Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #808180 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 390 pages

Review
"Essex and McKitrick cut through all the obfuscation and doublespeak that surrounds...scientific and economic issues of our time" -- Professor Timothy Patterson, Department of Earth Science, Carleton University.

"Essex and McKitrick offer a scientifically sound argument that is against the mainstream." -- Anastasios Tsonis, Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences Group, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"Taken by Storm is required reading...Professors Essex and McKitrick present a powerful case." -- G. Cornelius Van Kooten, Professor of Economic and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Studies and Climate Change, Department of Economics, University of Victoria

About the Author
Christopher Essex is Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Western Ontario. Ross McKitrick is an associate professor of Economics at the University of Guelph, Ontario.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Beginning of the Preface

"In the realm of the seekers after truth there is no human authority. Whoever attempts to play the magistrate there founders on the laughter of the Gods."
- Albert Einstein

You’ve heard it, we’ve heard it: Global warming is the greatest threat facing humanity. One hundred Nobel laureates recently signed a statement saying so. A UN panel of scientists says so. Our governments say so. Can all these people be wrong?

Of course they can. Whether the earth is warming or not is a scientific question, not a political one. The scientists who have spoken out about global warming understand this. They know that they can be wrong, and they know that what they believe is not necessarily the same as what is true, no matter how passionate their feelings may be.

If you believe that Nobel laureates can never be wrong, or that UN panels never make mistakes, then be advised that science doesn’t work that way. Our first task in this book is to convince you that that Nobel laureates are probably wrong about global warming and that most of what you have been hearing about it is wrong. That will actually be the easy part. The claim that there is a global warming crisis threatening to bring chaos and destruction upon the world is so feeble you were probably feeling somewhat skeptical anyway. You were right- and we’ll show you why.

Our second task is to try and explain why so many people including many smart, famous and high-profile individuals, have gotten so confused on this topic. This will be somewhat more difficult, wrapped up as it is in the complex dynamics at the interface of politics and science, while submerged in a soup of pseudo-science and fear. We believe there has been no conspiracy to dupe the public and the people in question have nothing but the best of intentions. It appears instead that a lot of well-meaning people got locked unwittingly into a game that requires them to speak as if they are absolutely certain about matters upon which certainty is inherently impossible. Many prominent players have staked their reputations on positions that cannot be supported by science or sound policy analysis. Consequently a debate in a free and open marketplace of ideas can’t happen. Instead, what we get looks more like a fortress, heavily defended by an arsenal of authoritarian pronouncements designed to intimidate outsiders into staying away. Rhetorical weapons like the statement of the 100 Nobel laureates, and others we have seen like it in the past year, would never be used in a real scientific debate. That big players in this issue feel a need for this sort of cannonade just shows how far we have departed from sensible intellectual practice on what remains, even today, an open scientific question.

This leads us to our third and most difficult task. We will try to look beyond the global warming issue itself and ask how we should make public policy in cases where the underlying science is uncertain. What we end up suggesting will not look anything like the process used around global warming. That will serve as an example of what not to do. We will argue for a new approach in which non-scientists stop looking for shortcuts around the hard work of learning science, and high-ranking scientists stop resorting to authoritarian grandstanding as an easy substitute for the slow work of research, debate and persuasion.

Global warming ceased to be a subject of scientific debate years ago. Watch how critics jump straight to an examination of motives or credentials rather than the substance of an author’s argument whenever books like this one are published. The argument, it seems, is that what you say, whether it is true or not, matters less than the way you say it or who you are. Scrutinizing the messenger rather than the message may be an effective political ploy; but what we are engaged in is not, at its heart, a political question. Our society has already done substantial harm to itself by not grasping this crucial point.

For those of you who will find this book threatening, and instinctively grasp for this sort of defense, you’re in luck. While we have neither sought nor received any industry funding for writing this book, the fact is our "green" credentials are pretty pathetic. We like civilization and all its artificial material comforts. Trees and lakes are nice to have around, but so are paved roads and warm buildings. We find recycling and the whole blue box thing a bit of a sacred cow. We generally prefer driving to walking, especially when transporting kids, except for very short distances. We don’t care if people drive subcompacts or SUV’s – that’s their business. Live and let drive. We eat meat, use pesticides on our lawns and avoid using public transit if possible. We think people who pay extra to buy "organic" vegetables are basically suckers. One of us even smoked cigarettes (for a while anyway). We have no idea when Earth Day is, nor do we care, as long as the mall stays open.

So there. If you are worried that this book may unravel some of your cherished beliefs about global warming, just gently close the cover and put it back on the shelf. Tell yourself these two horrible people are so out of touch with nature they couldn’t possible be trusted.

Customer Reviews

Illuminating and informative
Prior to reading Taken by Storm I considered myself well-informed about the topic of global climate change.I was surprised at how much more this book was able to explain. Essex and McKitrick do an excellent job of outlining the basic science, underlying math and pervasive lack of true understanding that underpins the issue of gloabl warming.Their tone is non-judgemental, unequivocal and principled. They ask fundamental intellectual questions, explain concepts using accessible examples and highlight how good science has been lost. It is a must read for anyone seeking insights about climate change and the broader interplay of politics and science.

Global Warming 201
This is the best-written, most entertaining, most important Science book I've read in over 40 years! The authors draw on statistical theory, chaos theory, computer modelling, masses of scientific data and a whole lot of common sense to completely devastate the whole idea of "global warming" and any attempts to observe it, predict it or influcence it. They also wade into the issue of why this "Chicken Little" idea has gained such a grip on our politicians (and our purse strings).

Only problem: I suspect this would be a tough read for anyone who doesn't have a strong science, math and statistics background. Even though I do have such a background, I found myself deciphering the "dummed down" versions into the real theory in order to understand what they were talking about. It all rang true to me, but I'm not sure someone who didn't have access to the "real" math would be convinced.

Very Good Effort
Mr. Essex and Mr. McKitrick have written a very impressive critique of the faulty science and pseudoscience behind the global warming theory. Particularly impressive is their explanation of the faulty modeling of the climate by the U.N. working committees. The book demonstrates how the collection of average temperatures is no way to model the climate whose relationships are nonlinear and are in constant disequilibrium. The authors demonstrate the uselessness of the U.N. climate models better than anyone else I have read. The authors to their great credit also expose many of the propaganda devices of the establishment and environmentalist proponents of controlling global warming. Way too many of the media, government and establishment information outlets are controlled by people who uncritically support the global warming hypothesis.

Mr. Essex and Mr. Mckitrick might criticized a bit for their presentation. The authors discuss quite difficult concepts that might well be out of range for the average reader. Even a person like myself who has taken a number of college mathematics courses had to read slowly and carefully several of their chapters. I think the authors should have used gray boxes to carefully explain the more difficult concepts, as is done in some science textbooks. For less experienced readers the book by Michaels and Balling (The Satanic Gases) might be a clearer exposition.

But the work is still stupendous.