Earth in the balance : ecology and the human spirit

Awful, propagandistic tripe, complete with unlabeled charts and graphs, uncited assertions, and logical leaps that make one dizzy. Save your money, unless you want to buy an example of public policy rhetoric at its least truthful and most duplicitous.

Al Gore captures the essence of climate change and environmental issues. In comparison with a novel like Thomas Friedman's "Hot Flat and Crowded" it seems to get a little boring at times, and even begins to sound dramatically preachy. Gore gets so caught up in presenting the issue that he forgets

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to put any emphasis on what we can do to make the world a more green place, to stop global warming, and to fight the increasing commercialization of our globe. Maybe that will be Gore's next Nobel Peace winning piece, but for now Gore sounds extremely alarmist. Some even consider his views radical. Gore does a great job of "muckraking" the issue, but perhaps can do a better job in making the book more accesible to an audience of eager environmentalists.

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You know how it is? You come to something late and get caught up in the latest writings upon the subject...

That is my only excuse for taking so long to read, what was an early(ish) entry to the ranks of books upon climate change. Al Gore has written the the definitive book on the topic and deserves

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huge admiration. He writes in a clear, easy to follow style that never palls. He is also refreshingly optimistic that the human race will, eventually, get it right on Global Warming. My only criticism of this book is his stated belief in capitalism's powers to be a positive force and an inability to see anything wrong with the good old US of A. Perhaps, this later point is simply because Gore knows his audience and the American people turn off when faced with a negative self view.

This book does take us through the evidence, in much the same way as many later tomes do but, it goes further by offering a blueprint for survival in the form of 'A Global Marshall Plan'. This is not an infallible document, to be adopted to the letter, but it is a starting point for discussion and, in the light of the recent COP21 agreement, it gives a spine against which to judge just how far down the road to zero emissions we are. The answer is that we still have some way to go but, I think that we all knew that.

There is an excellent bibliography of further reading, including many works which are completely new to me. I can see an added swell to my bookcases ere long!

If you, like me, have overlooked this book, then I urge you to read it and, for those wiser than myself, who have already devoured it, maybe, it is time to take another stroll through the pages...

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The reader shoud note that when Al Gore was a senator he voted to spend half a trillion dollars of taxpayer money subsidizing the S and L industry when the regulatory system was rigged to enable theft. Did he do it in exhange for campaign contributions?

This pre-Inconvient Truth book is a great read, but a little bit more fact checking please. Eli Whitney had nothing to do with interchangable parts on the revolver.

A very well, err, balanced look at environmental issues.

The subtitle should be a common sense perspective. Contrary to a popular misconception, Al Gore is definitely not a crackpot. Since this book was written, nearly 100% of scientists believe that global warming is a fact. Gore's ideas about a global Strategic Environmental Initiative are even more

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urgent today. We would be much closer to overcoming this massive problem had Gore not been cheated out of the presidency in 2000. Unfortunately this book deals mainly with governmental actions and not individual solutions.

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This was an important book for me.