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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
This is a must read book on climate change.
Reading this book honestly made me feel considerably more anxious about the state of our earth. However, he’s right—the reality is that the situation is absolutely dire, and if we don’t do anything about it soon then we’re all f*cked.
I do have a couple of criticisms about the book: 1) I wish it was written in more straightforward language (yes the writing was beautiful but he could’ve said the same thing in less words), 2) some parts felt a little repetitive.
Overall, great book though. Honestly at this point everyone should be aware of the state we are in, and thus I’d highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.
Reading this book honestly made me feel considerably more anxious about the state of our earth. However, he’s right—the reality is that the situation is absolutely dire, and if we don’t do anything about it soon then we’re all f*cked.
I do have a couple of criticisms about the book: 1) I wish it was written in more straightforward language (yes the writing was beautiful but he could’ve said the same thing in less words), 2) some parts felt a little repetitive.
Overall, great book though. Honestly at this point everyone should be aware of the state we are in, and thus I’d highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Disappointing. Wallace-Wells distills the scientific literature on the future of our planet with unabated warming nicely in the first half of the book. But it’s difficult to grasp what the direction is - a scientific review of the worst-case scenario in the next 400 years or a failed attempt at distilling the near-term severe climate risks faced? There are also inaccuracies - the author claims plastic pollution is not a global warming issue, which is a naive assumption when the damage plastic pollution causes to our biodiversity, particularly our oceanic carbon sinks, massively reduces the autostabilising capacity of our natural capital to counteract carbon emissions. Plastic pollution is very much now a climate risk too.
On the political failures in the climate debate, Wallace-Wells produces some helpful, albeit surface-level, analysis of the shortcomings of existing approaches to climate change. But he fails to provide any serious analysis of the route to a sustainable future - something the latter half of the book appears to be trying to get at. Instead, Wallace-Wells falls into the trap of blaming “systems”, “competitive cultures”, and capitalism. The real situation is more nuanced and the author makes no attempt to identify progress or provide his own remedies. He doesn’t even explain what he means by the climate issues of capitalism and why he believes centrist and centre-right politicians won’t succeed in climate action under this framework. Plenty of economic literature and real data disagree with him on this, so it is disappointing to see no note of this, despite UK and other countries’ successful efforts to kickstart ambitious decarbonisation under pro-market governments. The author discusses far-left literature, but again seems to discard this without any analysis of any alternatives. The book ends abruptly, leaving the reader unimpressed with the lack of direction the book had.
Yes, it is a scary read in places, which is good for climate awareness and for building political will on climate action. But it offers nothing of note to the debate, in fact degrading successful efforts.
On the political failures in the climate debate, Wallace-Wells produces some helpful, albeit surface-level, analysis of the shortcomings of existing approaches to climate change. But he fails to provide any serious analysis of the route to a sustainable future - something the latter half of the book appears to be trying to get at. Instead, Wallace-Wells falls into the trap of blaming “systems”, “competitive cultures”, and capitalism. The real situation is more nuanced and the author makes no attempt to identify progress or provide his own remedies. He doesn’t even explain what he means by the climate issues of capitalism and why he believes centrist and centre-right politicians won’t succeed in climate action under this framework. Plenty of economic literature and real data disagree with him on this, so it is disappointing to see no note of this, despite UK and other countries’ successful efforts to kickstart ambitious decarbonisation under pro-market governments. The author discusses far-left literature, but again seems to discard this without any analysis of any alternatives. The book ends abruptly, leaving the reader unimpressed with the lack of direction the book had.
Yes, it is a scary read in places, which is good for climate awareness and for building political will on climate action. But it offers nothing of note to the debate, in fact degrading successful efforts.
In short, if you’re looking for a book that talks about the future in an optimistic way this book is not for you. Once I picked this up, I couldn’t put it down. I absolutely loved this book and have recommended it to everyone I’ve worked with. It’s an incredibly well-written and honest account of climate change and the future of humanity and how the warming of the planet will impact how we live. The book can be perfectly summarised by the first line “It is worse, much worse, than you think”.
The current levels of natural resource consumption, pollution and exploitation of the environment and its inhabitants have led to a combination of societal and environmental issues that are currently putting pressure on the planet. This book provides a realistic account of what damage we have done to our planet and what makes it ‘uninhabitable’. The first section details aspects of malnutrition, water stress, climate conflicts, and natural disasters and how these affect us. One of the most important things you will learn is that climate change affects populations disproportionately. Those who are most vulnerable are far more affected by natural disasters, floods, droughts and the secondary effects of these problems than those who can afford mitigation and adaptation measures.
This is a perfect account of the damage that we have done to this planet and this should be a must-read to anyone who wants to behave more sustainably or learn more about the consequences of your own consumption. His passion and commitment to the subject is clear throughout this book, and although it holds some slightly scary messages, it must also be seen that there are reasons to be hopeful.
The current levels of natural resource consumption, pollution and exploitation of the environment and its inhabitants have led to a combination of societal and environmental issues that are currently putting pressure on the planet. This book provides a realistic account of what damage we have done to our planet and what makes it ‘uninhabitable’. The first section details aspects of malnutrition, water stress, climate conflicts, and natural disasters and how these affect us. One of the most important things you will learn is that climate change affects populations disproportionately. Those who are most vulnerable are far more affected by natural disasters, floods, droughts and the secondary effects of these problems than those who can afford mitigation and adaptation measures.
This is a perfect account of the damage that we have done to this planet and this should be a must-read to anyone who wants to behave more sustainably or learn more about the consequences of your own consumption. His passion and commitment to the subject is clear throughout this book, and although it holds some slightly scary messages, it must also be seen that there are reasons to be hopeful.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Despite having some criticisms, I think this is a must read. Wallace-Wells lays out the work of many scientists clearly and concisely, although he does so in a way that I feel lacks emotion, and I think recognizing the emotional impact of the climate crisis is hugely important in how we respond to it. He provides very little actual endorsement of any idea or movement, although I found in one endnote he said he felt that collective action was the most important thing to do and that we must do it - it probably would have been helpful to have that in the actual text of the book!
reflective
medium-paced