The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy - Softcover

Mann, Michael; Toles, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231177879 ISBN 13: 9780231177870

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2018

Synopsis

The award-winning climate scientist Michael E. Mann and the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have been on the front lines of the fight against climate denialism for most of their careers. They have witnessed the manipulation of the media by business and political interests and the unconscionable play to partisanship on issues that affect the well-being of billions. The lessons they have learned have been invaluable, inspiring this brilliant, colorful escape hatch from the madhouse of the climate wars.

The Madhouse Effect portrays the intellectual pretzels into which denialists must twist logic to explain away the clear evidence that human activity has changed Earth's climate. Toles's cartoons collapse counter-scientific strategies into their biased components, helping readers see how to best strike at these fallacies. Mann's expert skills at science communication aim to restore sanity to a debate that continues to rage against widely acknowledged scientific consensus. The synergy of these two climate science crusaders enlivens the gloom and doom of so many climate-themed books―and may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science.

About this title

About the Author

Michael E. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and director of the Earth Systems Science Center at Penn State University. He is the author of The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines (Columbia, 2012) and a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Tom Toles is the Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist of the Washington Post. He has a particular interest in climate change science and has worked consistently to advance understanding of this subject, including its political context, since the 1980s.

Review

For centuries, powerful forces of greed have tried to hide the truth, but that doesn't change reality―the earth is round and climate change is very real. The Madhouse Effect brilliantly dissects the climate denial industry, empowering all of us to see the facts and take action before it's too late. (Leonardo DiCaprio)

Michael E. Mann is one of the planet's great climate scientists, and Tom Toles may be the great climate communicator―together, they are a category 5 storm of information and indignation, wreaking humorous havoc on those who would deny the greatest challenge humans have ever faced. (Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org)

If you are not concerned about climate change yet, please read this book. If you are unaware of the hard-core deniers among us, read this book. If you are a climate change denier, doubter, techno-fixer, or luke-warmer, read this book. Mann and Toles have written some words and drawn some pictures for you, so maybe you'll get it this time. (Bill Nye, "the Science Guy")

When giving public talks, I am often asked, 'What do I do about my Uncle Joe, who doesn't believe in climate change?' Now I finally have an answer: Buy him a copy of The Madhouse Effect, and tell him you won't talk to him until he has read it. Even if he doesn't read it, he'll look at the pictures, and that might just be enough. (Naomi Oreskes, coauthor of The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future)

Brilliant, insightful, and fresh! Two gifted experts―one a scientist, the other an editorial cartoonist―invite you to be entertained and outraged, inspired and motivated to escape the madhouse that characterizes climate dialogue and politics today. New and hilarious insights into climate change. I loved it! (Jane Lubchenco, former administrator of NOAA and undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere)

Concise and fiercely illustrated. (Scientific American)

A breezy, engaging read.... If tackling climate change is indeed a war, then Mann and Toles have certainly earned their stripes. (Nature)

[A] brilliant, colorful escape hatch form the madhouse of the climate wars.... [The Madhouse Effect] may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science. (Yale Climate Connections)

The best of both worlds: an illustrated compendium of horrifying science that also provides a few laughs. (Lit / Rant)

Recommended. (Choice)

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0231177879
• ISBN 13: 9780231177870
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240