Four Degrees of Global Warming edited by Peter Christoff

 

Four Degrees of Global Warming: Australia in a Hot World  edited by Peter Christoff

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

 

 

My review

After reading some publicity and reviews of this book, I was expecting something that really would give me a feel for what conditions would be like in a 4 degrees hotter world.  In many ways the book did, but I felt it could have drilled down to scenarios that discussed everyday problems living would like.  Not trying to single out any author, but just to illustrate the point, the cost of health following the Queensland floods is presented as  being a small cost in comparison to to a 2 degrees world and petty cash in a 4 degrees scenario.   It would have been useful to try to put a dollar value on this down to the $ per taxpayer.  Insurance likewise could have been treated like this, because insurance companies have already made calculations so some of this information could have been used. To demonstrate the impacts.

The book is presented more as an academic book with all the cross references which doesn't make it easy for the general reader.

Book Publicity

At Copenhagen in December 2009, the international community agreed to limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius to avoid the worst impacts of human-induced climate change. However climate scientists agree that current national emissions targets collectively will still not achieve this goal. Instead, the 'ambition gap' between climate science and climate policy is likely to lead to average global warming of around four degrees Celsius by or before 2100. If a 'Four Degree World' is the "de facto "goal of policy, we urgently need to understand what this world might look like.

"Four Degrees of Global Warming: Australia in a Hot World "outlines the expected consequences of this world for Australia and its region. Its contributors include many of Australia's most eminent and internationally recognized climate scientists, climate policy makers and policy analysts. They provide an accessible, detailed, dramatic, and disturbing examination of the likely impacts of a Four Degree World on Australia's social, economic and ecological systems.

The book offers policy makers, politicians, students, and anyone interested climate change, access to the most recent research on potential Australian impacts of global warming, and possible responses.

A Matter of Principle by Conrad Black

 

My Review

A Matter of Principle by Conrad Black
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Reviews I had read prompted me to buy the book, but it did not live up to expectations.

He is somewhat a right wing character and dismissive of anyone with views not aligned to his. I am not sorry that he was unable to get control of the Australian newspaper group Black mentions he was trying to buy; we already have more than enough newspapers pushing right wing views.

So much of the book at least to the point where I stopped reading, which was just over 100 pages of the 590, dealt with tedious financial matters, lots of name dropping of people who has met and about the meetings. When Black discussed what went on in the writing and editing of papers things were somewhat more interesting. However I decoded to give it away as a quite uninteresting book as I felt it was a waste of my time and I would be better off reading something else.


View all my reviews

Book Publicity

In 1993, Conrad Black was the proprietor of London's Daily Telegraph and the head of one of the world's largest newspaper groups. He completed a memoir in 1992, A Life in Progress, and "great prospects beckoned." In 2004, he was fired as chairman of Hollinger International after he and his associates were accused of fraud. Here, for the first time, Black describes his indictment, four-month trial in Chicago, partial conviction, imprisonment, and largely successful appeal.

In this unflinchingly revealing and superbly written memoir, Black writes without reserve about the prosecutors who mounted a campaign to destroy him and the journalists who presumed he was guilty. Fascinating people fill these pages, from prime ministers and presidents to the social, legal, and media elite, among them: Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Jean Chrétien, Rupert Murdoch, Izzy Asper, Richard Perle, Norman Podhoretz, Eddie Greenspan, Alan Dershowitz, and Henry Kissinger.

Woven throughout are Black's views on big themes: politics, corporate governance, and the U.S. justice system. He is candid about highly personal subjects, including his friendships - with those who have supported and those who have betrayed him - his Roman Catholic faith, and his marriage to Barbara Amiel. And he writes about his complex relations with Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, and in particular the blow he has suffered at the hands of that nation.

In this extraordinary book, Black maintains his innocence and recounts what he describes as "the fight of and for my life." A Matter of Principle is a riveting memoir and a scathing account of a flawed justice system.

The Rise and Fall of the House of Bo

Written by  John Garnaut

When news of the murder trial of prominent Communist Party leader Bo Xilai's wife reached Western attention, it was apparent that, as with many events in the secretive upper echelons of Chinese politics, there was more to the story. Now, as the Party's 18th National Congress oversees the biggest leadership transition in decades, and installs the Bo family's long-time rival Xi Jinping as president, China's rulers are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their poisonous internal divisions behind closed doors.

Bo Xilai's breathtaking fall from grace is an extraordinary tale of excess, murder, defection, political purges and ideological clashes going back to Mao himself, as the princeling sons of the revolutionary heroes ascend to control of the Party. China watcher John Garnaut examines how Bo's stellar rise through the ranks troubled his more reformist peers, as he revived anti-'capitalist roader' sentiment, even while his family and associates enjoyed the more open economy's opportunities. Amid fears his imminent elevation to the powerful Standing Committee was leading China towards another destructive Cultural Revolution, have his opponents seized their chance now to destroy Bo and what he stands for? The trigger was his wife Gu Kailai's apparently paranoid murder of an English family friend, which exposed the corruption and brutality of Bo's outwardly successful administration of the massive city of Chongqing. It also led to the one of the highest-level attempted defections in Communist China's history when Bo's right-hand man, police chief Wang Lijun, tried to escape the ruins of his sponsor's reputation.

Garnaut explains how this incredible glimpse into the very personal power struggles within the CCP exposes the myth of the unified one-party state. With China approaching superpower status, today's leadership shuffle may set the tone for international relations for decades. Here, Garnaut reveals a particularly Chinese spin on the old adage that the personal is political.

Review

It was amazing to learn of the corruption and appalling behaviour of so many of the Chinese leaders.  This book was primarily about one of them but it provided enough insight about others.  It was hard trying to remember who was who.
2/5

Available only as an eBook  $3.99

Frenchmans Cap

Written by Simon Kleinig

Frenchmans Cap tells the story of Australia’s most majestic mountain and 'one of the world's great wilderness walks' - a must for any modern day adventurer in Tasmania.
Named by convicts in Macquarie Harbour’s infamous prison in the 1820s, Frenchmans Cap has captured the public imagination as an icon of freedom, adventure, and terrifying danger.
From escapee convicts to bushrangers, from pioneer explorers to modern day rock-climbers, this book brings to life the record of many remarkable and life-risking efforts to reach the peak of this mountain.
Kleinig treats readers with mysteries such as the French female, known only as 'Nicole', who became history's first woman to climb the Cap, in 1935. Vivid descriptions of the treacherous beauty of this mountain will enthral any reader with a love of nature.
This book also records the struggle to protect the Frenchmans Cap region from industrial development, even after it became a national park in 1941. It is a joy to read that this jewel of Tasmania has survived degradation from men and bushfires, and is now protected for future generations to enjoy.

Review

I did like reading this book because it is a bushwalking destination that I have been to several times over the years.  It also brought back memories of people who I have known and also some who I had heard about.  There were also a few people mentioned in the book that I didn't even realise had an association with area.

Sometimes the contents in the book appeared to be out of sequence, but that didn't really detract from the enjoyment of the read.

Rating 3/5

Available as ebook at Amazon and iTunes for $9.99