Generally
Eclectic
Climate Change Book Review
Robert Henson, The Rough Guide to Climate Change: The Symptoms - The Science - The Solutions, (Rough Guides Ltd., 2006), 352 pages
This guide accepts the consensus view that there is global warming leading to climate change, and that there will be serious consequences. It focuses on answering the basic questions people have on the subject, rather than presenting a logical narrative with a start and end point. Interesting subjects along the way are presented as side bars. The book attempts to be even handed, recognizing both sides of various points of debate. As such, it is a great starting point.
The books provides a brief initial discussion of climate change basics, including a brief discussion on climate change, the greenhouse effect, and responsibility for emissions. It then provides a much lengthier discussion about the current and future impacts of climate change: extreme heat; floods and droughts; melting; oceans; hurricanes and storms; ecosystems and agriculture. It then addresses the science, with a focus on temperature tracking, climate history, and climate modeling. It concludes with a discussion of debates and solutions.
The book attempts to answer the basic questions of a relatively uninformed reader. Based on the organization of the book, the author believes the public is more interested in understanding the impacts of climate change on their lives (the subject of Part II - 118 pages) than on the science (the subject of Part III - 74 pages). Most books deal with climate science first, and then the impacts of climate change. The author of this book, and the Rough Guide publishing group, may have a better sense than most of what the public wants to know and how to deliver it.