The Weather Makers - by Tim Flannery (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The #1 international bestseller on climate change that's been endorsed by policy makers, scientists, writers, and energy executives around the world.

Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers contributed in bringing the topic of global warming to worldwide prominence. For the first time, a scientist provided an accessible and comprehensive account of the history, current status, and future impact of climate change, writing what has been acclaimed by reviewers everywhere as the definitive book on global warming.

With one out of every five living things on this planet committed to extinction by the levels of greenhouse gases that will accumulate in the next few decades, we are reaching a global climatic tipping point. The Weather Makers is both an urgent warning and a call to arms, outlining the history of climate change, how it will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future.

Originally somewhat of a global warming skeptic, Tim Flannery spent several years researching the topic and offers a connect-the-dots approach for a reading public who has received patchy or misleading information on the subject. Pulling on his expertise as a scientist to discuss climate change from a historical perspective, Flannery also explains how climate change is interconnected across the planet.

This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

"An authoritative, scientifically accurate book on global warming that sparkles with life, clarity, and intelligence." -The Washington Post

Review Quotes

"He makes sure that you will never again look at an electric-light switch in quite the same way. . . . Gives his material . . . [an] impassioned, fiery tone . . . He builds a galvanizing, intentionally polarizing case for the urgency of altering our patterns of energy use. . . . Detail-packed to the point of terrible fascination." -Janet Maslin, New York Times

"At last, here is a clear and readable account of one of the most important but controversial issues facing everyone in the world today. If you are not already addicted to Tim Flannery's writing, discover him now: The Weather Makers is his best book yet." --Jared Diamond, author of Collapse and Guns, Germs & Steel

"A powerfully written look at the connection between climate change and global warming. It's destined to become required reading following Hurricane Katrina as the focus shifts to the natural forces that may have produced such a devastating event. Flannery consistently produces the hard goods related to his main message that our environmental behavior makes us all 'weather makers' who 'already possess all the tools required to avoid catastrophic climate change'." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An authoritative yet accessible presentation of the scientific evidence that climate change is happening; a clear delineation of what global warming has done and could do to life on our planet; and an urgent call for action. A powerful and persuasive book, sure to provoke strong reaction." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

About the Author

Tim Flannery is an internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist. His books include the definitive ecological histories of Australia (The Future Eaters) and North America (The Eternal Frontier), Throwim Way Leg, A Gap in Nature and Astonishing Animals.

As a field zoologist he has discovered and named more than thirty new species of mammals (including two tree-kangaroos) and at 34 he was awarded the Edgeworth David Medal for Outstanding Research. His pioneering work in New Guinea prompted Sir David Attenborough to put him in the league of the world's great explorers and the writer Redmond O'Hanlon to remark, "He's discovered more new species than Charles Darwin."

He is a regular contributor to The New York Review and The Times Literary Supplement. He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his service to Australian science and in 2002 he became the first environmentalist to deliver the Australia Day address to the nation.

Tim Flannery spent a year as professor of Australian studies at Harvard, where he taught in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. He is also a familiar voice on ABC Radio, NPR and the BBC for more than a decade. He lives in Adelaide, Australia where he is Director of the South Australian Museum and Professor at the University of Adelaide.