Climate by A Very Short Introduction

Climate: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Maslin is a comprehensive overview of the global climate system.

The book covers all aspects of climate, from the processes that allow energy to reach the Earth and how it is redistributed around the planet by the ocean-atmosphere system, to the relationship and differences between climate and the weather, and how climate has affected life on Earth and human settlements.

It also examines the evidence which underlies both accounts of past developments and dramatic predictions by scientists, and outlines some of the approaches being taken to tackle climate change.

The book begins by discussing the ways in which humans rely on climate and how climate determines our lifestyles, clothing and even our cultures.

It then moves into more technical topics such as the definition of ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change’, the history of the global warming debate, evidence for climate change, and possible future impacts.

Professor Maslin unpicks the controversies surrounding the global warming hypothesis, explains basic concepts, and examines the evidence which underlies both accounts of past developments and dramatic predictions by scientists.

He argues that global warming is not a mere ‘scientific issue’, but ‘challenging the very structure of our global society’.

The book concludes by touching on the issue of climate change, outlining some of the approaches are now being taken to tackle it. It provides an incentive to read more on the subject, as global warming is connected to global poverty and the unequal distribution of global wealth.

Overall, Climate: A Very Short Introduction is an accessible and informative introduction to the complexities of both the science and the politics of climate change.

It provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the global climate system, and encourages them to think about the implications of climate change and how we can tackle it.

Useful Takeaways

• Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.
• Human activities have been the main driver of climate change since the 1800s. The book does a fabulous job at showing how this cycle is is very different from past warming / cooling cycles.
• Global warming is connected to global poverty and the unequal distribution of global wealth.
• Climate change is challenging the very structure of our global society.
• We must take action to tackle climate change.

What I Liked

The Very Short Introduction series of books is always simply brilliant. They are exactly what their name says – and it’s great for topics that I sort of want to know about…but don’t want to track down the “best” book on the topic, or wade through a college textbook.

Hoooo boy…so this topic is a crazy, crowded field. And this topic is generally divided between difficult to parse IPCC reports; unreadable scientific papers; overly simplified pop-science books; and ridiculous pop-policy-political books. So – I loved how this book struck a tone between the highly nuanced science of climate change and the on-the-ground real-life implication of climate change. I feel like I have a bit of a framework to filter all the otherwise out-of-context stream of new discoveries and news. It’s great highy recommend.

What I Did Not Like

Not a whole lot – I loved the whole book.

I do think that climate change is moving so fast that the book will need to be updated very soon…even though I did learn from this book that the basic science has always been the same. Nothing has changed there since the hypothesis was first tested over a hundred years ago.

Find this book at your local library or at Amazon.