A compelling narrative enlivened as much by the author’s encounters on the road as by his skillful unfolding of scientific...
Climate scientist Goodrich chronicles his cycling journey across the United States.
Throughout his travels, the author compared how people are experiencing, and discussing, changes in the weather with what he has learned about climate change during his scientific career. Goodrich was director of the U.N. Global Climate Observing System in Geneva and also served as the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Observations and Monitoring Program. Beginning in Delaware, the author cycled 4,200 miles around the country, and his narrative serves as a unique profile of the U.S. and its people. He writes of particular cases in which, season to season—and even day to day—changes in the weather indicate longer-term consequences for the overall climate. His conversations with fellow scientists and others—e.g., Annie Larsen, a biologist at Delaware’s Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge—give fascinating insight into how the process is perceived. Though the details differ with topographic and climatological zones, the overall problems remain the same, whether it’s the growing dead zone at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, bigger, more dangerous tornadoes in the Midwest (which the author encountered), pine beetle infestation in the Rockies, or the shrinking winter snow pack in the Bitterroot Mountains. Throughout the narrative, Goodrich smoothly interweaves the stories of the people he met and the places he visited, and he is clear about how the many dangers he faced during his journey were offset by the hospitality he discovered. Native American history provides a further dimension to the story, and the author also provides helpful explanations of how climate scientists work and develop their data. This cyclist’s view of how things really are effectively cuts across head-butting arguments about global warming.
A compelling narrative enlivened as much by the author’s encounters on the road as by his skillful unfolding of scientific knowledge.Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68177-431-2
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Johnstown Flood was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time (actually manmade, since it was precipitated by a wealthy country club dam which had long been the source of justified misgivings). This then is a routine rundown of the catastrophe of May 31st, 1889, the biggest news story since Lincoln's murder in which thousands died. The most interesting incidental: a baby floated unharmed in its cradle for eighty miles.... Perhaps of local interest-but it lacks the Lord-ly touch.
Pub Date: March 18, 1968
ISBN: 0671207148
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968
IN THE NEWS
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.
Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.
The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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