Michaels (The Satanic Gases
) and Balling (The Heated Debate
) claim that, although global warming is real, it does not herald a climate crisis and that human beings cannot “significantly alter the temperature trajectory of the planet.” They present detailed evidence that climate data is inaccurate, the fear that permafrost will release huge amounts of the greenhouse gas methane is unfounded and that “horror stories about an imminent collapse of Greenland's ice simply aren't borne out by the fact that it was warmer there for decades in the early 20th century, and for millennia after the end of the last ice age.” The authors make persuasive arguments and climate crisis skeptics will applaud the book's message. Other readers may wonder why governments would, as Michaels and Balling suggest, have a stake in manufacturing a crisis, and think that the book's credibility is undermined by the authors' tendency to mix sarcasm with facts and figures (“Earth's temperature is doubtlessly warmer than it was 100 years ago. Get over it”) and clear frustration with their minority status in the global warming debate. (Jan.)
