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jmarryott23's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Apocalypse Never is the second book I’ve read by Shellenberger after San Fransicko. I’m by no means a climate expert so reading this book helped to inform me a bit more on the subject. Shellenberger is clearly someone who believes humans are a big part of the climate changing, but he also believes much of the doomsday predictions and arguments are silly - he really does tackle many of them with facts and studies to back him up. And based on the limited amount that I know I tend to agree with him both about his belief in climate change and about how the doomsday predictions are either overly extreme or a push for political policies to be approved. I would bet many people would be shocked at some of the statistics in this book, such as the rate of natural disasters and the death tolls significantly declining in many aspects recently.
Many of the biggest proponents of policies to fight climate change have larger carbon footprints than most anyone, not to mention multiple homes on properties that in theory would be at risk if climate predictions came true (DiCaprio, Gore, Prince Harry, etc.). The author covers this and much more in great detail. However, some chapters were less interesting to me than others (people going vegan for climate change). The lack of a chapter on electric vehicles also seemed like a missed opportunity. Overall, it was worth reading for the new information I learned in it.
Many of the biggest proponents of policies to fight climate change have larger carbon footprints than most anyone, not to mention multiple homes on properties that in theory would be at risk if climate predictions came true (DiCaprio, Gore, Prince Harry, etc.). The author covers this and much more in great detail. However, some chapters were less interesting to me than others (people going vegan for climate change). The lack of a chapter on electric vehicles also seemed like a missed opportunity. Overall, it was worth reading for the new information I learned in it.
emiann2023's review
5.0
After the last few years of growing wary of common media coverage and its ravenous desire to sensationalize every minor event into a impactful and important story, I was intrigued to see a book that spoke of a world that is in fact much more positive than what we have been led to believe. My favorite part of this book (and there are many) is that we get this story from someone who was once on the other side himself. It lends an authenticity and credibility to the story that is incredibly refreshing. That, and the emphasis (much appreciated) on actual scientific research. Not just on what is commonly spouted.
taylorjam3s's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
garliclimewithhoney's review
As a person who believes in climate change, but not an apocalyptic future ahead, I wanted to equip myself with more information.
This rag is a disinformation Pop science book written by a layman to dispel myths from "the left and right". The factoids given within will only hold up to laymen who will see it as scientific facts because it sounds scientific. I could not bring myself further than chapter 2 to see if it gets better.
This rag is a disinformation Pop science book written by a layman to dispel myths from "the left and right". The factoids given within will only hold up to laymen who will see it as scientific facts because it sounds scientific. I could not bring myself further than chapter 2 to see if it gets better.
alastairherd's review
4.0
Reading this book felt a bit like leaving Plato's proverbial cave. So much climate science is so one-sided to the point of being ridiculous, there has been constant doom-mongering about climate issues for decades now (https://apnews.com/article/bd45c372caf118ec99964ea547880cd0) but little of it seems to be backed up by realistic data. There is also almost no mention of realistic solutions when these issues are raised.
In comes Shellenbergers book. The first section of the book is devoted to pointing out the huge progress that has already been made with regards to emissions and pollution. Two interesting things for me are where he points out how moves from coal to natural gas have vastly reduced emissions from where they would have been, but more importantly have left local air quality comparatively higher for those near plants. Secondly, he also points out that plastic levels in oceans and reveals how they are far lower than we have been lead to believe (though still concerning) and presents multiple options for how we can help to deal with that (which involve things more effective than a ban on straws...).
Throughout the book Shellenberger brings in people that he has met while traveling the world. People from some of the poorest countries in the world. The people who are supposed to be most effected by climate change. He discovers the hardships they are going through and helps to shed light on why so many species are under pressure and some facing extinction. Surprise, it's actually not got much to do with big corporations. He also tackles the prevalent (and disgusting) views of Malthus in many eco circles. The solution to poverty is not letting people die, but to develop more. The solution to ecological issues is not to ban other countries from developing but to develop them faster!
A large section of the book is devoted to extolling nuclear powers virtues. I for one was already a big fan of nuclear and didn't understand why on earth we were using less of it. Shellenbergers explanations of about the lobbying from Big Oil in partnership with the Eco-Lobby makes a lot of sense of the situation. While he is perhaps a bit too optimistic about the abilities of nuclear, and doesn't mention the genuine challenges that come with them (such as uranium extraction and processing), that is certainly better than the level of ignorance many "eco-activists" have on the topic.
In conjunction with his section on nuclear he also has a section on the problems with renewables. While I think he sometimes goes a bit too far in disparaging them, most of the problems that he mentions are things that I had already thought myself (the instability, the contamination from components, the short life-spans, etc). One I hadn't realised was that they actually ended up making energy less affordable than it was a decade ago (50% more expensive than it was in 2007 in Germany), mainly due to the instability from them. Ironically, I think a future solution might be a nuclear-renewables hybrid, but I doubt that would go down very well with many groups.
Despite being imperfect this book is much needed. It provides a hopeful look at the future, with plenty of solutions, and gives us reason to not pit the lifting of billions out of poverty against helping the environment. Rather, he helps us view them as going hand in hand.
I would recommend this book to anyone interesting in the environment, even if just for an alternative point of view. And especially those suffering from "climate anxiety", as much of that might be found to be misplaced.
In comes Shellenbergers book. The first section of the book is devoted to pointing out the huge progress that has already been made with regards to emissions and pollution. Two interesting things for me are where he points out how moves from coal to natural gas have vastly reduced emissions from where they would have been, but more importantly have left local air quality comparatively higher for those near plants. Secondly, he also points out that plastic levels in oceans and reveals how they are far lower than we have been lead to believe (though still concerning) and presents multiple options for how we can help to deal with that (which involve things more effective than a ban on straws...).
Throughout the book Shellenberger brings in people that he has met while traveling the world. People from some of the poorest countries in the world. The people who are supposed to be most effected by climate change. He discovers the hardships they are going through and helps to shed light on why so many species are under pressure and some facing extinction. Surprise, it's actually not got much to do with big corporations. He also tackles the prevalent (and disgusting) views of Malthus in many eco circles. The solution to poverty is not letting people die, but to develop more. The solution to ecological issues is not to ban other countries from developing but to develop them faster!
A large section of the book is devoted to extolling nuclear powers virtues. I for one was already a big fan of nuclear and didn't understand why on earth we were using less of it. Shellenbergers explanations of about the lobbying from Big Oil in partnership with the Eco-Lobby makes a lot of sense of the situation. While he is perhaps a bit too optimistic about the abilities of nuclear, and doesn't mention the genuine challenges that come with them (such as uranium extraction and processing), that is certainly better than the level of ignorance many "eco-activists" have on the topic.
In conjunction with his section on nuclear he also has a section on the problems with renewables. While I think he sometimes goes a bit too far in disparaging them, most of the problems that he mentions are things that I had already thought myself (the instability, the contamination from components, the short life-spans, etc). One I hadn't realised was that they actually ended up making energy less affordable than it was a decade ago (50% more expensive than it was in 2007 in Germany), mainly due to the instability from them. Ironically, I think a future solution might be a nuclear-renewables hybrid, but I doubt that would go down very well with many groups.
Despite being imperfect this book is much needed. It provides a hopeful look at the future, with plenty of solutions, and gives us reason to not pit the lifting of billions out of poverty against helping the environment. Rather, he helps us view them as going hand in hand.
I would recommend this book to anyone interesting in the environment, even if just for an alternative point of view. And especially those suffering from "climate anxiety", as much of that might be found to be misplaced.
ke5bm's review
4.0
This book was a refreshing, no political bias look into not only climate change but many outlying factors that many don't take into consideration. In my observation, most negative reviews of this book are along the lines of "because this book doesn't align with my personal beliefs, it's awful."
Mr. Shellenberger is a self-proclaimed environmentalist who had previously bought into all the alarmism perpetuated by the mainstream media and a number of conservation groups. However, when he began asking questions and digging into the available data the result was more questions than answers. Many of the author's questions were the same questions I've had for years (that nobody wants to discuss, I might add) and brought up several other factors I had not considered.
If you have a real desire to better understand what we know about climate change and energy production, read this book. If you cannot be convinced to think beyond the speeches of AOC or Greta Thunberg then you will not enjoy this read at all.
Mr. Shellenberger is a self-proclaimed environmentalist who had previously bought into all the alarmism perpetuated by the mainstream media and a number of conservation groups. However, when he began asking questions and digging into the available data the result was more questions than answers. Many of the author's questions were the same questions I've had for years (that nobody wants to discuss, I might add) and brought up several other factors I had not considered.
If you have a real desire to better understand what we know about climate change and energy production, read this book. If you cannot be convinced to think beyond the speeches of AOC or Greta Thunberg then you will not enjoy this read at all.