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Everybody knows the Dark Ages weren't really dark, right? Not so fast, counters archaeological journalist David Keys, maybe it's more than just a slightly judgmental metaphor. His book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World, based on years of careful research spanning five continents, argues that sometime in A.D. 535, a worldwide disaster struck and uprooted nearly every culture then extant. Given contemporary reports of the sun being blotted out or weakened for nearly a year and a half, followed by famine, drought, and plague, it's hard not to think that so many reports from all over the world must be related.
Keys shows a keen grasp of both the written historical record from Asia, Africa, and Europe and the archaeological evidence from the Americas, and tells many tales of great havoc destroying old empires and laying the ground for new ones. Rome may have fallen, but Spain, England, and France rose in its place, while farther east, Japan and China each unified and gained strength after the chaos. Could an enormous volcanic eruption have had such influence on the world as a whole, and could the same thing happen tomorrow? Catastrophe makes no predictions, but leaves the reader with a new sense of history, nature, and destiny. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
It was a catastrophe without precedent in recorded history: for months on end, starting in A.D. 535, a strange, dusky haze robbed much of the earth of normal sunlight. Crops failed in Asia and the Middle East as global weather patterns radically altered. Bubonic plague, exploding out of Africa, wiped out entire populations in Europe. Flood and drought brought ancient cultures to the brink of collapse. In a matter of decades, the old order died and a new world—essentially the modern world as we know it today—began to emerge.
In this fascinating, groundbreaking, totally accessible book, archaeological journalist David Keys dramatically reconstructs the global chain of revolutions that began in the catastrophe of A.D. 535, then offers a definitive explanation of how and why this cataclysm occurred on that momentous day centuries ago.
The Roman Empire, the greatest power in Europe and the Middle East for centuries, lost half its territory in the century following the catastrophe. During the exact same period, the ancient southern Chinese state, weakened by economic turmoil, succumbed to invaders from the north, and a single unified China was born. Meanwhile, as restless tribes swept down from the central Asian steppes, a new religion known as Islam spread through the Middle East. As Keys demonstrates with compelling originality and authoritative research, these were not isolated upheavals but linked events arising from the same cause and rippling around the world like an enormous tidal wave.
Keys's narrative circles the globe as he identifies the eerie fallout from the months of darkness: unprecedented drought in Central America, a strange yellow dust drifting like snow over eastern Asia, prolonged famine, and the hideous pandemic of the bubonic plague. With a superb command of ancient literatures and historical records, Keys makes hitherto unrecognized connections between the "wasteland" that overspread the British countryside and the fall of the great pyramid-building Teotihuacan civilization in Mexico, between a little-known "Jewish empire" in Eastern Europe and the rise of the Japanese nation-state, between storms in France and pestilence in Ireland.
In the book's final chapters, Keys delves into the mystery at the heart of this global catastrophe: Why did it happen? The answer, at once surprising and definitive, holds chilling implications for our own precarious geopolitical future. Wide-ranging in its scholarship, written with flair and passion, filled with original insights, Catastrophe is a superb synthesis of history, science, and cultural interpretation.
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In A.D. 535-536, a climatic catastrophe occurred. It was of such mammoth proportions, it blotted out much of the heat and light of the sun for eighteen months and resulted -- directly or indirectly -- in climatic chaos, famine, migration, war, and massive political change on every continent. In other words, it altered history.
In this breakthrough examination, British archaeological journalist David Keys traces the identity and roots of this catastrophe -- continent by continent and virtually country by country -- showing how it is directly linked to the development of our modern world. The Plague, the rise of Islam, the fall of the Roman Empire, the movement of Asiatic tribes, the beginnings of the great South American empires -- Keys connects all these events that have previously been considered separate and shows us the far-reaching effects of incidents that first appear only localized. He makes us see history in holistic terms, as an integrated, planet-wide phenomenon.
In this fascinating, impeccably researched, and accessible book, Keys's innovative conclusions demonstrate how closely entwined global events truly are, and prove we must change the way we look at our past -- and thus, our future.
Customer Reviews:
My 100-word book review.......2007-03-28
In Catastrophe, author David Keys builds a convincing case for sudden climate change having occurred in the early 6th century, an abrupt dip in worldwide temperatures that would have had massive long-term consequences for civilisations all over the globe. Results could have included the weakening of the Byzantines, the downfall of Teotihuacan and the rise of Islam. This is a fascinating book, and the author's identification of a super volcano as the culprit is highly plausible. However, I think Keys possibly over-estimates this event as a shaper of our modern world, given the existence of so many other important factors.
A truly fascinating history.......2006-12-14
This is truly one of the most fascinating theories in ancient history. A volcano that shaped the modern world by forcing the migration of the huns, the crop failures in the Middle East that led to the rise of Islam and the start of the barbarian migrations towards Rome. It is almost too hard to summarize but if you believe that climate can change history than this is the book that will provide excellent evidence on that idea. Truly a masterpiece of an idea.
Looking for a catstrophe?.......2006-09-12
How much of human history has been shaped by catastrophic events? This exhaustively researched document seems like a natural place to find the answer. Unfortunately, the author's fascination with lurid details of human torture and dismemberment caused me to put the book down after just 60 blood-soaked pages. It's pretty clear that Mr. Key's interests in history do not run parallel to my own. I also found myself wondering about Key's qualifications as "Archaeological Journalist." I guess there are plenty of people who like reading tabloid-style history, and good luck to them, but I much prefer a calmer and scientific perspective of Derek Ager, in his book "The New Catastrophism, The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History." -- Auralgo
FORCED CONCLUSIONS?.......2006-03-12
Mr. Key's authoritative research created a unique and new approach to the writing of history. His synthesis of science, culture and history was informative and entertaining. He identifies the volcanic eruption between Sumatra and Java in 535 that led to a climatic disaster that he believes helped create the modern world. He did convince this reader that the "Dark Ages were more literal than figurative." However, many of his historical conclusions were overstated. Chapters 19-29 lacked a depth of evidence and were too speculative. His constant use of words like "undoubtedly" made the reader question if he truly beleived his entire thesis? I concluded that he was at most one third correct, but ended in disagreeing that climate changes "alone" caused the birth of the modern world. I give it 4 stars for effort, but only 3 in its totality.
Interesting, relevant, but sometimes a bit stretched........2005-06-28
For the most part I found this book to be enjoyable, but it seems that Keys attempted in some areas to force his conclusion. Also, the same arguement seemed to be repeated far too often. Although I liked that the evidence of climate change was presented for essentially the entire planet, the conclusions at the end of each civilization were repetitive, simply restating the same thing (although, I suppose that was the point). I began to lose patience about 1/3 way through the book, but was able to persist through the conclusion. Perhaps it would have been better had Keys not spent so much time on minutae of Roman history and decline and had moved through the evidence quicker. The latter chapters on Asian and American experience were a little faster reading, likely due to the lack of minutae, largely due to the lack of records from which Keys could draw on. The final arguement on the causes of so much misfortune was compelling, but also left me feeling like our participation in the environment may all be for naught, since the Yellowstone caldera could explode at any moment, wiping us all out. I could not determine if this book wanted to be a book about climate change, history, or science.
Book Description
Fred Pearce has been writing about climate change for eighteen years, and the more he learns, the worse things look. Where once scientists were concerned about gradual climate change, now more and more of them fear we will soon be dealing with abrupt change resulting from triggering hidden tipping points. Even President Bush's top climate modeler, Jim Hansen, warned in 2005 that "we are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond which there is no redemption."
As Pearce began working on this book, normally cautious scientists beat a path to his door to tell him about their fears and their latest findings. With Speed and Violence tells the stories of these scientists and their workâfrom the implications of melting permafrost in Siberia and the huge river systems of meltwater beneath the icecaps of Greenland and Antarctica to the effects of the "ocean conveyor" and a rare molecule that runs virtually the entire cleanup system for the planet.
Above all, the scientists told him what they're now learning about the speed and violence of past natural climate changeâand what it portends for our future. With Speed and Violence is the most up-to-date and readable book yet about the growing evidence for global warming and the large climatic effects it may unleash.
"Nature is fragile, environmentalists often tell us. But the lesson of this book is that that it is not so. The truth is far more worrying. She is strong and packs a serious counter-punch. Global warming will very probably unleash unstoppable planetary forces. And they will not be gradual. The history of our planet's climate shows that it does not do gradual change. Under pressure, whether from sunspots or orbital wobbles or the depredations of humans, it lurches – virtually overnight."âfrom the Introduction
"If you want to quickly get up to date on climate change and its consequences, I recommend With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change. If you can read only one book on climate change, this is it."
âLester Brown, president, Earth Policy Institute
"Pearce's survey of abrupt climate change science is a compelling and terrifying read." âIn Brief (newsletter for Earth Justice)
"You must read this book." âThe Cost of Energy website
Praise for When the Rivers Run Dry
"An enriching and farsighted work."
âJai Singh, San Francisco Chronicle
"The one-word review of Pearce's book is: Terrifying. Whether he's writing about the Indian peasant farmers who draw from poisoned wells every day, the oblivious Arizonans who run fountains in the desert, or the apocalyptic moonscape that is the Aral Sea (once a thriving fishery, now a toxic cesspool), Pearce manages to convey the immense wreckage human activity is making of our lifeblood."
âJohn McGrath, Grist
"Pearce provides a compelling compendium of place-based water stories that reveal just how ground-shifting the world's water predicament will be."
âSandra L. Postel, Science
"In a highly readable style, Pearce makes the case for a new water ethos."
âTodd Neale, Audubon
"Pearce cogently presents the alarming ways in which this ecological emergency is affecting population centers, human health, food production, wildlife habitats, and species viability. Having crisscrossed the globe to research the economic, scientific, cultural, and political causes and ramifications of this under publicized tragedy, Pearce's powerful imagery, penetrating analyses, and passionate advocacy make this required reading for environmental proponents and civic leaders everywhere."
âBooklist
"He uses up-to-date science, explains difficult concepts in accurate, entertaining ways and includes a scientific glossary. The result is a gripping, highly readable bookâperhaps the best discussion of climate change for lay readers."âAmerican Magazine
Customer Reviews:
The most important book I've ever read.......2007-09-20
This is the most important book I've ever read. Each chapter is about a climate scientist's work and thinking, covering about 25 researchers. The climatic record in glacial ice cores, sea floor sediment cores, rocks and tree rings shows that climate has changed drastically in very short time periods in the past. Humans are perturbing the system beyond anything that has happened for millions of years. No one knows what the climate system will do, but many possible scenarios are cataclysmic and could happen soon. This book is authoritative and fully believable; it's about Nobel Prize winners and top-flight scientists, not politicians and hacks. Before I had read half of this book I went and bought a Toyota Prius, switched my home to a green electric utility, installed 100% compact florescent bulbs in my home and bought the most efficient laundry appliances available. If you like science, it's also a fascinating read.
When scientists admit they are very afraid.......2007-09-18
My favorite quote from the book: "Hansen says the world, or more particularly Greenland, is on a slippery slope to hell."
Scientists, if you remember the archetypal Spock on Star Trek, generally don't go around making pronouncements or admitting to emotions; rather, they hedge, cautiously state facts, and keep their moods to themselves because they are "subjective", the cardinal weakness in the ethos of science. They don't want to be laughing stocks, lose their grant money or get blacklisted from their elite journals. Their careers and name are very important to them. So it is very impressive when great numbers of these types from the world over admit to a profound "unease" ranging to "terror"- and say they are kept awake at night by current findings regarding climate tipping points. We should be afraid, if they are.
This is a great book to make us afraid. Other reviewers here have laid out in detail what is in the book; I just say, read it and pass it on. It is "an easy read" too, even entertaining, for those who don't like getting bogged down in dry science writing. And if you like to have the hair stand up on the back of your neck. In particular, see: "Chimneys" ,"Amazon Jungle", and "Methane from Melting Permafrost".
Lesley Thomas, author of arctic eco-novel Flight of the Goose
For those who want one good book on the topic, this is it!.......2007-09-10
I've just finished reading With Speed and Violence, and I was so impressed with it that I decided to post my first Amazon review to show my appreciation. I do a lot of reading about global warming and climate change--academic papers, magazine and news articles, and probably more than two dozen books by now. I found Pearce's book to be a thorough yet concise overview of all the main topics in the science, as well as including a few interesting areas that are not given a lot of coverage. But what makes this book stand apart is the way the author covers each topic in a separate, brief chapter that centers around an interesting anecdote with terrific writing that makes challenging science clear and compelling. I'm sorry if I sound like a commercial, but I do highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who only wants to read one book on the subject. And if you think global warming is scary, take a look at this author's other book, When the Rivers Run Dry, for an equally wonderful but eye-opening read.
A must read for all humans on this planet!.......2007-08-28
This book should be required reading in every High School and for anybody that has an opinion on Global Warming. I recommend reading the Appendix before finishing the book so you don't get too depressed or give up before the end. It is a shame though, that we have to get to the point of fear of survival before we do anything about our destructive behavior. Having a clean and healthy planet is not enough of an incentive to counter our materialistic consumerism economies.
A bit scattered but makes significant points.......2007-08-06
The idea of a tipping point in climate change comes from chaos theory in which a system may change in a way that is not only not predictable, but brings about a situation very different than what existed before. A tipping point can be compared to a phase transition in physics in which, for example, liquid water becomes something strikingly different when heated to the boiling point, or lowered to the freezing point. Steam and ice are very different from liquid water in many important ways. So it might be with the earth's climate. If too much fresh water melts and pours into the North Atlantic to join the once warm water from the Gulf Stream, the composition of the water may have too little salt in it to prevent freezing and instead of sinking to return in convey belt fashion to the tropics, it may just sit there as ice. That will stop the great ocean conveyer and make much of Europe nearly as cold as Siberia.
A tipping point of great magnitude can be reached through a feedback mechanism. For example as the planet warms, ice melts. Ice is white and reflects light away from the planet. But if the ice is now darker water it will tend to absorb the radiation and heat the planet further. This will lead to more ice melting which will lead to more heat being absorbed which will lead to more ice melting, etc., which will lead to we know not where.
Science journalist Fred Pearce's intent in this book is to look at a number of these natural climate mechanisms to see if they are in danger of reaching some kind of tipping point, and what the consequences of reaching that point might be. One of the consequences may be a point of no return, such as a runaway greenhouse effect in which the worse case scenario is the earth gets as hot as Venus.
What he finds out is that climate mechanisms are interrelated and enormously complex, which is one of the reasons there is so much controversy about global warming. Is this warming a result of natural cyclic processes about which we can do little or nothing, or is something unprecedented going on because we are burning vast quantities of fossil fuels? That is one of the most important questions of our times and one of the most difficult to answer. Most scientists believe that we are contributing significantly to climate change, but there are others that think differently. See Singer, S. Fred and Dennis T. Avery Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years (2007) for a contrarian point of view.
As Pearce implies in the title, "With Speed and Violence," we may not have the luxury of a leisurely investigation into the factors that are leading to climate change because something catastrophic may happen a lot faster than was previously believed. Not only that but the change may be irreversible. What is particularly scary is that we may already be past the point of no return and not know it, or we may cross that line sometime in the near future.
One thing is clear. It's getting hotter. Whether human activities are contributing significantly to this rise in temperature, and whether that is good or bad news is uncertain. Because the stakes are so high, I believe that we must err on the side of caution and put an end to the pollution of the atmosphere with all deliberate speed. Of course that is not going to happen.
Pearce knows this, and so he advocates a more realistic goal. He begins by noting that at the start of the Industrial Revolution, there were 660 billion tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. After a couple of centuries of burning fossil fuels we have 880 billion tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. To prevent triggering some kind of "dangerous" climate change, he estimates we need to keep the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below one trillion tons. He believes it is "a tough call" as to whether we will make it or not (from the "Appendix: The Trillion-Ton Challenge").
Some of the 37 chapters in the book deal with other greenhouse gases, such as methane; and some of the chapters deal with the effect the shrinking Amazon forest is having on climate change, and other chapters deal with the history of various climate mechanisms. There are chapters on smoke in the air, the effect the Sahara Desert has on the Amazon jungle (it fertilizes it!), the danger in melting bogs which will release methane gas, the effect of the sun's cycles, etc. One of the problems with this book is that Pearce considers so many factors and looks at climate change from so many different perspectives, that the reader may very well come away lost in the jungle. I had the sense that Pearce himself bit off more than he could chew and ended up with a book of 278 pages that really needed to be a much larger volume or, better yet, several different volumes that he might write after further digestion of the material.
Let's faced it the climate is enormously complex and we are only beginning to make some kind of sense of it, at least in terms of being able to forecast the changes to come. Each of Pearce's chapters represents perhaps a topic for further research.
Book Description
The impact on climate from 200 years of industrial development is an everyday fact of life, but did humankind's active involvement in climate change really begin with the industrial revolution, as commonly believed? William Ruddiman's provocative new book argues that humans have actually been changing the climate for some 8,000 years--as a result of the earlier discovery of agriculture.
The "Ruddiman Hypothesis" will spark intense debate. We learn that the impact of farming on greenhouse-gas levels, thousands of years before the industrial revolution, kept our planet notably warmer than if natural climate cycles had prevailed--quite possibly forestalling a new ice age.
Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum is the first book to trace the full historical sweep of human interaction with Earth's climate. Ruddiman takes us through three broad stages of human history: when nature was in control; when humans began to take control, discovering agriculture and affecting climate through carbon dioxide and methane emissions; and, finally, the more recent human impact on climate change. Along the way he raises the fascinating possibility that plagues, by depleting human populations, also affected reforestation and thus climate--as suggested by dips in greenhouse gases when major pandemics have occurred. The book concludes by looking to the future and critiquing the impact of special interest money on the global warming debate.
Eminently readable and far-reaching in argument, Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum shows us that even as civilization developed, we were already changing the climate in which we lived.
Customer Reviews:
This author's point is quite different that what we usually hear.......2007-10-01
In the current furor of so much smug certainty about climate change (from all over the place), here is a gent - and scientist - with a different slant. We humans indeed do affect the global climate, he claims, but we started doing so a very long time ago. He concludes the beginning somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. The first effects came from man's developing agricultural products: from burning forests to create farmlands mainly, thus putting tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Then there came the insertion of a much stronger greenhouse gas, methane, from cattle husbandry and rice growing. This thesis has and will certainly spark much more discussion, and more importantly, research. Mr. Ruddiman had written a summary of this in Scientific American Magazine previously. Much of this book is his discussion to back up his thesis.
Maybe the best strength of this book is its readability. The author's style is easy to understand, as is most of his science. The science gets a little more obscure when he is defending his stance against selected opposing arguments from fellow scientists. This is unfortunate, because some readers will come away from that chapter wondering if he covered the debate, or just danced around them. If your political tendencies tend to the left, you might be upset that the author does not loudly and immediately condemn modern western industrial man for his evil environmental ways. If you tend to the right, you might be upset that he points a definite finger at homo sapiens for being a contributor to climate change. This is why reading this is good for everyone! Since Ruddiman is a scientist, we can assume that he is merely trying to convince us that his research is on the mark. Fair enough.
Unfairly enough, the author-scientist does not quite succeed in keeping his balance as the book gets closer and closer to the end. In spite of his claim that he kept his editorializing until the epilog, the last chapters paint a despairing picture of mankind and what we are doing - and cannot do for the future - to our environment. For a scientist, it should strike the reader as odd that he wrings his hands at the thought of humans never being able to solve our way out of a basically scientific-technological issue: climate change. The fact that there is no serious mention in this book of nuclear energy, low-fuel consumption single transportation, or the many current greenhouse gas absorption projects, clues us that these matters are out of his field. Still, the basic point of this book is new and refreshing, and is worth the price of purchase.
Climate change clarified.......2007-04-12
In a fast 194 pages, with 41 clear illustrations, Professor William Ruddiman gives us the benefit of his many years of experience in Environmental Sciences studying the onset and causes of climatic changes in general, and in particular with regard to the basis of global warming. His presentation is excellent and obviously refined by years of teaching and investigation about this subject matter. You should read this book if you are interested in the evidence about our changing climate, without a sensational biased twist. If you are interested in any of the following questions, you will enjoy learning from this book: What are the influences on our climate created by the earth's wobbling as it travels through its elliptical orbit around the sun? When did global warming really begin? What were the influences of human activities such as early agriculture, wars, plagues, and recent industrialization? How do the oceans and atmosphere interact to produce or buffer climate changes? What are the likely effects of melting sea ice on our homes by the shores? What prices are we going to have to accept in order to clean up our mess? Obviously there has been much said in sound bites currently in the media, but the discussion can be greatly improved by understanding the clear and sensible approach of Dr. Ruddiman.
Turning back the clock on the Anthropocene. .......2007-03-31
When we talk about anthropogenic global warming, we tend to be referring to the dramatic rise in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide since the beginning of the Industrial era, some two hundred years ago. Scientists often refer to this apparent change in the atmosphere as the "Anthropocene," the beginning of significant human impact on the earth.
But what if the Anthropocene started not with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, but some eight thousand years ago?
William Ruddiman, a senior climatologist at the University of Virginia, makes that very argument in his book Plows, Plagues, & Petroleum. Looking back at past paleoclimate data and computer models, Ruddiman noticed that at around 8,000 years ago, carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere should have gone down in association with changes in the Earth's orbital patterns known as Milankovitch Cycles. Instead, he noticed that concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane actually increase, albeit slightly and gradually. Finding no plausible hypothesis for this in his knowledge of earth science, Ruddiman turned to archaeology for clues, and found that the rises in carbon dioxide and methane corresponded with the beginnings of deforestation and landscape burning for agriculture, and the formation of Asia's first rice paddies. Even this relatively small change in human land use (compared to today's scale) was enough to start a long-term trend in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and possibly contributed to the prevention of the next ice age, which he argues is overdue.
It's a compelling argument, and one that Ruddiman describes in an accessible format without being thin on the scientific details. But Ruddiman doesn't stop there; he continues to examine the seemingly anomalous blips in the carbon dioxide record up through the modern age, in an attempt to explain the unusual (but slight) drops in the record that have taken place in the last thousand years or so. Some such blips, Ruddiman argues, follow major pandemics in human history, such as the Bubonic Plague. Following major decreases in human population, large areas of farmland would return to forested conditions and less wood and other fuels would have been burned, which may have accounted for the decrease in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Ruddiman proposes that this drop may have been responsible for the Little Ice Age.
These thought exercises, backed up with computer models and ice core records, are extremely compelling. Ruddiman of course acknowledges that correlation is not causation; that is, simply because two things happen at the same time, doesn't mean that one caused the other to happen. My only significant criticism is with the title; "control" implies a deliberate attempt on the part of humans to forestall the next ice age, which certainly wasn't the case. Otherwise, the book is concise and well-written, and has an excellent reference list (a feature often neglected by popular science writers).
Ruddiman's ideas have caused a lot of healthy debate and inquiry among climate scientists, and have caused a number of people to rethink the assumption that human impact was negligible until the Industrial era. Researchers will continue to test these hypotheses (Ruddiman and colleagues continue to work on the problem, and are now also looking at the impact of the domestication of livestock animals), and while the jury is out on the "Early Anthropocene" hypothesis, in the meantime the ideas (and the book) make for good thinking and great conversation.
~Jacquelyn Gill
How to squeeze a theory that doesn't fit into an old shoe.......2007-03-22
It is regrettable that Ruddiman went unchallenged for so many years at the University of Virginia since I suspect that he might have left the door open for alternative ideas than the conclusions he erroneously came to in writing this book. While Ruddiman has been advancing his theories about mankind's impact on the climate for many years, his conclusions have now been shown to be yet more bad science in a field where politics, money and media hype have ruled for many years.
There are many examples of this in this book, which does not include references to the most recent findings of ice cores which show that the earth's atmosphere has had concentrations of CO2 nearly 20 times today's levels, long before mankind climbed out of the trees. Ruddiman suggests that all of a sudden mankind's short time of walking upright and doing things such as farming, land clearing, building cars, etc. has had a greater impact on the climate than other, far more natural forces have had over the billions of years that the earth has been in existence. While he has a lot of charts and graphs, and he has a lot of history in this rarified field, he really comes to some very suspect conclusions using some very selective observations. And of course the most recent findings regarding the relationship of CO2 and warming, totally debunk the theories and conclusions that Ruddiman espouses about the causes of global warming. ( Increases in CO2 are a lagging indicator of warming, not the cause.)
Is the earth warming up? It looks like it is again, just as it has done hundreds of times in the past, before it cooled down only to heat up again. And no matter how many trillions of dollars worth of "carbon credits" that the signators of the Kyoto Treaty exchange amongst themselves, or Al Gore buys from some peasant as the modern day equivalent of "indulgences" that the Catholic Church sold to atone for sin, the earth will continue to warm, until it cools again.
In reading the overleaf of scientists who agree with Ruddiman's finding, you find the usual cast of CO2 advocates who dismiss legitimate scientific research as being "bought off" by "big oil" while at the same time they live off billions of dollars of taxpayer funded "research" which consists of a lot of junk science produced by hundreds of thousands of scientists, bureaucrats, politicians, news organizations, among others to perpetuate the biggest scam in the history of mankind. It is the scientific equivalent to the "poverty industry" where billions are expended on social experiments which have largely failed to do anything but make "social activists" rich and keep their vassals in serfdom. And irony of irony, much of the CO2 hysteria started with Maggie Thatcher who hyped "global warming" from carbon fuels when she was fighting the trade unions who were producing coal as a reason to go for nuclear energy back when the scientific consensus at the time was the coming ice age.
If you are looking for a book which is actually up to date, and actually has hundreds of references to real research (which this book does not have) you might try Fred Singer and Dennis Avery's book on Unstoppable Global Warming among many, many others who completely disagree with Ruddiman's oft repeated lie that most scientists accept the view that human effects on global climate began during the 1800s and have grown steadily since that time. Nothing could be further from the truth. The earth has had hundreds of episodes of global warming and cooling over many millions of years, some of them far more extreme, and far longer lasting, than anything even the most hysterical hucksters of global warming being caused by CO2 shout about today. It is unfortunate for Ruddiman that he wrote this book before the facts that prove him wrong were discovered in real research.
A great introduction and overview with ample speculation.......2007-01-09
The first half of 'Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum' provides a wonderfully concise and accessible introduction to climate changes science and climate-human interactions. The second half is more speculative and explores how much humans have altered climate over the past 8000 years, with an emphasis on back-of-the-envelope calculations. Others will disagree, but I find such speculative writing important and enjoyable. Climate science is not for the faint of heart yet Ruddiman makes a compelling argument that an educated audience can evaluate and form their own opinions. My only significant complaint is that many of the graphs are very poorly labeled.
Book Description
The sun never sets, the air is twenty degrees below zero, and the ice is moving at four hundred yards an hour. Welcome to the North Pole. In 2003, environmental reporter Andrew Revkin joined a scientific expedition to one of the world's last uncharted frontiers, where he was the first New York Times reporter ever to file stories and photographs from the top of the world. In his quest to understand the pole, Andrew leads readers through the mysterious history of arctic exploration; he follows oceanographers as they drill a hole through nine feet of ice to dive into waters below; peers into the mysteries of climate modeling and global warming; and ultimately shows how the fate of the pole will affect us all.
Customer Reviews:
terranova.......2007-05-26
timely topic, but book isn't exactly dense. more of a children's primer on Arctic issues.
*'Walking on Water' takes on NEW MEANING . . . *.......2007-01-03
After moving 400 yards an hour on an ice floe at the top of the world for three days, Science Writer Andrew Revkin looks down from a helicopter. He watches the icy expanses recede far below while he weighs questions and answers about global warming, and the challenge of presenting these to young readers who are often lured in other directions by iPods & computer games.
Tomorrow's scientists need to be 'shook up' and know there are still discoveries to be made; they can be the ones inventing new techniques needed to retrieve & examine rock core samples from deep below the ice. (See pictures on page 66). They can be detectives competing with the changing ice for answers to frustrating puzzles about the rising seas, for example.
The editor has used engravings and diagrams along with the latest photographs to give an impressive smattering of the history of arctic exploration. The double-spread of a lone seal on pages 100-101 should have been placed to better advantage, to help make Revkin's point about the loneliness of the Arctic where the silence is often interrupted by questions about the future of mankind. This is a excellent, stimulating book for all ages to read and discuss together.
The polar regions have always drawn explorers and it is our luck that the New York Times sent Andrew Revkin to the North to look for ways of stirring the public. We must each take an active interest and help stimulate youthful curiosity by showing the techniques used today. It is not enough to feel the exhilaration of travel without becoming responsible global citizens. In a recent interview by Gwen Iffel on PBS, Revkin cited the "slow drift" of events that do not receive adequate coverage by the media, as for example the recent announcement that the first whale species in China is now extinct. Consider also the projection that by 2040 the Arctic Ocean could be blue for the first time in a thousand years.
Already the levels of contaminates in the bodies of Inuit persons living in the North is beyond acceptable. The Pole is indeed moving . . . can we be instrumental in putting the puzzle pieces back together and work toward unity for the good of the Earth and our children's future?
We must not lose generations of the ingenuity of bright young minds to Wars and the Pestilence of mediocre minds.
Comments on The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World.......2006-09-18
While intended for a young audience this serves as a very basic introduction to Arctic exploration and scientific study. Scientific and political issues mentioned could have been a good springboard for young adults to understand that scientific methods can serve as a process to follow when trying to answer difficult questions. Additionally, it is unfortunate that Mr. Revkin did not include even a passing mention of Dr. John Rae (Fatal Passage). This is a good book to provoke discussion and does little to answer the "big" questions. Mr. Revkin also might consider using a paradigm from Paracelsus that all substances are toxic - its the dose that differentiates the poison.
Average customer rating:
- Occasionally insightful, but generally uninspired
- Important book
- What we should have learned in school about the world...
- Very informative reading
- Debunking the global warming myth!
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Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism
Harm de Blij
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Floods, Famines, and Emperors : El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations
ASIN: 0195315820 |
Book Description
Over the next half century, the human population, divided by culture and economics and armed with weapons of mass destruction, will expand to nearly 9 billion people. Abrupt climate change may throw the global system into chaos; China will emerge as a superpower; and Islamic terrorism and insurgency will threaten vital American interests. How can we understand these and other global challenges? Harm de Blij has a simple answer: by improving our understanding of the world's geography. In Why Geography Matters, de Blij demonstrates how geography's perspectives yield unique and penetrating insights into the interconnections that mark our shrinking world. Preparing for climate change, averting a cold war with China, defeating terrorism: all of this requires geographic knowledge. De Blij also makes an urgent call to restore geography to America's educational curriculum. He shows how and why the U.S. has become the world's most geographically illiterate society of consequence, and demonstrates the great risk this poses to America's national security. Peppering his writing with anecdotes from his own professional travels, de Blij provides an original treatise that is as engaging as it is eye opening. Casual or professional readers in areas such as education, politics, or national security will find themselves with a stimulating new perspective on geography as it continues to affect our world.
Customer Reviews:
Occasionally insightful, but generally uninspired.......2007-08-29
I would describe this book as the rambling--but occasionally insightful--musings of a thoughtful scholar. Unfortunately, many, if not most, of Blij's arguments are not made from a geographic perspective. For instance, his chapter on the European Union rambles on for page after page about the history of the EU from the European Coal and Steel Community, to the European Economic Community, to the European Community, and, finally, to the European Union. That's not to say that's not and interesting and important history lesson for people who are unfamiliar with EU history, but its not geographic! I was hoping for a book of theories explaining human events using reasoning built on spatial orientations or location. Why Geography Matters had some of that, but Blij could have, in my view, omitted much of the voluminous background information. Doing some would have made his book more concise and allowing his genuine insights to be featured more prominently.
And for what its worth, the book could have used a better editor. For instance, on p.160 it refers to "South Ossetia" as a Russian Republic instead of North Ossetia. I noticed a couple errors like this.
Perhaps, I would be more positive about this book if its last chapter hadn't been the low point. The chapter on Africa had absolutely nothing original to say (AIDS is bad, we need to do more to stop it; colonization and slavery were bad too; Africa has been plagued by bad leadership; etc.).
Important book.......2007-08-28
This is an exceptional and needed introduction to Geography and how it relates to world problems.
What we should have learned in school about the world..........2007-05-27
This is essential reading for anyone who should have a sound foundation of knowledge to back up one's social commentary, but doesn't. Geography can be understood and used to understand our world with great clarity. Everyone who watched Al Gore's movie should read this book if only to know that Harm de Blij has been explaining geographic issues for decades better than nearly anyone.
The US Department of Education needs to buy and issue a copy of this book to every teacher in America.
Very informative reading.......2007-05-13
This is definitely a quality work in the field of Geography with an emphasis on Politics i.e. GeoPolitics. However, it is important to point out a couple of incorrect facts I found while reading this work.
1. On page 190 we have the statement, "On an aircraft carrier off the coast of California, President Bush declared "mission accomplished.", regarding the war in Iraq. If you read the speech that President Bush gave, you will find that he never uttered the words "mission accomplished." The author just regurgitated this line from the biased print media i.e. The NYTimes, Time, Newsweek, etc... Intuitively, if you think about it, George Bush, assigns the mission to the military and after assigning the mission to the military he is not going to turn around and say good "mission accomplished. That is what the military's response, will be, to the President, after they have completed the mission. This is reflected by the fact that the military hung a banner up on the aircraft carrier that said "Mission Accomplished."
2. On pages 193-194 The author states. "The American invasion severly damaged the city, which was for months afterward, and remains as of this writing, without a reliable water supply, power, medical facilities, or schools." It is very true that much of the infrastructure in Iraq is severly damaged, but the author has tried to blame this on American firepower and it is simply not true. The precision guided weapons our U.S. forces utilized were excellent at avoiding collateral damage. The truth is more damning for the Saddam regime. THE INFRASTUCTURE DAMAGE WAS CAUSED BY 30 PLUS YEARS OF NEGLECT ON THE PART OF THE BAATH PARTY AND NOT AMERICAN MILITARY MIGHT. Also, the military planners who provided for getting the infrastructure back online, after the war, grossly underestimated the level of the existing infrastructure of Iraq, before the U.S. military even set foot inside the country.
Overall I recommend this work, but it cannot be given five stars due to these errors.
Debunking the global warming myth!.......2007-03-08
This is an excellent book based on scientific fact debunking the "global warming" myth.
I highly recommend this book.
Book Description
The Winds of Change places the horrifying carnage unleashed on New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama by Hurricane Katrina in context.
Climate has been humanity's constant, if moody, companion. At times benefactor or tormentor, climate nurtured the first stirrings of civilization and then repeatedly visited ruin on empires and peoples. Eugene Linden reveals a recurring pattern in which civilizations become prosperous and complacent during good weather, only to collapse when climate changes -- either through its direct effects, such as floods or drought, or indirect consequences, such
as disease, blight, and civil disorder.
The science of climate change is still young, and the interactions of climate with other historical forces are much debated, but the evidence mounts that
climate loomed over the fate of societies from arctic Greenland to the Fertile Crescent and from the lost cities of the Mayans in Central America to the rain forests of Central Africa. Taking into account the uncertainties in both science and the historical record, Linden explores the evidence indicating that climate has been a serial killer of civilizations. The Winds of Change looks at the present and then to the future to determine whether the accused killer is on the prowl, and what it will do in the future.
The tragedy of New Orleans is but the latest instance in which a region prepared for weather disasters experienced in the past finds itself helpless when nature ups the ante. In the closing chapters, Linden explores why warnings about the dangers of climate change have gone unheeded and what is happening with climate today, and he offers perhaps the most explicit look yet at what a haywire climate might do to us. He shows how even a society prepared to absorb such threshold-crossing events as Katrina, the killer heat wave in Europe in 2003, or the floods in the American Midwest in the 1990s can spiral into precipitous decline should such events intensify and become more frequent.
The Winds of Change places climate change, global warming, and the resulting instability in historical context and sounds an urgent warning for the future.
Customer Reviews:
Good overview of climate change.......2007-09-03
I thought it was a very good introduction to climate change. It covers:
1) The history of the young science of climate change;
2) Basic concepts in how energy from the sun is distributed by the world's oceans and atmosphere, and how this creates weather patterns and affects the earth's climate;
3) How scientists currently believe the earth's climate has changed through the ages;
4) Techniques that are used to determine how the earth's climate has changed over the past thousands of years;, and
5) Reasons why understanding climate change is so important.
The book's main theme is that a stable climate has been vital to the development and survival of civilization. If the climate had not been fairly stable for the past 4,000 years the human race would not be where it is today. But this stability cannot and should not be taken for granted. In fact, a very large body of evidence indicates that in the past the earth's climate has changed quickly and radically many times through the ages, and we may be on the verge of another radical shift. The effect of such a shift (or shifts, as the the climate 'flickers' back and forth between brief warmer and cooler periods before stabilizing again) would be calamities unprecedented since the dawn of civilzation.
This is not a book about green-house gasses. The first two-thirds of the book hardly mention C02 and methane at all. And in the final chapters the focuses on the evidence that the climate IS changing, and the consequences of that change, and doesn't spend much time on the debate about humankind's part in it, other than citing studies showing that of 700 peer-reviewed journal articles between 1993 and 2003 regarding modern climate change, "not one took issue with the consensus that humans are changing climate."
Minor criticisms: some sections of the book include technical explanations that were so complicated that I glossed over them; certain parts of the book emphasize that much of what we 'know' about what the climate was doing thousands of years ago are just theories, while in other places he states them as 'facts'; and many of the little charts at the start of each chapter look very technical and official, most label only one axis, so that they're essentially meaningless.
I learned a lot from this book, and recommend it to others. People should read it (or a similar book on the same topic) before becomping opinionated on the issue of global warming and climate change.
Quality material in a sea of junk-science.......2007-04-30
I was pleased, overall. The author has the credentials to discuss the topic with some authority (unlike some other books I've read recently...) The beginning is somewhat slow; it seemed to re-cover historical ground (i.e. the Norse experiment in Iceland and Greenland) that was already discussed at length by Jarred Diamond in "Collapse."
The best part of the book was the explanation of the mechanics of the oceans: how temperature and salinity work to create currents and climate.
I agree with those other reviewers who though the book could have used a bit more focus. Overall, however, WoC is a very informative read: scientific without being technical and boring. As a non-scientist, I thought this was very accessible. Quality material in a sea of rhetoric and junk-science.
Very educational. Recommended.
Interesting use of history with science.......2007-03-09
Using the known history of climate change, together with a discussion of the kinds of scientific evidence, provides the basis for conclusions regarding the human factor.
Dismissing all chnage as somehow normal (or ignoring it regarding policy) clearly is unacceptable and dangerous. As "practical" people report to the government (only to be edited, delayed, given scant attention) other practical folks like the insurance industry and some investors show increasing awareness.
Draw your own conclusions; to me immediate and meaningful action are required with real policy changes. It may force some settled business interests to change but seems critical, healthy, and could provide new industries and jobs in the process. Many of these jobs by their very nature could not be shipped overseas so pracical politicians and business people for even selfish motives may come around. Will it be soon enough?
The Pre-historical Perspective to Climate Change.......2007-02-18
Linden goes to great effort to describe climate changes in the past, such as the Little Ice Age. He relates fallen civilizations such as the Vikings of Greenland and the Mayans to climate change. Linden calls climate change the serial killer of civilizations. It is more of a flicker than a change.
Because global warming is a different kind of climate change than the climate changes described here (as those during the Ice Ages) there has to be a modest jump that is impossible to avoid. Linden's approach is important in that it shows how climate change inevitably will occur. It suggests that increasing carbon dioxide emissions, caused by humans, is like teasing the serial killer.
The book should not be considered a complete guide to global warming, but it looks at climate change through a unique perspective.
good topic, but i was hoping for more indepth info.......2006-12-17
the part about salinity of sea water is most interesting. after that the book become to easy to read for layman.
Book Description
Richard Alley, one of the world's leading climate researchers, tells the fascinating history of global climate changes as revealed by reading the annual rings of ice from cores drilled in Greenland. In the 1990s he and his colleagues made headlines with the discovery that the last ice age came to an abrupt end over a period of only three years. Here Alley offers the first popular account of the wildly fluctuating climate that characterized most of prehistory--long deep freezes alternating briefly with mild conditions--and explains that we humans have experienced an unusually temperate climate. But, he warns, our comfortable environment could come to an end in a matter of years.
The Two-Mile Time Machine begins with the story behind the extensive research in Greenland in the early 1990s, when scientists were beginning to discover ancient ice as an archive of critical information about the climate. Drilling down two miles into the ice, they found atmospheric chemicals and dust that enabled them to construct a record of such phenomena as wind patterns and precipitation over the past 110,000 years. The record suggests that "switches" as well as "dials" control the earth's climate, affecting, for example, hot ocean currents that today enable roses to grow in Europe farther north than polar bears grow in Canada. Throughout most of history, these currents switched on and off repeatedly (due partly to collapsing ice sheets), throwing much of the world from hot to icy and back again in as little as a few years.
Alley explains the discovery process in terms the general reader can understand, while laying out the issues that require further study: What are the mechanisms that turn these dials and flip these switches? Is the earth due for another drastic change, one that will reconfigure coastlines or send certain regions into severe drought? Will global warming combine with natural variations in Earth's orbit to flip the North Atlantic switch again? Predicting the long-term climate is one of the greatest challenges facing scientists in the twenty-first century, and Alley tells us what we need to know in order to understand and perhaps overcome climate changes in the future.
Customer Reviews:
The Two-Mile Time Machine.......2007-10-09
This is the book that every ill informed environmental and agenda driven policy wonk should read regarding climate. It is very readable; explains the science of weather and climate (They are two different things), and presents very thought provoking and serious issues. The point of millions of research dollars and tens of thousands of hours of research and study is that what we are experiencing today is not the norm. Humans, for the last ten thousand years, have had the luxury of an unusally stable and begnin climate with only minor weather disturbances as opposed to wildly changing climates of the past. The wild climate changes shift quickly rather than over thousands of years and very likely will do so again. Yes humans contribute some gases to the atmosphere (Carbon being the one most targeted), but water vaper is the biggest greenhouse gas with methane number three. Do we get rid of them too? The point is, that as the earth climate continues to warm (And it will do so without our help)there is only one climate response, and that is a quick return to deep cold (And cold lasts longer than warm), how do we prepare for wild climate swings? How many millions of people will be dislocated by continued warming and then sever cold? How much more energy will be needed to survive longer winters and cold that reaches further south than human history recalls? Where do we grow the food to feed the billions of us?
Excellent Book.......2007-01-10
Richard B. Alley can spin a good yarn. The book was very enlighting, I enjoyed the professional script. My hat's off to him & wish him luck in his future endeavors regarding the issues of past climates.
Time Traveler.......2006-09-12
Is global climate change a threat to humanity? Our best evidence comes from an uninterrupted 2-mile ice core taken from the Greenland ice pack. A pristine record of climate events over the last 110,000 years is displayed as delicate annual ice layers containing trapped atmospheric glasses, volcanic ash, pollen, lead levels, and isotope ratios. Dr. Alley's personal involvement in the project gives insight into the hardships and technical hurdles faced by scientists collecting this remarkable ice core. He does a good job of describing the intricate science that leads to a startling forecast -- our peaceful-appearing world is actually subject to wildly gyrating climate changes that can swing 40 degrees within a few years. During the last few millennia, have we have enjoyed a period of anomalous warm stability almost unprecedented in the 110,000 record of the ice core -- a happy condition that could suddenly end due to greenhouse warming from human industrialization. Within the space of a few years, high temperatures could melt the antarctic, flood our shorelines, and stall the gulf stream that brings warm tropical water to the British Isles. By the last half of the century, England might be buried under glaciers, and the distribution of our world's deserts and rain forests could be reshaped by chaotic, planet-wrecking storms. Science fiction? Not according to Dr. Alley -- whose ice cores show many similar events throughout history. The last half of Dr. Alley's book seems less interesting than the first -- perhaps because of his scientific hesitation at predicting what will really happen. The vast cost, the loss of biodiversity, and the potential threat to human lives -- or even our civilization -- is left mostly to the reader's imagination. Nevertheless one fact is clear -- we are riding a climate roller coaster that may soon start to take some sickening dips -- and the key to our survival may be locked within quiet, blue layers buried deep within the Greenland ice mass. -- Auralgo
Want to understand climate change?.......2006-04-12
In contrast to some other reviewers, I did NOT find this book a big yawn. I was fascinated by the exposition of how conclusions can be drawn about climate change. Alley briefly explains several different methods, but goes into detail on how ice cores can be used to make educated guesses about past climate. Very simply, every year there is a new layer on top of the Greenland glacier that can be analyzed chemically and differences in the chemical makeup of the layer reflect differences in the underlying climate (temperature).
I found the book fascinating, although it reads somewhat like a textbook rather than a story. However, my purpose in reading it was to try to understand for myself how conclusions on climate change are being reached, and the book fills that purpose admirably.
What happened?.......2005-05-21
Alley created an excellent Scientific American article ("Abrupt Climate Change", November 2004, available online) in terms of information and engaging writing style. His "Time Machine", though occasionally informative, reads like a slow elementary-school or sagacious politician's overview. "Many clever people are studying things in ice, and learning many things." Yawn. Maybe this was his intent, though nowhere are we forewarned. He's best when reporting his personal adventures in the ice core data recovery field he's part of. A crucial hinge in the unfolding "climate change" arena - what we used to call "global warning" until PR firms (minions of political parties and conglomerates, generously applying political correctness) changed the name to sound less ominous. This book is not about the most recent GRIP, Greenland Ice Core Project, cataloging 123,000 years of earth's atmospheric history in that region (and some 2 million year old plants to boot). It does reveal findings of a previous drilling - good for 110 millennia - and the Vostok ice core, extending back about 450,000 years. (Take that Creationists.)
These cores read like pages in a book, one year's ice layer piled atop another, trapping gases, dust and aerosols in each. According to Alley (repeated by Brian Fagan) the good news is, compared to previous interglacial warming periods, we humans have been remarkably lucky during the Holocene, the last 12,000 years (since the invention of agriculture), with relatively stable climate, except for a few major hiccups. The bad news is plural. Contrary to opinions, measurable, repeatable data shows we have among the highest concentrations of CO2 in these recorded histories; The thermohaline circulation (the ocean's equator-to-pole hot/cold exchange system) is a smoking gun in massive change (which according to NOAA data is shutting down via ice melt freshening); And the biggest news of all - ice cores show dramatic, even catastrophic climate shift, as Alley writes, "in less time than it takes it get a college degree". Oops. Apparently nature has a threshold. Once tripped, it's a long ride back - about a hundred thousand years. Such audacity nature has to act in a nonlinear fashion is inexcusable.
But nature and man are not without their ironies. While politicians, conglomerates and talk show hosts paint their rosy picture of longer summers on the beach (ignoring these beaches may be under water) or flourishing plant life in CO2-rich atmospheres (ignoring they may be fried in heat and dryness), as it turns out ice ages are triggered by warming. Standby. Exciting times coming, except nobody knows when. The Pentagon considers global warming a national security risk (at least enough to fund a study) - though to what generation? We'll keep rolling the dice, but at least Alley is trying to sound the alarm. Unfortunately, to the world's biggest offender, we heard all this in the Sixties, then tried to change the world by collecting litter on Earth Day - that's been a thousand fads ago. Nobody's listening.
Amazon.com
Before 1997, the name "El Niño" was unknown to most ordinary folks. Meteorologists, oceanographers, commercial fishers, and weather buffs knew of this periodic climatic anomaly, but to the everyday person on the street, a few degrees' difference in the Pacific Ocean's temperature was irrelevant. Then one of the most powerful El Niños in recorded history caused bitter freezes in Europe, brutal snowstorms and floods in western North America, and deadly droughts throughout the South Pacific. People sat up and took notice as a relatively tiny change in oceanic temperature resulted in death and destruction in many parts of the globe.
Brian Fagan examines the social effects of El Niño and other powerful weather phenomena in Floods, Famines and Emperors. He gives plenty of examples of how cultures have adapted to stressful weather and the ways in which climatic alterations have changed the course of history. From droughts in ancient Egypt to monsoons in India, the far-reaching effects of meteorology's most cantankerous kid have deeply affected the way humans live in the world. Illustrated with useful maps and diagrams, Floods, Famines and Emperors is a clear, fascinating look at an aspect of climate studies--and of El Niño--mostly ignored by science. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
In 1997 and early 1998, one of the most powerful El Ni"os ever recorded disrupted weather patterns the world over. Europe suffered a record freeze, as the American West was hit by massive floods and snowstorms, while droughts resulted in enormous forest fires in Southeast Asia, and famine in East Africa.
In Floods, Famines, and Emperors, Brian Fagan shows that these events were neither isolated nor new. El Nio has been disrupting weather patterns on and off for some five millennia--perhaps much longer-- sometimes with catastrophic effects on civilizations. Integrating climate science, archaeology, history, and the superb writing of a natural storyteller, Fagan shows how the systemic interaction of climate, land, and people have shaped culture since the dawn of time: El Ni"o droughts have brought on the collapse of dynasties in ancient Egypt; El Ni"o monsoon failures have caused historic famines in India, while El Ni"o floods have destroyed entire civilizations in Peru, and changed the course of European exploration.
The material that comprises Floods, Famines, and Emperor is only now beginning to be discussed in scientific symposia. But Fagan has not written a dry, academic text. This book is a lucid, fascinating, and thoroughly readable account of climate and culture for history buffs, archaeology enthusiasts, the growing legions of weather watchers, and science readers of all kinds.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2005-11-26
This book was required for a climatology class I took. I was very surprised to find myself reading ahead of scheduled readings because it was so interesting! It is a very quick read and just fascinating!
Water, water, everywhere and nowhere.......2004-03-15
According to Brian Fagan, the phenomenon known as El Nino has abruptly entered our collective awareness. That's a good thing, since its effects have a long, and often disastrous reach. It is not, he contends, the only issue to consider in climate impact. It has been "over-hyped" by media. The issues go beyond freak storms and harsh droughts. Humans have confronted weather throughout their evolutionary history. How society copes with global weather impact is Fagan's real concern. He's collected a wealth of information in this well written account. There is much to learn from this book, which includes some intriguing
surprises.
Comfortably divided into three major themes, Fagan opens with an explanation of El Nino's "discovery". What had seemed to be freak weather events proved to have an underlying pattern. The El Nino Southern Oscillation [ENSO] is an eastward moving body of warm Pacific Ocean water. The warmth blocks the flow of the Humboldt Current moving from Antarctica along the South American coast. Fish die or depart, with birds duplicating the pattern. Fagan stresses that the effect of that warm cell has global reach and has roots deep in time. Pharonic Egypt felt its impact, perhaps contributing, if not causing, social upheaval and even a new philosophy of rule by those absolute rulers.
How society and its rulers deal with abrupt weather change is the focus of the second part. As an anthropologist, Fagan is conversant with ancient societies. He examines the Andean Moche people who engineered extensive irrigation systems to catch feeble rainfall. With El Nino, rainfall changes from feeble to fabulous and the Moche watched their canals being flushed away. The following famines broke the power of the Moche aristocracy and the culture collapsed. A similar fate occurred to the Maya, whose rigid social pattern prevented them from coping with crop loss. However, the Anasazi people of the American Southwest, long skilled in desert agriculture, had a different method for dealing with drought. A loose, flexible society encouraged sharing of resources, then departure when the soil failed. Fagan overturns the long-held view that the Anasazi "mysteriously" disappeared. He contends they simply dispersed.
In the final section, Fagan relates some historical climate events such as The Little Ice Age and the Sahel drought. He examines the short-sighted policies that have exacerbated the human impact of such events. Over expansion in good years leaves no flexibility for addressing the needs of bad times. Governments must avoid superficial solutions in the face of knowing climate will generate surprises. Better planning scenarios are required for land occupation and use. Although it's been said before, Fagan urges better understanding of what is sustainable. That, of course, means more research and the application of political will derived from its results. While that may curtail some short-term profit gains and force revision of some cultural noms, it's the survival of the species that's at stake.
Fagan's easy writing style mustn't undercut the value of this book. Enhanced with good maps tied nicely to the text and an outstanding bibliography make this book required reading. Weather, after all, is part of the human condition everywhere. We all need to understand better its impact, and cheap jokes about El Nino aren't part of that comprehension. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Good to read; a nice beginning.......2002-05-03
To be honest, I enjoyed this book far more than I anticipated. Fagan is a smart archaelogist, and does not reduce human history to weather; rather he shows how weather can influence politics, religion, agriculture, and economics. Fagan could have made this point more clearly: weather can sometimes be influential; it's not determinative.
Fagan offers a good direction for archaelogists and historians to head; more serious works would do well to take up Fagan's challenge to analyze historical weather patterns. It'll be a tough go, but well-worth the trouble.
One of the book's strongest chapters is Chapter 11, showing how French colonial rule in the Sahel helped to impoverish and starve peoples living there, while increasing desertification. Here, he echoes the theme of the vastly superior _Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino and the Making of the Third World_. This latter book, by Mike Davis, is one of the most important books of recent decades. Where Fagan fails to consider structural inequalities and human suffering as a result of El Ninos, Davis fully succeeds. The books make for some nice contrasts (I assigned both to my college students). Turn to Davis, after you've had fun with Fagan.
Weather Side of History--One Really Big Core Idea.......2001-11-13
This book is an excellent complement to David Key's book on "Catastrophe", and I found it a worthwhile fast read.
It has one really big core idea that ties environmental, political, economic, and cultural readings together--it explores the inter-relationship between sustainability of any given society within the constraints of the time and the legitimacy of the government or other form of political organization.
Two things appear to help: long-term vision on the part of the leader, and whatever it takes to maintain the people's faith in their leadership.
The author concludes with an overview of where we stand today, and draws attention to the especially dangerous combination of overpopulation, global warming, and rapid climate changes occurring all at once.
For me, this book combined an overview of how seriously we must take ocean currents and related climate changes; and how important it is that our leaders understand these issues and take long-term views that add stability and sustainability in the face of varying challenges to our well-being.
A piece of fluff--engaging but little substance.......2000-04-13
In terms of readability, Fagan's book is a decent piece of popular science. It makes an engaging argument that human civilizations have been affected mightily by climatic shifts. But it is fraught with problems: I am an expert on the history of El Ni~no, and I can attest that the chapters about El Ni~nos past and the history of scientists' understanding of El Ni~no hit some of the bright spots. But the details are at best inaccuate and at worst highly deceptive. Fagan simply knows little about this subject, otherwise he would have distilled a more accurate account! It simply does not stand up to careful examination. Mickey Glantz's book _Currents of Change_ (1996) is better, although it suffers from similar problems and is less readable. Those who want to read a carefully researched narrative about the El Ni~no-Southern Oscillation and its impact on human history unfortunately have no where to go, yet.
Book Description
This ground-breaking and provocative book presents new and astonishing interpretations of ancient history, mythology and world religions that will call many established beliefs into question. In Gateway of the Gods, author Craig Hines invites readers to reconsider preconceived notions concerning Biblical theology in light of recent scientific discoveries and inquiries concerning the nature of the universe. This fascinating exploration reveals a number of ideas that have been suppressed and obscured behind layers of symbolism and misguided propaganda for thousands of years... until now. Why is it that so many world cultures share details of an event when fallen angels descended upon the earth and fathered hybrid offspring called the Nephilim? Is it possible that these beings used "gateway" technology housed within pyramids and holy temples to travel between the heavenly and earthly realms? Do the latest advances in theoretical physics lend credibility to the idea that otherworldly beings might reside in dimensions parallel to our own? Do the recorded voices of the "dead," known as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), indicate that we may be able to communicate with these other realms? Was a secret message embedded within ancient texts that could only be revealed after we have attained the knowledge and technology necessary to understand it? Does this message offer a solution to the approaching environmental disaster that scientists warn will be more devastating to human civilization than any others in recorded history? Drawing from a variety of historical sources and years of meticulous research, the author weaves together a compelling argument involving a range of seemingly disparate topics that when considered together, formulate a radically new narrative concerning the history and destiny of the human race.
Customer Reviews:
Doesn't force ideas, a fantastic read!.......2007-10-11
Doesn't force ideas, a fantastic read!
What I like about this book is that the writer does not force all these new outlandish theories/facts into the readers face. Instead he does says, look at the theories/facts, and make up your own mind.
I am a 3D artist/graphic designer (like the writer) myself and liked his approach to the subject of interstellar travel and weird dimensions, not to mention that angels could have been test tube albinos.
He also gradually leads the reader to the good stuff.
Overall this book is a fantastic accumulation of famous fact based ancient mythology writers, and gives a brilliant overview of the subject, without totally discarding the fiction of some famous Anunnaki writers.
Get this book!!!Awsome
A fresh perspective!.......2007-09-06
This is a well written, informative book. It will really get you to consider all possibilites in regards to our future. I very good read.
Gateway To The Pondering Mind.......2007-07-17
If this book is about 'gateways', one of the passages has to be into the realm of thought. Thinking is definitely challenged in this multi-faceted work, and the author is to be admired for what had to be arduous dedication, to his task. It's most assuredly not a book for one who is satisfied having their beliefs and understanding resting comfortably in a box.
The author is honest to the point of almost being apolgetic for suggesting theory over proven fact. For offering possibilities rather than
The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: How a Stone-Age Comet Changed the Course of World Culture
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
