Global Warming -The Complete Briefing (3nd edition)

Paperback  382 pages, 101 diags, 21 tabs, 80 exercises  ISBN 0521528747      £26.00

Global warming and the resulting climate change is one of the most serious environmental problems facing the world community. Global Warming: the Complete Briefing is the most comprehensive guide available to the subject. A world-renowned expert, Sir John Houghton explores the scientific basis of global warming and the likely impacts of climate change on human society, before addressing the action that could be taken by governments, by industry and by individuals to mitigate the effects. The first two editions received excellent reviews, and this completely updated new edition ( will prove to be the best briefing the student or interested general reader could wish for.

Reviews

€€ a widely praised book on global warming and its consequences.€
The Economist

€Sir John Houghton is one of the few people who can legitimately use the phrase €the complete briefing€ as a subtitle for a book on global warming € Sir John has done us all a great favour in presenting such a wealth of material so clearly and accessibly and in drawing attention to the ethical underpinnings of our interpretation of this area of environmental science.€
Progress in Physical Geography

€€ the best single-volume guide to the science of climate change.€
Times Literary Supplement

€This book is one of the best I have encountered, that deal with climate change and some of its anthropogenic causes. Well written, well organised, richly illustrated and referenced, it should be required reading for anybody concerned with the fate of our planet.€
Elmar R. Reiter, Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics

€ € without doubt the best briefing the concerned citizen could hope to find.'
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

€In summary I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone concerned about global warming. It provides an excellent non-technical guide on scientific and political aspects of the subject. It is an essential briefing for students and science teachers.€
Tony Waters, Weather

€It is difficult to imagine how Houghton€s exposition of this complex body of information might be substantially improved upon € Seldom has such a complex topic been presented with such remarkable simplicity, directness and crystalline clarity € Houghton€s complete briefing is without doubt the best briefing the concerned citizen could hope to find within the pages of a pocketable book.€
John Perry, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

€I can recommend (this book) to anyone who wants to get a better perspective on the topic of global warming € a very readable and comprehensive guide to the changes that are occurring now, and could occur in the future, as a result of human action € brings the global warming debate right up to date € Read Houghton€s book if you really want to understand both the scientific and political issues involved.€
William Harston, The Independent

€€ precise account of the science, accompanied by figures, graphs, boxes on specific points, and summaries at the end of each chapter, with questions for students € ranges beyond the science into the diplomacy, politics, economics and ethics of the problem, which together present a formidable challenge to human understanding and capacity for action.€
Sir Crispin Tickell, The Times Higher Education Supplement

€I have no hesitation in endorsing this important book.€
Wilfrid Bach, International Journal of Climatology

€€ very thorough and presents a balanced, impartial picture.€
Jonathan Shanklin, Journal of the British Astronomical Association

€ € a useful book for students and laymen to understand some of the complexities of the global warming issue. Questions and essay topics at the end of each chapter provide useful follow-up work and the range of material provided under one cover is impressive. At a student-friendly price, this is a book to buy for yourself and not rely on the library copy.€
Allen Perry, Holocene

€I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone concerned about global warming. It provides and excellent essentially non-technical guide on scientific and political aspects of the subject. It is an essential briefing for students and science teachers.€
Tony Waters, The Observatory

€ € this book is the most comprehensive guide available. Ignore it at your peril.€
The Canadian Field-Naturalist

€For the non-technical reader, the best program guide to the political and scientific debate is John Houghton€s book Global Warming: the Complete Briefing. With this book in hand you are ready to make sense of the debate and reach your own conclusions.€
Alan Hecht, Climate Change