One of my former New Mexico colleagues, political scientist John Brown, posted this item to the MRG Water Assembly list from one of his political science lists. I thought it worth reposting. I suspect these books will be suitable for others besides college freshmen. I am guessing that most of these books are USA-centric.
I have not vetted the list, although I did delete an entry that repeated the name of a book with a different author - #10, listing David MacKay as the author. I could not find the book anywhere.
Brown suggested that William deBuys' book, A Great Aridness (Oxford
University Press 2011), be included. No complaints from me.
Here is what was requested by the original poster:
Last week, I queried the list with the following:"What's your recommendation for the best book, an intro reading for freshmen, on climate change politics and its recent history? I want something that will not only inform the students on the science & evidence behind climate change, but also about the politics of science & knowledge. And of course, it has to be a bit gripping and entertaining so that they'll actually read it."
Here is the liist, in no particular order.
1) U.S. Politics and Climate Change by Glen Sussman and Byron W. Daynes (Lynn Rienner, forthcoming)
2) The Global Warming Reader by Bill McKibben (Penguin 2012)
3) Politics of Climate Change by Anthony Giddens 2nd edition (Polity 2011)
4) The Inquisition of Climate Science by James Powell (Columbia University Press 2011)
5) Global Warming Gridlock by David Victor (Cambridge University Press 2011)
6) The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won't Tell You About Global Warming by Roger Pielke, Jr. (Basic Books 2010)
7) Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway (Bloomsbury Press 2010)
8) The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate (2nd Edition) by Andrew Dessler and Edward Parson (Cambridge University Press 2010)
9) Global Commons, Domestic Decisions: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change by Kathryn Harrison and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom, (MIT Press 2010)
10) Mere Environmentalism: A Biblical Perspective on Humans and the Natural World by Steven F. Hayward (American Enterprise Institute 2011)
11) Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Maslin (Oxford University Press 2009)
12) Why We Disagree About Climate Change by Mike Hulme (Cambridge University Press 2009)
13) The Suicidal Planet: How to Prevent Global Climate Catastrophe by Sudhir Chella Rajan, Mayer Hillman, and Tina Fawcett (Thomas Dunne Books 2007)
14) Sustainable Development by Susan Baker (Routledge 2006)
15) Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert (Bloomsbury 2006)
16) Dead Heat: Global Warming and Global Justice by Tom Athanasiou and Paul Baer (Seven Stories 2002)
17) The Heat is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-up, the Prescription by Ross Gelbspan (Perseus Books 1997)
18) Global Warming and Global Politics by Matthew Paterson (Routledge 1996)
Comments are welcomed, including additions and subtractions.
Enjoy!
"In America, the reason it's so important to determine which ten books college freshmen will read is that everyone knows they will never read another book again." - A French academic at a conference on political correctness (1990s?)
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