Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by dclark32
The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World by William D. Nordhaus
4.0
There are many traits that commend this excellent and highly recommended book, but two in particular stand out: reasonableness and comprehensiveness. It is a wonderful reprieve from the childlike simplicity of current debates around climate change, and might very well be the book to read on the topic if you were to choose only one.
William Nordhaus's credentials are impeccable after all. A Yale professor and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the economics of climate change, the book is like an undergraduate survey course given by a particularly gifted professor. Explicitly written for young people, he covers all elements: the science of what's happening, an analysis of possible impacts as well as limitations of the models, the arguments for various possible responses, and obstacles to their passage. What's more, he does so with clear language that makes the material accessible to pretty much any modestly educated reader. Best of all, despite the introductory nature of the book there is something new to be learned in every chapter, even if you had some pre-existing knowledge.
What further distinguishes the book is the adult nature of the discussion. There is no room for climate change denial here, though the penultimate chapter finds Nordhaus reaching across the aisle to make the conservative case for a carbon price. By the same token, there are no "let's end oil tomorrow" hysterics. Nordhaus emphasizes that there are competing demands for scarce dollars, and that trying to stop climate change at any cost is clearly infeasible. Rather, it's a matter of weighing future costs of climate change, uncertain as they are, against the present day costs of policies. I leave it to the reader to explore this in detail themselves, but suffice it to say that there's more to decision making than simply minimizing temperature increases.
I've long noticed that the sign of a true expert is the ability to be comfortable with uncertainty. Those who talk of research and science as some sort of metaphysical entity conveying divine authority are invariably full of hot hair, and wilt under careful questioning. By contrast, those who deserve to be listened to will express a strong familiarity with the limitations of the data they have in hand. Knowing that they're willing to state when they don't know something, when the true experts speak with conviction my ears perk up. Nordhaus is such an expert, and you will walk away having read his summation of current research and best practices more informed and fully able to participate in public discussions of this crucially important issue.
4.5/5
William Nordhaus's credentials are impeccable after all. A Yale professor and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the economics of climate change, the book is like an undergraduate survey course given by a particularly gifted professor. Explicitly written for young people, he covers all elements: the science of what's happening, an analysis of possible impacts as well as limitations of the models, the arguments for various possible responses, and obstacles to their passage. What's more, he does so with clear language that makes the material accessible to pretty much any modestly educated reader. Best of all, despite the introductory nature of the book there is something new to be learned in every chapter, even if you had some pre-existing knowledge.
What further distinguishes the book is the adult nature of the discussion. There is no room for climate change denial here, though the penultimate chapter finds Nordhaus reaching across the aisle to make the conservative case for a carbon price. By the same token, there are no "let's end oil tomorrow" hysterics. Nordhaus emphasizes that there are competing demands for scarce dollars, and that trying to stop climate change at any cost is clearly infeasible. Rather, it's a matter of weighing future costs of climate change, uncertain as they are, against the present day costs of policies. I leave it to the reader to explore this in detail themselves, but suffice it to say that there's more to decision making than simply minimizing temperature increases.
I've long noticed that the sign of a true expert is the ability to be comfortable with uncertainty. Those who talk of research and science as some sort of metaphysical entity conveying divine authority are invariably full of hot hair, and wilt under careful questioning. By contrast, those who deserve to be listened to will express a strong familiarity with the limitations of the data they have in hand. Knowing that they're willing to state when they don't know something, when the true experts speak with conviction my ears perk up. Nordhaus is such an expert, and you will walk away having read his summation of current research and best practices more informed and fully able to participate in public discussions of this crucially important issue.
4.5/5