Will I love Storms of My Grandchildren?

I love this book because it puts planetary science in human terms. Hansen had been an expert on Venus at NASA, but switched to studying Earth because he knew we needed to understand better how the climate is changing.

I liked Hansen’s stories of trying to speak truth to power—i.e., presenting climate science to Presidents who did not want to hear it. It made me realize that real progress on climate has to come from the people.

James Hansen is our leading expert on climatology, whose research established that the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere arising from human activities forces the global temperature upward. He recounts his strenuous efforts to alert the public and our political leaders to the dangers of greenhouse gases.

For me, the most intriguing tale told by Hansen is the mysterious mass killing of life 55 million years ago. After much sleuthing, Hansen decided this was caused by an outburst of frozen methane accumulated in the ocean, which escaped into the atmosphere and forced the temperature catastrophically upward. He reckoned that… show more.

Hansen is probably the grandfather of warnings about climate change in our time.

Former director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Hansen and colleagues sounded the first widely circulated alarm regarding climate change and its potential effects in Science during 1980. This eloquent book is both an explanation of the science and a call to arms that concentrates on what we must do to preserve a livable Earth for our children and grandchildren.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. called Hansen “The Paul Revere” of global warming….who has braved criticism and censure.” He has a rare combination of scientific expertise and… show more.

James E. Hansen, the scientist who first warned us back in the 1980s of the coming climate disaster, sits down with leading environmental activist Bill McKibben, to talk frankly and directly about the disastrous impact coming in the next few decades if the world does not wake up.

Written over a decade ago, this book resonates even more today, and the message is even more urgent. This is an important, sobering book for the reader who wants a straightforward, realistic look at the coming global warming crises.