Skip chapter 4

Good book, good narration. However, the author couldn’t help but spend most of chapter 4 apologizing for Hillary Clinton and complaining complaining about her 2016 loss. He undermines the philosophical divide of the left by explicitly blaming Bernie support on Russia. Otherwise the book is a salient one if you can handle the neoliberal drivel in chapter 4.

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A good overview of the status of Climate Politics

There is not a great deal of new information for those who have been following the issue closely but it is a great explanatory book for those who have not and might be wondering why more has not been done to address climate change. I found that the often sarcastic tone of the narrator took away from the power of the text. That level of snark might put off those who have not fully embraced the severity of the problem and the need for aggressive action to combat it.

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Oddly Simplistic Thinking

Mann, quite unexpectedly, winds up sounding like a kind of one-trick pony, loudly and repetitively proclaiming the superiority of collective behaviors and policy change, while inexplicably going out of his way to minimize the importance of individual behavior and providing his own deflection campaign for individual irresponsibility. At times he sounds like a paid lobbyist for the beef industry or airline industries.

Very disappointing coming from one of the most distinguished scientists in the field of climate change.

Perhaps the smell of his backyard barbecues and the taste of well-cooked livestock overwhelms his critical thinking.

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Name-calling and disparaging at its finest.

If you like "Hurray for my side, and if you don't agree with me then you are a science-denying tool of the evil fossile fuel industry . . . and probably a white male too (you jerk)!" then you will enjoy this book.

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A Masterclass in How We Are All Played

The reader sounds a bit stuffy and off-putting. With the language of some of the text, it comes off as very hoity toity and know-it-all. With that said, I think there is a lot of good information within that makes me angry that so many people couldn't see through it initially.

1 person found this helpful

The fossil fuel inaction propaganda

It's mainly an account of the propaganda that the fossil fuel industry does against Climate Change, up to these days, as it was lived by the author himself. Then the author, a climatologist, convincingly explains to take action and how to face this seemingly impossible... challenge for our creativity, our courage, our resilience and our love towards this planet.

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Exposing climate denial 2.0

Michael Mann is undoubtedly one of the leading climate scientists in the world. If you've read any of his others works, you know he's arguably the leading expert in how climate change denial and inaction stem from massively funded misinformation campaigns. But the rules are changing. Contrarians realize they are fighting a losing battle with climate denial, as denial is no longer an attainable position, and even THE GOP/right wing is beginning to acknowledge the reality of human caused climate change.

Instead of denial, the contrarians have shifted their focus to turn the climate activists against each other by overstating the role of personal responsibility in creating change (policy is going to do much more than people changing habits), and additionally by reinforcing the "new narrative" myth as follows: sure climate change is happening, but it's so bad and overwhelming that fighting it is a futile effort. As Mann explains, this couldn't be further from the truth. Far from not being able to do anything, we have it in capacity to resolve almost everything. According to Mann, we have many- perhaps even most- of the tools to make the required changes recommended by the IPCC guidelines. Now it's all about getting the right policies in place, and staying active in policy, while making sure we never become complacent on this matter again.

The main thing I did not like and wish Mann would have done differently was using fairly hostile or belittling language to describe others he disagreed with that are in the fight, and on his same side nonetheless! He seemed rather ruthless in pulling his punches against fellow activists of differing opinions; treating them with the same disgust at times that he has justifiably had for the Koch Brothers. It seemed like by the end, Mann may have offended just about every fellow activist and scientist involved in the movement!

For only one example, he went after Bill Gates extremely hard; focusing on how Gates was not a climate scientist, and belittled Gates for contributing to research in geoengineering. It almost seemed personal? I think Mann had a great point about avoiding words like "catastrophe" and "disaster" (Gates new book is How to Avoid a Climate Disaster) to mitigate driving the public into fear and helplessness with this language. But Mann went way too hard on Gates IMO. Ironically the 1st thing Gates had written in aforementioned new book is that he's just a billionaire with an opinion, and Gates also emphasizes that geoengineering would ONLY ever be considered as the last ditch "break glass in case of emergency" type solution.

I don't know why Mann is so opposed to even studying geoengineering. There's a lot of other great scientists like David Deutsch, who as a formal member of the Royal Society has promoted the exploration of geoengineering, and his opinion within the last decade was that we were going to require some form of geoengineering.

This is by far the longest review I've ever written, because I was somewhat suprised to see Mann so hostile at times and wanted to point it out. But with that said, this is absolutely crucial information on arguably the most important dilemma of our time. Mann steps in to his mentor Carl Sagan's proverbial Demon Haunted World of the New Climate War, and lights a flame. Mann does an excellent job as always using Science as a Candle in the Dark; marrying skepticism and wonder in this must read book.

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Empowering and necessary reading

As someone who has felt despair about climate, I cannot stress enough how helpful this book has been. I am now able to see and name the tactics being used by the fossil fuel industry and their enablers. I can point these tactics out to others and help them not get distracted from the real issues we all need to address. Please read this book.

Interesting and important

While it’s hard to feel as optimistic as Dr Mann in this fight, doomism is of no use to anyone. It’s important that books like this are here to highlight why everything is not going to hell all the time. There’s always something we can do. We here is the governments and peoples of the world. Individual action, while vital, is not as important as decarbonisation of the electricity grid or transport sector.
My biggest problem with this audiobook was the narrator’s constant mispronunciation of Greta Thunberg’s name. Why!?

Non energizing

While passionate about the topic, the script and narration just didn’t land well with me. It took me so long to get through it because I could only take so much at a time. If there was a different narrator, maybe it would be a bit better…

I also didn’t walk away feeling like I learned anything profound, or inspired to frame my approach to addressing climate change any differently