Description

Book Synopsis


Trade Review
This book is a winner, written in an easy, logical style with thorough and fascinating discussions of major deniers. -- Orrin Pilkey, Duke University, coauthor of The Rising Sea With the evidence for global warming so strong, why, Powell asks, does half the American public doubt it? His answer is a history of the campaign of denial, the most comprehensive and up-to-date history available. It is well written and well worth reading: this is the most important issue facing our generation. -- Spencer Weart, author of The Discovery of Global Warming This courageous and well-researched book exposes how ideologues and money combined to attack sound climate science. -- Richard Somerville, University of California, San Diego, author of The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change, second edition Powell consistently brings the sharp insight of a knowledgeable insider melded with the skepticism of a critical outsider to the most important issues in science. In his latest book-his best yet-he shows us the path to understanding climate change. -- Peter D. Ward, The University of Washington James Lawrence Powell's must-read book is a welcome addition to the growing literature debunking fossil fuel-funded, anti-science disinformation. As Powell makes clear, it is time for scientists to stand up and be counted. -- Joseph Romm, editor of Climate Progress and senior fellow at American Progress this is a highly authoritative and accessible book that should be read by everyone who has any doubts about the reality of climate change. Irish Times Books like 'The Inquisition' offer a clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. -- John Atcheson 1895 By looking at climate science, business, politics, and media, Powell has taken a comprehensive approach, doing a thorough job of boxing in the deniers' arguments and deflating them while at the same time providing an accessible read for nonprofessionals. Library Journal Xpress Reviews A masterful compilation of nearly all the evidence, not only for the reality of anthropogenic global warming, but especially answering point-by-point the ridiculous attempts by climate deniers to cloud and distort the issues by raising one bogus charge after another. -- Donald R. Prothero Skeptic Blog A rare look at the politicalization of an important science... Recommended. Choice ...succinctly summarizes the entire disinheartening story. -- Naomi Oreskes Physics Today ...a worthwhile read...an invaluable tool for those of us that are committed to fighting against the assault on climate science, be it the writers, the teachers, the activists, the politicians, or the scientists. -- Sarah Kenehan Environmental Philosophy A clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. -- John Atcheson Science Progress The Inquisition of Climate Science is an excellent, well-written book for the general audience which gives readers a broad view of organized attacks on climate science over the last few decades. Reports of the National Center for Science Education The first book to examine the history and milieu of the climate science denial process as a whole... a 'must' for any college-level science collection. Midwest Book Review

Table of Contents
Preface Introduction Not Skeptics, by Deniers 1. Science and Potemkin Science Never a Crisis A Political Movement A Cheap Tuxedo Better Than Scientists 2. Adventures in Denierland Urban Myth? Cave Junction 3. The Evidence for Consensus Spam Filter Newton's Second Law Polling Scientists An Extremely Pernicious Development 4. Discovery of Global Warming One of the Oldest Theories A Large-Scale Geophysical Experiment 5. The Greenhouse Effect: From Curiosity to Threat Models Predict Warming Globetrotters The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6. Global Warming: All You Really Need to Know in One Chart 7. Tobacco Tactics: The Scientist-Deniers All of Those People Are Wrong With All Due Respect, by Dr. Michaels The $45 Million Man If Science Doesn't Have Integrity Blue Marble Nuke Vietnam? Foot Soldier 8. Fear of State: The Nonscientists Aren't You Embarrassed, by Mr. Will? Once Again The Lomborg Deception Bed-Wetting, by Messianic 9. Toxic Tanks Harry and Louise Tale from the Crypt Please Don't Poop in My Salad Embarrassing General Marshall Push Down on the Accelerator 10. An Industry to Trust Most Profitable Company in History An Industry That Cannot Afford Denial 11. Balance as Bias: How the Media Missed "The Story of the Century" The Prestige Press Plumes of Smoke from China Carbongate End of Objectivity? Systemic Failure 12. Science Under Attack It's the Sun, by Ozone Testosterone Watts Up with That? Slap Shot The Medieval Warm Period Do Climate Models Work? Did Global Warming End in 1998? Chicken or Egg? GRACE Tropospheric Cooling? 13. Greatest Hoax in History? Who's to Blame? Liberals, by of Course To Command Spring Funding Research Traitors 14. Climategate: Much Ado About Nothing One Million Words Innocent of All Charges Gates and More Gates 15. Anatomy of Denial To Roll Back Industrial Society 16. Escalating Tactics Monkey Trials Old Virginia Home 17. Earning Trust Appendix Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

The Inquisition of Climate Science

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    A Hardback by James Powell

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      View other formats and editions of The Inquisition of Climate Science by James Powell

      Publisher: Columbia University Press
      Publication Date: 30/08/2011
      ISBN13: 9780231157186, 978-0231157186
      ISBN10: 0231157185

      Description

      Book Synopsis


      Trade Review
      This book is a winner, written in an easy, logical style with thorough and fascinating discussions of major deniers. -- Orrin Pilkey, Duke University, coauthor of The Rising Sea With the evidence for global warming so strong, why, Powell asks, does half the American public doubt it? His answer is a history of the campaign of denial, the most comprehensive and up-to-date history available. It is well written and well worth reading: this is the most important issue facing our generation. -- Spencer Weart, author of The Discovery of Global Warming This courageous and well-researched book exposes how ideologues and money combined to attack sound climate science. -- Richard Somerville, University of California, San Diego, author of The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change, second edition Powell consistently brings the sharp insight of a knowledgeable insider melded with the skepticism of a critical outsider to the most important issues in science. In his latest book-his best yet-he shows us the path to understanding climate change. -- Peter D. Ward, The University of Washington James Lawrence Powell's must-read book is a welcome addition to the growing literature debunking fossil fuel-funded, anti-science disinformation. As Powell makes clear, it is time for scientists to stand up and be counted. -- Joseph Romm, editor of Climate Progress and senior fellow at American Progress this is a highly authoritative and accessible book that should be read by everyone who has any doubts about the reality of climate change. Irish Times Books like 'The Inquisition' offer a clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. -- John Atcheson 1895 By looking at climate science, business, politics, and media, Powell has taken a comprehensive approach, doing a thorough job of boxing in the deniers' arguments and deflating them while at the same time providing an accessible read for nonprofessionals. Library Journal Xpress Reviews A masterful compilation of nearly all the evidence, not only for the reality of anthropogenic global warming, but especially answering point-by-point the ridiculous attempts by climate deniers to cloud and distort the issues by raising one bogus charge after another. -- Donald R. Prothero Skeptic Blog A rare look at the politicalization of an important science... Recommended. Choice ...succinctly summarizes the entire disinheartening story. -- Naomi Oreskes Physics Today ...a worthwhile read...an invaluable tool for those of us that are committed to fighting against the assault on climate science, be it the writers, the teachers, the activists, the politicians, or the scientists. -- Sarah Kenehan Environmental Philosophy A clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. -- John Atcheson Science Progress The Inquisition of Climate Science is an excellent, well-written book for the general audience which gives readers a broad view of organized attacks on climate science over the last few decades. Reports of the National Center for Science Education The first book to examine the history and milieu of the climate science denial process as a whole... a 'must' for any college-level science collection. Midwest Book Review

      Table of Contents
      Preface Introduction Not Skeptics, by Deniers 1. Science and Potemkin Science Never a Crisis A Political Movement A Cheap Tuxedo Better Than Scientists 2. Adventures in Denierland Urban Myth? Cave Junction 3. The Evidence for Consensus Spam Filter Newton's Second Law Polling Scientists An Extremely Pernicious Development 4. Discovery of Global Warming One of the Oldest Theories A Large-Scale Geophysical Experiment 5. The Greenhouse Effect: From Curiosity to Threat Models Predict Warming Globetrotters The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6. Global Warming: All You Really Need to Know in One Chart 7. Tobacco Tactics: The Scientist-Deniers All of Those People Are Wrong With All Due Respect, by Dr. Michaels The $45 Million Man If Science Doesn't Have Integrity Blue Marble Nuke Vietnam? Foot Soldier 8. Fear of State: The Nonscientists Aren't You Embarrassed, by Mr. Will? Once Again The Lomborg Deception Bed-Wetting, by Messianic 9. Toxic Tanks Harry and Louise Tale from the Crypt Please Don't Poop in My Salad Embarrassing General Marshall Push Down on the Accelerator 10. An Industry to Trust Most Profitable Company in History An Industry That Cannot Afford Denial 11. Balance as Bias: How the Media Missed "The Story of the Century" The Prestige Press Plumes of Smoke from China Carbongate End of Objectivity? Systemic Failure 12. Science Under Attack It's the Sun, by Ozone Testosterone Watts Up with That? Slap Shot The Medieval Warm Period Do Climate Models Work? Did Global Warming End in 1998? Chicken or Egg? GRACE Tropospheric Cooling? 13. Greatest Hoax in History? Who's to Blame? Liberals, by of Course To Command Spring Funding Research Traitors 14. Climategate: Much Ado About Nothing One Million Words Innocent of All Charges Gates and More Gates 15. Anatomy of Denial To Roll Back Industrial Society 16. Escalating Tactics Monkey Trials Old Virginia Home 17. Earning Trust Appendix Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

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