An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming

An Inconvenient Truth, book and movie, are probably some of the most historically important works on Global Warming in terms of popular awareness. Even if your a total skeptic, no one can deny its historical role in amplifying the "debate". It's worth reading simply out of curiosity for what all the hoopla is about. Given all the scorn for Gore and his book/film in 2006 and 2007, I was expecting extreme scaremongering, and so I didn't read it. But I picked it up in 2010 and found a fairly modest mainstream treatment of the science of Global Warming. He gets the essence of it right and explains some complex things in an easy to understand way. In fact much of the hatred towards Gore was politically motivated out of fear of his running show more for President in 2008. As it turned out that never happened, and now we can look more objectively at the film and book for what it is - an education tool for beginners on a complex topic. Is it perfect? No, even in the four years since it was published the science has changed, but it is largely correct and a great introduction that will continue to be talked about and read for decades to come.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2010 cc-by-nd show less

I wanted to read An Inconvenient Truth again now that climate change is a more mainstream topic and the hoopla over the movie has passed. My reread reminded me of how moving I found Al Gore's personal story and how inspiring I found his view that the climate crisis "offers us the chance to experience what very few generations in history have had the privilege of knowing: a generational mission; the exhilaration of a compelling moral purpose, a shared and unifying cause; the thrill of being forced by circumstances to put aside the pettiness and conflict that so often stifle the restless human need for transcendence; the opportunity to rise." While it may strike some as overly dramatic, in light of recent events I find this insight from show more 2006 eerily prescient.

Often books dealing with environmental issues and current events become quickly dated. An Inconvenient Truth mainly deals with the scientific data behind global warming, laying out the case that human activities are releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, causing global warming and ultimately endangering the natural systems that regulate the planet. All of this data still seems relevant. The book still makes the case for taking action on climate change very eloquently (and convincingly in my opinion) with words, charts and graphs, maps and stunning photographs. Its layout and typography seem fresh and contemporary, but serious and scientific at the same time. It closely mirrors the movie and at times leaves the reader with that same "Powerpoint Overload!!!" feeling. Nonetheless, I find it an excellent presentation overall.

To me, it is the fact that only 20 of 320 pages are devoted to solutions that makes the book seem dated. I like to think that most people who would be inclined to take action on an environmental issue now accept the reality of global warming. The only serious points of debate that remain are about the most expedient and equitable way to do so and the book provides little of relevance to this debate. show less

This is very tolerable pop-science. Gore keeps it rather simple, and changes voice pretty frequently. Sometimes he gives personal details about his own involvement in various political efforts having to do with global warming. Other chapters simply discuss the extent, mechanisms, and impact of climate change.

The talk about God is, no doubt, politically necessary, even for an erstwhile presidential candidate.

I was a believer before, but this is overwhelming. It is clear that global warming is a fact (even though some areas, of course, will get colder as the Arctic Ice melts). The parallel pictures are the most telling to me. Pictures of the same place now, and decades ago. Lake Chad in Africa, gone. The Aral Sea, gone. Spring arriving earlier, winter arriving later. The world is changing, and will continue to change. Humanity has been part of the reason why. The current federal policies are contributors (thank you, Governor Schwartzenegger for bucking the feds on this issue). The key thing is that we can indeed stop things from snowballing faster. But change is happening. This book is scary down deep. It took longer to read than it might show more otherwise have, because it is so disheartening. And some people at work tell me Global Warming is a myth. I'm not prepared to debate them, but I do wonder how they can be so oblivious. show less

"An Inconvenient Truth The Book" is fundamentally the same as "An Inconvenient Truth The Film." Still, I recommend both: some concepts come across better as animated slides, while many of the movie's core ideas are given much more thorough treatment in the book. As far as Gore's central argument is concerned, "An Inconvenient Truth" does an excellent job of both making the science of global warming accessible without unnecessarily dumbing it down, and proving that it is indeed a problem (although not a hopeless one).

In this work, former vice president Al Gore takes a thorough look at the problem of global warming- and does it in a way that the average American can understand- light on scientific jargon, heavy on pictures, maps, graphs, and charts. Gore is striving to 1) convince people that global warming is a real problem and 2) convince people there is something they can and should do about it. “An Inconvenient Truth” concludes with a helpful “what you can do” section.

Quote: “We have everything we need to begin solving this crisis, with the possible exception of the will to act.”

I was more impressed by this work than I thought I would be. First of all, whether you agree or disagree with his opinion, you have to be impressed by this show more work- it is beautiful, understandable, and intelligent. I took a class about global warming, but I don’t think someone who had no particular experience with this subject would find it at all incomprehensible. Furthermore, Gore keeps the political “I told you so” to a minimum, which is to his credit, as is the fact that he focuses on science, not just sensationalism. If you have any interest in this topic, and Al Gore thinks you should, you should read this book. show less

an accessible, visual way to get a handle on well-labeled data about global warming and climate change. the family anecdotes from al gore's life felt sort of thrown in, but i can see why having them in the book is a good move - people are always calling al gore stiff, unemotional, cardboard, etc. but who cares about charisma when the man can fit an enormous amount of useful data into a book that's *easily readable and absorbable*, with lots of arresting photographs. charts are labeled, sources are cited. i dunno. i think this is a dazzling reach-out to a broad spectrum of people, including the folks who don't read that much; it looks like a coffee-table book, but it actually contains substansive and useful data! and that's really an show more achievement. i'm glad i read it and i'm glad al gore is around, doing what he does. maybe we can all pull ourselves together and avoid a global cataclysm for another hundred years or so. show less