action, so again, clearly Dessler was trying, and I appreciate that. But for me, it was more depressing than I hoped for. This isn't a WIDL because it just comes with the territory, and it seems to me that Dessler handled it in the best way possible. I'm just an especially anxious person, so it didn't always sit well with me.

[Lodin Ellingsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the science necessary to understand climate change. After reading this book, I am definitely more knowledgeable about why we believe that humans are the cause of the recent increase in global temperatures.

The book introduces the climate models that are used to show that global warming is mostly due to humans. These models consider radiation, convection, carbon cycles, and so on. The models predict no increase in temperature from pre-industrial times without CO2 from human production, but a clear increase is observed when CO2 from fossil fuel combustion is considered. Although there is a surprisingly large spread between different models, the conclusion seems to clearly hold based on the figures presented. However, I would be interested to read more about why some people dispute humans' contribution to global warming, as this remains unclear after reading this book.

[Damian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptionally well written and organised. Despite lack of enough knowledge on climate change, but with a tiny bit of science background, I was able to read through the book from start to finish.

Note this isn't very comprehensive, and dips into policy should probably be taken with a grain of salt since they seem more opinionated than objective.

However, the explanation of the scientific principles are quite decent.

Overall, would highly recommend to anyone looking for a first book (of many) in climate change, especially policy makers who need to be informed of the science.

[Ricky · Rating 4 out of 5]

So simple. So depressing.

[kxtera meddins (maresh) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book to read to give you an overall view of climate change. It deals with both climate change in the past and present. The science behind climate change is explained in a way you can understand even if you don't have a background in science.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.”

[Rohit · Rating 4 out of 5]

good textbook for getting familiar with the science behind climate change. recommend it to those who want to be able to quantify (through order of magnitude estimates) for themselves the different mechanisms responsible for climate change (should be very easy to follow for STEM students. those with physics/math background can maybe appreciate some of the finer details). More importantly, the book provides the ABCs of climate policy, which students with a science background may not be familiar with (like me). overall a good starting point to get initiated on climate science & policy

[Sarah ^~^ · Rating 5 out of 5]

logging a textbook because I actually did all my readings for once

Really shocked this has any reviews below 4-5 stars. Literally in my 4th year of an ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE degree and this is by far the best text I've ever read on global climate change. Genuinely learned more from this textbook than I have in 75% of my major classes. UC Davis you will rue the day you made me take a dozen obligatory classes before this one.

[Roni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it had periodic spelling/grammatical errors that should have been caught by the editors, overall the book was an excellent walk through for a general audience to understand piece-by-piece the big picture and problem of climate change.

[Zubayer]

i want to learn

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far my favorite textbook I have ever read. It is engaging and not intimidating to those new to the field. Also, the references to Bailey the dog made my entire day anytime I came across them.

[lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank god this class is over it just made me depressed
very enlightening though

[Cordelia Crawford]

For class

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good textbook. Easy to , yet informative

[Mehrdad Lashgari · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s one of the wonderful book I’ve ever read. It’s starting from the physics, the climate, the history, to the modern area and at the end the politics and the answer to this question that what we have to do?

Recommended to anyone wants to what is going on in climate science.

[Arash Narchi]

Good intro to the issues of climate change.