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quekara's review
5.0
A must-read!! I have been radicalized in ways I was not expecting. The tale of global warming is the most outrageous, infuriating, unfortunate thing you will ever read, but so cathartic and eye-opening at the same time. You will not look at the world in the same way ever again. I wish I could stuff this book into the mind of my right-wing coworker who tried to "debate" me on global warming because he thought it was all a hoax made up so that China could get a manufacturing edge on the rest of the world (not naming names, *Paul*). Excellent writing and reporting by David Lipsky, who adds humor and humanity at every bleak turn. Everyone please read this! Especially you, Paul!
brianh1987's review
5.0
Deeply researched and written with a bitterly dry sense of humor. I especially love the author's instinct for metaphor, even as he threatens, constantly, to overdo it. I don't know what else to say about a book that unpacks how we came to be completely fucked. It certainly isn't a hopeful tale. But maybe the story is worth knowing, even so. At least as it all goes up in smoke, we won't wonder whether something could have been done, or if there were people we should have tried, and sentenced with the most brutal punishments our system of justice can conjure. They've got names. And we could've done something.
solloyd's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
The first half was FANTASTIC! The second half dragged.
jregensburger's review
5.0
I was grateful for the laffy parts since this is otherwise a mostly distressing and infuriating book.
mhwriter2024's review
3.0
There is much to respect (and to be challenged by) in this book: it is fully researched, Mr. Lipsky is a vivid writer and it is a comprehensive look at where the science and the junk science of climate change-denialism collides with very real and progressive initiatives. The book opens with scientists as diverse as Ben Franklin, Nikola Tesla and others. The most fascinating parts show how the pro-smoking and tobacco lobby of a few decades morphed into the climate change-skeptics of recent times, often using the same PR agencies, 'experts' and the same overlapping pseudo-scientists and craven government officials. The downsides: the book is abundant with analogies and metaphors (too abundant); the book does not resist tangents, although the chapters are shorter and plentiful. There are sentences that pop-up and poke from the book: "Linus Pauling is the spirit at the end of the CVS aisle, the phantom grinning..." If this were a movie, the blurbs on the film previews would be "Epic" in scope and "Sprawling" but this is not always positive. Like a Christoper Nolan movie (Inception, Tenet), you might be confused about what you have just seen. There were times when I wished the book were maybe 75-100 pages shorter. If you never expected to encounter Tesla, Lord Christopher Monckton (the Marty Feldman of climate deniers), the Rev. Sun Myung-Moon and Bill Cosby all in the same book, they are all here though.
I live near the (NJ) Shore, including Superstorm Sandy. As much as I love the Ocean, I wanted to learn more about the science. I did pick it up and put it down several times over many weeks. sometimes in exasperation. (Rating: 3.1-3.5/5.0 stars).
I live near the (NJ) Shore, including Superstorm Sandy. As much as I love the Ocean, I wanted to learn more about the science. I did pick it up and put it down several times over many weeks. sometimes in exasperation. (Rating: 3.1-3.5/5.0 stars).