Tag: Book Review

What is Time

Image above by Kevin from The Beginning at Last

Many and strange are the universes that drift like bubbles in the foam upon the River of Time—first sentence of Wall of Darkness by Arthur C. Clarke, 1949.

What is Time? What is the arrow of time? Does entropy define an arrow of time? Is there a past and a future? Has time always existed as, for example, in the eternal inflation cosmological model in which universes continuously pop into existence via Big Bangs like the bubbles on the River of Time in the Arthur C. Clarke quote above. Does time have a beginning as a recent Big Bang model by Stephen Hawking imply. If time came into existence with the universe itself then there is no place for creation, just as in an infinitely existing universe. There cannot be anything north of the north pole, and there cannot be anything before time itself.

In the theories of relativity time is relative. The speed of clocks as well as the order of events differ from observer to observer. The presence of energy or mass will bend time. There is no universal flow of time. There is no universal time.

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that we know to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. It is a type of myth busting. However, I also create posts that are not super facts but that feature other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation.

In the picture there are objects from the past as well as futuristic elements and several clocks | What is Time
This picture reminded me of the mysteries of time. This is a submission for Kevin’s No Theme Thursday

About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution by Paul Davies

The book I am about to present focuses a lot on relativity. This is not strange since the theories of relativity shed a lot of light on time. Yes, pun intended. I’ve come across a lot of people who make various claims about time, and even consider themselves philosophers of time, and yet they do not even understand the special theory of relativity.

Because of this they say a lot of profound sounding things about time that ultimately are nonsensical. There is no way around it. If you want to say profound things about time and expand human knowledge on this topic you need to first have some understanding of relativity as well as other related physics such as thermodynamics and entropy. This book will provide that.

I should say that the book is somewhat outdated, being written in 1995 and 1996. However, most of it is still relevant and I know of no other book that approaches the topic in such an honest and rigorous way. The book comes in two formats hardcover and paperback. I bought the paperback version.

  • Hardcover –  Publisher – Simon & Schuster; First Edition (March 13, 1995), ISBN-10 : 0671799649, ISBN-13 : 978-0671799649, 316 pages, item weight : 1.3 pounds, dimensions : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches, it costs $18.09 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Paperback –  Publisher – Simon & Schuster; First Edition (April 9, 1996), ISBN-10 : 0684818221, ISBN-13 : 978-0684818221, 316 pages, item weight : 0.704 ounces according to Amazon but I think that should be 0.704 pounds, dimensions : ‎ 9.21 x 6.14 x 0.8 inches, it costs $12.28 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of hardback version of the book About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution by Paul Davies
Front cover of hardback version of the book About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution by Paul Davies. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution

An elegant, witty, and engaging exploration of the riddle of time, which examines the consequences of Einstein’s theory of relativity and offers startling suggestions about what recent research may reveal.

The eternal questions of science and religion were profoundly recast by Einstein’s theory of relativity and its implications that time can be warped by motion and gravitation, and that it cannot be meaningfully divided into past, present, and future.

In About Time, Paul Davies discusses the big bang theory, chaos theory, and the recent discovery that the universe appears to be younger than some of the objects in it, concluding that Einstein’s theory provides only an incomplete understanding of the nature of time. Davies explores unanswered questions such as:

* Does the universe have a beginning and an end?

* Is the passage of time merely an illusion?

* Is it possible to travel backward — or forward — in time?

About Time weaves physics and metaphysics in a provocative contemplation of time and the universe.

My four-star review for About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution

The link above will take you to my original review for About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution. Below is a slightly modified version of the review.

Our Evolving Concept of Time

Science, particularly physics, has revealed to us some profound insights about time, and yet it remains a mysterious topic. In the first chapter of the book “A Very Brief History of Time” the author describes how the concept of time has evolved throughout human history. The ancient philosophers had a very fuzzy notion of time, and they often dismissed both motion and time as illusions. The author tells us about “cyclic time”, and the “linear time” concept from Judeo-Christian thinking, and how it was incorporated into science as a “time variable”. This made it possible to solve the paradoxes created by such Greek thinkers as Zeno, who based on apparent paradoxes concluded that motion and time cannot really exist. Those “false” paradoxes were solved with the concept of linear physical time.

Physical time also made Calculus and Physics possible, and it became clear that there was a difference between physical time, which is a measurable entity used to sequence events, and experienced time, which is the subjective human feeling of a past, present, and a future.

Most of the rest of the book is focused on the Special Theory of Relativity and the General Theory of Relativity. The theories of relativity revolutionized how we view time, and they enabled a much deeper understanding of time. Special relativity refuted the concept of universal absolute time. Not only do clocks in different systems run at different speeds, but there is no universal “Now”.

However, the theories of relativity are not all there is to know about time, and we are not even done drawing conclusions about time based on the theories of relativity. This is why the book is called “About Time Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution”. The book also discusses quantum time, the arrow of time, worm holes, neuroscience and modern psychological experiments.

The book contains a lot of information and yet it scratches only on the surface. Time is a quite complex concept when you start digging into it. Take, for example, the discussion on the arrow of time. The conclusion of the books seems to be that there really is an arrow of time. Time has direction. The author is presenting both “sides” of the issue and to really get a grasp of the issue you need to clarify and look at the physics. Time certainly seems to have a direction if you look at the concept of entropy. The Cosmos is filled with irreversible processes. Our memory, which is essential for our experience of a self, is another example.

However, time has a direction even on the most fundamental level in subatomic particles. Kaon, a type of meson, decays in a way that is not time symmetric. The same may be true for the neutron. These particles “know” the difference between the past and the future. One could easily imagine how this chapter could be turned into a several thousand pages long book by just digging deeper into the related physics.

“About Time Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution” covers a lot of interesting topics related to time and it is often quite informative. The book is also well written, well organized, it has a good pace, and it is very interesting. It strikes a good balance between depth and breadth, and it does not overwhelm its readers. However, I do have some critique of the book, which prompted me to give the book four stars instead of five stars.

To understand some of the discussions in the book you should have a decent understanding of the theories of relativity, in my opinion. The author is explaining the theories of relativity to some degree, but the explanations did not seem to be that good. I did not have a problem with understanding these explanations since I already studied these topics, but I don’t think I would have understood what I needed to understand had I encountered the theories of relativity for the first time while reading this book.

Another criticism I have of the book is that he introduces ugh Everett’s many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and in my opinion promotes it. This interpretation is in my opinion both strange and implausible and is not necessary for the discussions in the book.

In short, it proposes that every quantum measurement creates new universes, each corresponding to a different possible outcome of that measurement. In essence, our Universe is just one of many, and each quantum event splits the universe into multiple versions, where each version experiences a different outcome.

The problem with this interpretation is not so much that you get multiverses, but that you an infinite number of new fully evolved universes every nanosecond, which in turn create an infinite number of universes, which in turn create an infinite number of universes, and so on infinitely, and there is no way to empirically verify their existence. It is a so-called solution to a problem that is fictitious in my opinion and is derived from an old naïve interpretation of quantum waves. It is “hip” and “cool” interpretation, but I don’t see how it is useful. I should add that I have no problem with, for example, the multiverse idea stemming from string theory.

Anyway, except for my two complaints I think this is a pretty good book that I can recommend.

Front cover of paperback version of the book About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution by Paul Davies.
Front cover of paperback version of the book About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution by Paul Davies. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

About Paul Davis

Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, where he runs the pioneering Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He also chairs the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Post-Detection Taskgroup, so that if SETI succeeds in finding intelligent life, he will be among the first to know.

The asteroid 1992OG was officially renamed Paul Davies in his honor. In addition to his many scientific awards, Davies is the recipient of the 1995 Templeton Prize–the world’s largest annual prize–for his work on science and religion. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, and The Goldilocks Enigma. He lives in Tempe, Arizona.

Other Relativity Related Posts

To see the Super Facts click here

Quick Easy Introduction to Astrophysics

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that are known to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. In a sense it is myth busting. However, it is not the only type of posts I do. This is a review for a popular book on Astrophysics called “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil De Grasse Tyson. It is a New York Times best seller and the #1 best seller in Astronomy & Astrophysics on Amazon. It has almost 37,000 ratings/reviews on Amazon and more 194,000 reviews/ratings on Goodreads.

Below is a list of the four formats in which it comes on Amazon.

  • Hardcover –  Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (May 2, 2017), ASIN : 0393609391, ISBN-10 : 9780393609394, ISBN-13 : 978-0393609394, 224 pages, item weight : 2.31 pounds, dimensions : ‎ 7.3 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches, it costs $6.21 – $13.26 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Publisher – W. W. Norton & Company (May 2, 2017), ASIN : B01MAWT2MO, 222 pages, it costs $9.00 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audiobook –  Publisher : Blackstone Audio Inc (May 2, 2017), ASIN : B06XB2PX7G, it costs $10.20 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audio CD –  Publisher : Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (May 2, 2017), ISBN-10 : 1538408015, ISBN-13 : 978-1538408018, it costs $24.95 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
“Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil De Grasse Tyson front cover | Quick Easy Introduction to Astrophysics
Front cover of the book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Over a year on the New York Times bestseller list and more than a million copies sold.

The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

This is my four-star review for Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

The reason I gave the book four stars instead of five is because I felt that if you have an interest in the topic, you will have heard it all before. However, in retrospect that might not be a good reason to deduct a star. After all, the book seems to be targeting people who do not know much about the subject and thus will not have heard it all before.

Quick and Entertaining Overview of Astrophysics

I’ve read a number of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s books and I love them. This book is a compressed version of what he has been explaining in other books. If you’ve already read a number of Neil De Grasse books, or perhaps other popular science Astrophysics books such as those by Stephen Hawking, you will not find much new in this book. However, I think it is a brief but good summary of Astrophysics written for a layman. It is 208 pages, each page having about half as much text per page as a typical popular science book. It is an easy and fairly quick read.

He briefly explains the Big Bang, physical laws, spectra, nebulae, the speed of light, very briefly relativity and quantum physics, the cosmic background radiation, galaxies, gravitational lensing, dark matter, dark energy, neutron stars, the composition of the solar system and exoplanets. He covers a lot of ground quickly and he makes it easy to understand without simplifying so much that it becomes misleading. This book is exactly what the title says. However, as I mentioned, if you’ve read a lot on the topic already, especially if it is Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s books, you’ve seen it before. I still think it was very enjoyable though and I still learned something new. He is a very entertaining author.

“Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil De Grasse Tyson back cover
Front cover of the book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.
To see the Super Facts click here

Climate Science versus Pseudo Science

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that we know to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. It is a type of myth busting. However, I also create posts that are not super facts but other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation.

Climatology versus Pseudoscience: Exposing the Failed Predictions of Global Warming Skeptics by Dana Nuccitelli

Climatology versus Pseudoscience by Dana Nuccitelli is a book about human-caused Climate Change, or global warming, and how we know that is happening and how we know that we are the cause of it. If you want to see more about why we know this click here.

The book pays a lot of attention to so called climate skeptics; more accurately called climate contrarians. They are not true skeptics but agenda driven contrarians. Even though their science is bad, and their predictions have failed repeatedly many times over, they have had an enormous influence on public discourse. Conservative politicians, and many talk show hosts are blindly devoted to their falsehoods, whilst real scientists are being attacked. Large segments of the population in the United States, and to some extents elsewhere, have been bamboozled by the pseudo-science.

The good news is that people are waking up to the reality that they have been bamboozled. We know that global warming, or if you call it climate change, is not only real, but we also know that the current rapid warming is caused by us, primarily via our carbon emissions. I was bamboozled by the pseudo scientists myself, but then I took a serious look at the science, and I realized that that I had been bamboozled. This book will walk you through the faulty arguments of the climate contrarians, and it does so in a logical and convincing manner. It features hundreds of references. I bought the hardback version of this book.

  • Hardcover –  Publisher – Praeger; Illustrated edition (March 3, 2015), ISBN-10 : 1440832013, ISBN-13 : 978-1440832017, 232 pages, item weight : 1.3 pounds, dimensions : ‎ 6.14 x 0.56 x 9.21 inches, it costs $11.96 – $53.00 on US Amazon. A new copy is $53.00. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Publisher – Praeger; Illustrated edition (March 3, 2015), ASIN : B0C71FFTQT, 230 pages, it costs $50.35on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The front cover features the full title “Climatology versus Pseudoscience: Exposing the Failed Predictions of Global Warming Skeptics” and the author’s name, as well as a picture of a snow-covered car with the inscription it was 82 degrees yesterday | Climate Science versus Pseudo Science By Dana Nuccitelli
Front cover of Climatology versus Pseudoscience. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of Climatology versus Pseudoscience

This book explains the science of climate change in plain language and shows that the 2 to 4 percent of climate scientists who are skeptical that humans are the main cause of global warming are a fringe minority—and have a well-established history of being wrong.

Although some politicians, pundits, and members of the public do not believe it, global warming predictions by mainstream climate scientists have been remarkably accurate while those made by climate deniers have not. And if mainstream global warming predictions continue to prove correct, the window of opportunity to prevent a climate catastrophe is quickly closing. This book is the first to illustrate the accuracy—and inaccuracy—of global warming predictions made by mainstream climate scientists and by climate contrarians from the 1970s to the present day. Written in simple, non-technical language that provides an accessible explanation of key climate science concepts, the book will appeal to general audiences without previous knowledge about climate science.

This is my five-star review for Climatology versus Pseudoscience

A Journey into Climate Science and a Debunking of Climate Contrarianism

The author starts out by giving us an overview of climate science starting with the discovery of the greenhouse effect by Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier in 1820’s. He explains that the planet would be much colder than it is if it wasn’t for the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect acts like a blanket. He also explains why we know that the global warming that we have seen in recent decades is a greenhouse effect chiefly caused by our burning of fossil fuels, and not natural causes.

The warming is leaving behind various fingerprints, such as the upper atmosphere cooling while the lower atmosphere is warming (like a blanket would), which wouldn’t happen if it was the sun or an orbital cycle causing the warming. The conclusion is that we know that global warming is real, and we know that we are the ones causing it.

Note : I will use the term “global warming” in this review. Whether you call the phenomenon climate change, climate disruption, or global heating, is not important.

The author also discusses climate models, and he notes the astounding accuracy of the early climate models. He takes us on a journey through the development of modern climate science into the 1950’s, and the rapid growth of climate science in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then into the 1980’s, 1990’s and the 2000’s. He describes the increasingly advanced and increasingly accurate climate models. In addition, he discusses sulfate aerosols and global warmings forgotten evil twin ocean acidification.

This is all very interesting to any science nerd and it makes you understand why we know that we are causing the global warming we are seeing. It also makes it obvious why there is a consensus on the topic. Several studies have shown that at least 97% of climate scientists believe that global warming is real and that we are the cause of it.

However, despite the scientific rigor of peer reviewed mainstream climate science, despite the impressive success of climate models, and despite the scientific consensus, the public is very confused about the topic. Enter a small group of so-called global warming skeptics, or more accurately, global warming contrarians. They are not true skeptics but agenda driven contrarians. Even though their science is bad (pseudoscience) and the fact that their predictions have failed repeatedly many times over, they have an outsized presence in the media and often a large enthusiastic following.

It is not just rightwing media who are using them for their purposes, but mainstream media are giving the contrarians undue attention as well. Sensationalism is one issue. A science contrarian claiming that all the climate scientists are wrong, and he is the only one who finally got it right is a lot more interesting of a story than a repeat of the consensus. Another issue is false balance. As a journalist you should not feel that you must give equal time to evidence based science and nonsense.

The author also discusses various myths and false claims spread by climate science contrarians. He mentions that unfortunately most Republican congressmen stand with the contrarian pseudoscientists rather than with the science. Well, with the exception for a few brave souls. On average the American public believe that 55% of scientists agree that we are the cause behind the global warming while the consensus is more than 97% and growing stronger. The author refers to this as the consensus gap.

It is easy to be confused. I have a degree in physics and a PhD in electrical engineering / robotics and yet I was bamboozled by the climate science contrarians. I read books by the contrarians including some of the ones the author discusses, and I believed them. I also followed pretty much only rightwing media at the time and as a result I became misinformed. It was not until I took a deep dive into the subject and read what the actual science said that I realized that I had been bamboozled. Some of the science articles that initiated my change of heart were written by the author. That was back in 2012 and 2013.

This book is a great start if you want to take a serious look at climate science. The book is well organized, and the author is an expert on the subject, as well as a great communicator. Even though many of the things he discussed in the book were not new to me, I very much enjoyed reading the book and I learned some new things. If you don’t know much about climate science but are interested in science, then this book is a must read.

The back cover of Climate Science versus Pseudo Science by Dana Nuccitelli
Back cover of Climatology versus Pseudoscience. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle version of the book.

About the Author of Climatology versus Pseudoscience

Dana Nuccitelli

Dana Nuccitelli is an environmental scientist and climate blogger for The Guardian and SkepticalScience.com. He’s been researching and writing about climate science since 2006. He has a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in astrophysics, and a master’s degree from UC Davis in physics.

To see the Super Facts click here

The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Super facts are important and true facts that are nevertheless highly surprising to many, disputed among the public, or unnecessarily misunderstood. They are special facts that we all can learn something important from. However, I also make posts that are not super facts but feature other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation.

The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm

David Bohm a close colleague of Albert Einstein was one of the most interesting theoretical physicists of the 20th century. This book “The Special Theory of Relativity” is one of the most interesting and thorough introductory books on the Special Theory of Relativity that I have come across. It is a series of lectures on the topic. It features algebra, equations, and a little bit of differentials but not too much.

You may want to have some math, physics and some relativity under your belt before you tackle this book. In my estimate it is written for those who have taken high school AP physics and AP algebra, maybe calculus as well, or one or two college level physics classes and math classes (or more). It is probably too basic for professional physicists, but it is not written for laymen. I bought the paperback version.

  • Hardback –  Routledge; 1st edition (October 10, 1996), ISBN-10 : 0415148081, ISBN-13 : 978-0415148085, 256 pages, item weight : 13.6 ounces, dimensions : ‎ 5.75 x 0.75 x 9 inches. It is out of stock, and it costs $75.60 – $144.00 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Paperback –  Publisher : Routledge; 1st edition (September 4, 2006), ASIN : 0415404258, ISBN-13 : 978-0415404259, 304 pages, item weight : 12 ounces, dimensions : 5.08 x 0.69 x 7.8 inches. It is out of stock, and it costs $12.36 – $17.21 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Published : Routledge; 1st edition (September 29, 2015), ASIN : B009W3W6MG, 306 pages, it costs $10.10 – $13.77 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The front cover of “The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm.”
Front cover of the paperback version of The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of the Book

In these inspiring lectures David Bohm explores Albert Einstein’s celebrated Theory of Relativity that transformed forever the way we think about time and space. Yet for Bohm the implications of the theory were far more revolutionary both in scope and impact even than this. Stepping back from dense theoretical and scientific detail in this eye-opening work, Bohm describes how the notion of relativity strikes at the heart of our very conception of the universe, regardless of whether we are physicists or philosophers.

This is my five-star review for The Special Theory of Relativity

Note, I wrote this review in 2014, so it is relatively old, pun intended.

Lorentz Electrodynamics, Special Relativity, and our Perception of Reality

This book is a thorough and well written introduction to the “Special Theory of Relativity”. In addition to the basics of special relativity it covers the history of Special Relativity and it includes 60-pages of Lorentz Electrodynamics. The book also discusses Minkowski Diagrams, the Twin Paradox, relativistic Doppler effects, K-Calculus, and philosophy related to relativity. The book does not discuss General Relativity.

Bohm does not derive many formulas for electrodynamics, optics, quantum physics, thermodynamics, etc., and therefore this book does not resemble a textbook. Bohm’s focus is on a deeper understanding of the special theory of relativity itself, and on time and space.

He discusses perception of reality and includes discussions on child development, psychology and neurology related to perception, the meaning of the relational concepts in relativity, the structure of scientific revolutions (T.S. Kuhn), our perceptions of time and space, philosophy, and other related topics that cannot be classified as physics.

In K Calculus you draw the world lines of light pulses sent at constant intervals between different observers. Then you calculate what is essentially the Doppler factor K and uses it to explain what is going in relativity. In contrast the Lorentz transform is concerned with the space-time coordinates that you measure after taking into account that light have to travel a certain distance and that this takes time. Basically, the “actual time and space coordinates”.

K Calculus on the other hand is including both relativistic effects and the distance and time it takes for light to travel. K Calculus is thus not what you “measure” but what you “observe”. K Calculus makes it very easy to explain special relativity to an audience that is not strong in math and it also adds a new understanding to the special theory of relativity.

However, I see an inherent risk with K-Calculus in that it can end up fooling the student into believing that he understands relativity, for example, if a student incorrectly comes to believe that time dilation is some form of Doppler Effect.

Except for the fact that some of the mathematical derivations were unnecessarily complex I thought this book presented relativity lucidly, the philosophical discussions were insightful, and it added to my understanding of the topic. It should probably not be your first book on Special Relativity but it is a very good second book. I highly recommend it for those who want to think through the concepts of relativity a little deeper.

The back cover of "The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm"
Back cover of the paperback version of The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the kindle version of the book.

To see the Super Facts click here

What Can We Do About Climate Change

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that we know to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. Super facts are important facts that people get wrong. However, I also create posts that are not super facts but other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation.

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe is a book about human caused Climate Change, how bad it is, and what we can do about it. The good news is that we are not all going to destroy ourselves. It is still bad, but we can do a lot to avoid making it really bad. However, there are a lot misunderstandings regarding what really makes a difference. This book examines these issues with a good dose of realistic optimism and science. I read the hardback version (and my review on Amazon is currently the top review).

  • Hardcover –  Publisher : Atria/One Signal Publishers (September 21, 2021), ISBN-10 : 1982143835, ISBN-13 : 978-1982143831, 320 pages, item weight : 1.05 pounds, dimensions : ‎6 x 1 x 9 inches, it costs $19.14 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Paperback –  Publisher : Atria/One Signal Publishers (September 20, 2022), ISBN-10 : 1982143843, ISBN-13 : 978-1982143848, 320 pages, item weight : 8.8 ounces, dimensions : 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.38 inches, it costs $17.22 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Published : Atria/One Signal Publishers (September 21, 2021), ASIN : B08BZW2BQG, 318 pages, it costs $14.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audiobook –  Published : September 21, 2021, ASIN : B08D4RGYM8, Listening Length : 8 hours and 7 minutes, it costs $16.40 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The front cover of “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” by Katahrine Hayhoe | What Can We Do About Climate Change
Front cover of Saving Us. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

“An optimistic view on why collective action is still possible—and how it can be realized.” —The New York Times

“As far as heroic characters go, I’m not sure you could do better than Katharine Hayhoe.” —Scientific American

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that Saving Us is one of the more important books about climate change to have been written.” —The Guardian

United Nations Champion of the Earth, climate scientist, and evangelical Christian Katharine Hayhoe changes the debate on how we can save our future.

Called “one of the nation’s most effective communicators on climate change” by The New York Times, Katharine Hayhoe knows how to navigate all sides of the conversation on our changing planet. A Canadian climate scientist living in Texas, she negotiates distrust of data, indifference to imminent threats, and resistance to proposed solutions with ease. Over the past fifteen years Hayhoe has found that the most important thing we can do to address climate change is talk about it—and she wants to teach you how.

In Saving Us, Hayhoe argues that when it comes to changing hearts and minds, facts are only one part of the equation. We need to find shared values in order to connect our unique identities to collective action. This is not another doomsday narrative about a planet on fire. It is a multilayered look at science, faith, and human psychology, from an icon in her field—recently named chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy.

Drawing on interdisciplinary research and personal stories, Hayhoe shows that small conversations can have astonishing results. Saving Us leaves us with the tools to open a dialogue with your loved ones about how we all can play a role in pushing forward for change.

This is my five-star review for Saving Us

Climate Change; what can we do? Talk about it!

This is an extremely well written, informative, and hopeful book on climate communication. A decade ago I was doubtful that human caused climate change was anything to worry about even though it physically made sense that it was happening. I thought environmentalists were exaggerating and distorting the facts. In general I did not trust or respect environmentalists whom I thought were driven by leftist agendas.

I studied the topic on my own by reading books and scientific articles on the topic, and I learned what climate scientists, not opinionated bloggers, said about the topic. I was especially impressed by a book by James Hansen.

I came to realize that human caused global warming definitely was real and a serious problem. I think I was able to change my mind so easily because I never had a strong affiliation with a political tribe, I respected scientific expertise and my encounter with science deniers in other fields had inoculated me against their kind of rhetoric (it’s fairly universal). I’m an abstract thinker who loves pro-con-lists, and I prefer going in deep and I am not afraid of math, but I don’t think that’s typical.

The backside of that is that it made me a pretty crappy and easily frustrated climate change communicator once I came around. I felt I needed to take action so I joined Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), a bipartisan volunteer organization with good solutions and good practices. From CCL I learned how to communicate better. In this book Katherine Hayhoe praises CCL and use it as a model for how to approach climate change with respect to solutions and communication.

In addition to climate change communication she gives a high level overview of why we know that global warming is happening (there are 26,500 lines of independent evidence for climate change), how fast it is happening (10 times faster than the last ice age warming), and how we know it isn’t natural. It’s a simple overview, not a deep dive. I thought her analogy about driving while looking in the rearview mirror as you hit a curve to be genius.

She also discusses our cognitive biases, and why not to engage with the 7% who are dismissives, the abuse she’s been a victim of, and so called zombie arguments. Zombie arguments are dismissive arguments that have been thoroughly debunked over and over but won’t die because they fulfill an emotional need for those who are dismissive of climate change. She discusses the political divided in the US, the “blame and shame the consumer” tactic and the misguided “population control solution” and solutions aversion in general.

She describes our situation lucidly. That there is no particular known limit that will doom us all. It is like smoking; you don’t get lung cancer after a certain amount of cigarettes, it’s just better to stop as soon as you can. She discusses solutions and the economy, including cap and trade and a price on carbon, and she states we don’t have to harm the economy to solve climate change, and a lot is already being done the world over. It is a mostly hopeful view.

I was surprised to learn that if you take into account, production subsidies, tax breaks, land leases on public lands below market rates, and the cost of pollution, the IMF estimates that fossil fuel subsidies in the US top $600 billion per year, twenty times clean energy subsidies. That’s about $2,000.00 per person and year, or $8,000.00 per family per year. That’s a lot of money.

Because of my experience with CCL I recognized a lot of what Katherine Hayhoe was saying in this book, but I still had a lot to learn, and besides the book is hopeful, and intelligently written and therefore a pleasure to read. She stresses that the most important thing we can do to solve climate change is to talk about it. I love this book and I highly recommend this book.

Back cover of “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” by Katharine Hayhoe
Back cover of Saving Us. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the kindle version of the book.

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