Can you recommend any non-propoganda books on...?

Question

-The Environment

-Global Warming

-Other Earthly Issuses

I don't want anything political, just something with real facts.

Thank you.

Answer 1

The problem with reading texts, which is what you'd likely be able to understand with a beginner's knowledge of the issues at hand, is that because they attempt to explain what we know rather than we we don't know, they often use conjecture to conceal the latter in order to not confuse you. For example, let's say I'm writing a history text book and I want to write that in WW2, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. Well, I would probably just write that and not get into the details regarding how historians have no agreement on why he did it. The same thing is true of any text book. We just don't know everything about everything, and depending on how you hide that you can be said to have a slant or a bias in one direction or another (simply put, nobody agrees on everything). My honest advice to you is to find peer reviewed scientific articles on the subjects you are interested in, try Web of Science (if you are at school you might have access, but if not I'm sure it could be easily arranged since academics are really the only ones who get free access thru their schools) for journal articles, reviews, &c.

Text books will never give you the whole story. They're intended to introduce the subject, not give you any uncluttered information about which the author intends you to glean the important information. To explain it another way again, the author, because he will have to explain so much to you, will inevitably have to explain something nobody agrees about, there's your slant or bias. The journal stuff may be intimidating, but if you want the straight dope, like the scientists get it, you owe yourself that much.

Answer 2

A great book that studies environmental issues is called:

Collapse - by Jarred Diamond

Answer 3

Jared's "Collapse" isn't bad but I found him drifting and a bit repetitive (although his "Guns, Germs & Steel" was excellent but not really about environmental issues except in passing...)

The "Unnatural History of the Sea" by Callum Roberts is well written, lots of good factual data although, like all books he has his slant and it is narrow focus but really good - I almost felt like crying for what we've already done to our planet by the end...

Other than that, I have to agree with Amy - you're going to end up with a bunch of texts; you might want to look at the  summary of the IPCC report - http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report... it's very technical but if facts are what you want... (it's only 18 pages with good graphs so even if you don't follow all the jargon, it's a good start for serious thinkers on the issues)

The following have been recommended to me but I either haven't picked them up yet or haven't read enough to give you a good review:

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction by Patrick Curry

Half Gone: Oil, Gas, Hot Air and the Global Energy Crisis by Jeremy Leggett

The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is fighting back - And how we can still save humanity by James Lovelock

State of the world 2006: The challnege of global sustainability by Linda Starke

When life nearly died: The greatest mass extinction of all time by Michael J Benton

Finally, I'm 3/4 of the way through "Surviving Armageddon" by Bill McGuire - not so factual but enough, and lightly written to give pause for thought.

Answer 4

Pretty much you're going to be reduced to reading scientific abstracts.  Most books will have facts, but the author comes with an agenda, if you will, and he or she is using the presentation of those facts in hopes of persuading the reader that what they say is important and true.

The only books I'd recommend is "Field Notes from a Catastrophe" by Elizabeth Kolbert. Also "Deep Economy" by Bill McKibbon.  Both are respected authors, but whether they fit the bill for you, I can't say.