To quote its blurb, ‘This book offers a broad examination of the meaning of climate change and global warming, while maintaining a strategic perspective on the implications of environmental effects on all forms of security – national, international and human (transcending borders and having to do with basic resources)’. Certainly, security issues and the nature and uncertainties of scenarios lie at the heart of the volume.
It is not clear what market this book is aimed at, and nowhere does it mention its intended readership explicitly. It is quite demanding, but contains detailed notes about sources for each chapter, as well as a guide to general reading. It is broad in scope and original in terms of its content and does not go over the ground that is covered in many recent books on global warming. It attempts to be accessible and popular, as made evident by the titles of the individual chapters (for example, The gathering storm: an introduction; zombie concepts and boomerang effects; Through the glass darkly: scenarios and alternative futures; ‘Let's scare Jessica to death’: mind-sets, the fear factor, and climate change; Rethinking the unthinkable: comprehending climate change futures; and The end of the Anthropocene). It is, however, a curious book, for example using as a scenario the extreme 100-year long cooling event that took place 8200 years ago.
From its title, it might be assumed that this well produced book would cover similar ground to Lovelock (2006), but this is not the case. The two volumes could hardly be more different. Lovelock (2006) talked about Gaia, whereas Liotta and Shearer say very little about it. Lovelock (2006) wrote about the evidence of sudden future climate change, and considered the role of future energy policies, including the nuclear option. Lovelock (Reference Lovelock2006), though with a strong message, is down to earth, and spoke largely from the perspective of a natural scientist. Liotta and Shearer say relatively little about the science of climate change and global warming, and their message is more obscure. Their book needs to be read several times to fully understand its significance.
