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Title: Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming (Vintage)
ISBN: 030738652X
Author:
Bjorn Lomborg
Publicate Date: 2008-08-12
Publish: 2008-08-12
List Price: $13.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $7.96
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $7.42
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.16
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| Customer Review: |
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1: "Skeptical" is a good title word
Bjorn Lomborg is an intelligent man. He does get a lot of things right. But be wary of his fact-twisting and deception with numbers. Many of the quotes used are taken completely out of context. For more information, check out this link:
http://www.lomborg-errors.dk/coolit.htm
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2: Cool it, the Sceptical Environmentalist's guide to Global Warming
I think this book by Prof. Lundberg is quite well written. I enjoyed reading it. He admits that, yes, there is global warming, but no, unlike the global universal consensus, spouted by Al Gore and his acolytes (and not open to discussion) there is ample evidence that this may be a natural phenomenon. Not only that, there may be a positive aspect to global warming, which the doomsday predictors conveniently never mention.
I am glad I purchased this book, and would like to recommend it to anyone who has not succumbed to Gore's siren song: "do you wish to be known as one of those who made life for your children and grandchildren impossible".
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3: Government is the solution !
With the financial system collapsing due to deregulation, greed and irrational hubris, this short book is the latest fad for all who believe government is a problem, not the solution.
Granted, Lomberg admits, "humanity has caused a substantial rise in atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels over the past centuries, thereby contributing to global warming."
His solution? Let's cure AIDs, malaria, hunger and poverty first. Dealing with what we know rather than facing unknown unknowns is a noble approach that has motivated mankind for centuries. When people did not know how to cure smallpox, to cite an example, the alternative was to make the king and nobles uselessly rich and let most peasants live without clean water, sewage disposal and other basic necessities. The impact of global warming is as unknown today as was the cause of smallpox two centuries ago.
Today we need a president in the style of Abraham Lincoln who believed government can do things collectively that people cannot do individually. He was far more rational than modern fools who say taxes are only a form of "greed" and the true key to a better community is personal riches grabbed by any means possible.
Keeping these two ideas in mind, this book is a good analysis of the global warming debate. It is concise (164 pages of text, the rest is notes and sources), beautifully intelligent, blue skies clear and skeptical. No great idea should exist without rigorous challenge, questioning and alternatives. Think of the impact had some "Lomborg" 25 years ago offered similar questions about Reagan's rush to financial deregulation.
Lomborg doesn't deny global warming (the t-shirt mentality says "Al Gore didn't invent the Internet; he did invent Global Warming"). Instead, he suggests cost effective solutions such as carbon dioxide taxes. He'll properly infuriate climate change doers, doubters, deniers and dimbulbs.
Consider: What if Henry Ford was as concerned about pollution as he was about inventing the Model T and the moving assembly line? Or, what if horses were still the favoured means of transport for goods and people? A brilliant innovation may create a problem, but every solution must be dealt with in the context of the problem it solved.
Consider: Bottled water is sold because some people fear "polluted" municipal water. But, what if today's "natural" water was similar to that of 200 years ago when it might contain smallpox (instead of chlorine?) and other bacteria?
Consider: Lomborg raises a string of relevant issues that every intelligent person should consider before plunging into any climate change debate. All in all, this is a fine introduction to pollution, climate change, hype, hysteria and hope.
Consider: As with the financial industry, government is a solution and not the problem.
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4: An incredibly important book
Well researched and thoughtful. Bjorn Lomborg extracts the issue of global climate change policy from the layers of emotionalism and hysteria in which it is usually wrapped with the skill and precision of a surgeon. In cool, measured logical steps on the basis of well-established research, he elegantly illustrates how best to craft a climate change policy for the real world.
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5: A much welcome, balanced and clear-headed argument
This book is excellent in that it is neither written from the point of view of an alarmist nor of a denier. This middle ground is sadly lacking from the climate change debate in this day and age. Non-economists might find the constant cost-benefit analysis somewhat hard to fathom, but there are very few hard-to-understand parts.
Obviously, the science used to justify Lomborg's claims have, and will continue to be, challenged. Nevertheless, it is useful just to point out the danger of climate change hysteria that predominates the media.
My only problem with this book is the disproportionately large section at the back of the book denoted to notes. While this is necessary, it means the book is substantially shorter than it appears. I enjoyed the book and a little disappointed that so much of it is bibliography. But I still highly recommend it.
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