The Weather Makers

By: Tim Flannery

Narrated by: Drew de Carvalho

Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

From Dr. Tim Flannery, one of the world's foremost experts on conservation and ecology, comes a book of immeasurable importance. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as a "powerful and persuasive" work that is "sure to provoke strong reaction", The Weather Makers is among the finest examinations of climate change ever written.

Originally skeptical of global warming, Flannery spent years compiling his own research. What he learned is sobering. Human beings are weather makers whose production of carbon dioxide is polluting the planet at a devastating rate. Species are disappearing, the natural world is changing, and weather events, like Hurricane Katrina, are becoming increasingly disastrous. But as Flannery shows, there are cleaner ways to live, and doing so is the only way to avoid global catastrophe.

Alarming but filled with ideas that inspire hope, The Weather Makers could be the most important book you ever hear.

©2006 Tim Flannery (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC.

Critic Reviews

"Straightforward and powerfully written....Destined to become required reading." (Publishers Weekly)
"This work is distinctive in its marriage of science to an act-now attitude and should energize environmentally minded readers." (Booklist)

Where is the message?

I will admit that I have a base believe that human activities is impacting the climate. And I was hoping that the book will provide more depth and insight into topic. While the book did provide more data... I found myself lost in all the different figures, factoids, and evidences. And the thing that really confused me is the author's constant shift in his time frame... Sometime the global CO2 level will raise by x parts per million over the next 10 years; sometime it is the global sea level will rise by y feet over the next 200 years... All of that may be true, but if the author is trying to convince the reader that there is an imminent danger to the planet, shifting the time horizon just does not help.
I found the book 'reads' like a collection of unorganized, random thoughts. There are way too many angles being explored without a unifying message. In the end, as someone who does not need much convincing of our impact to the climate, I just found myself lost. If I am someone who need to be convinced that human activities have a adverse impact on the climate and immediate action is required.... then this would not be the book to sell me on it!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

The definitive book on climate crisis

If you want to read just one book on the climate crisis this is it. In this award-winning book the eminent Scientist Tim Flannery approaches the subject of climate crisis from various angles- the history, the science, the politics and the actions we all can take to fight this gravest crisis our civilization faces today. Flannery writes in a poetic language with a gift of making complex ideas simple and comprehendible. He explores the issues in great depth but does not turn off the reader for a moment with lifeless scientific facts. You can feel his love for this planet and every living being on earth in every word of his writing. The narrator did an excellent job in expressing the emotive account. I have already listened it twice and also got the hard copy for ready reference. I keep referring it to all my friends. Keep up the good work Tim!

9 of 13 people found this review helpful

Excellent

Great audio book and great read all around. Well worth the price of admission! I may listen to it twice....

6 of 10 people found this review helpful

Preaching to the choir

If you are already convinced seriousness of global warming, then the stories about humankind's relationship to the environment will likely invigorate and solidify that belief.

However, as a skeptic trying to find the faith, I found the arguments scattered and weak. I needed a clear presention of the evidence both for and against the prediction of global catastrophe, even if the verdict was prejudiced. Instead, I got lots of examples of how delicate the environment is, of how unbelievers are somehow blinded or dishonest, and lots of fire & brimstone types of adjectives.

That, and a general lack of organization in the work, made The Weathermakers not just unconvincing, but often tedious.

10 of 19 people found this review helpful

Not Bad, but biased

Very informative and interesting discussion of this issue. His presentation of the history of the global warming theories and debate is the best part of the book because he demonstrates the theories are rooted in science that has developed over the past 100 years. The second portion of the book is not up to the high standard set by the first half of the book. While the author states that he is presenting a scientific case for global warming, his ad hominem attacks on President Bush and Australian leaders belie his bias (scientists are, after all, supposed to use dispassionate logic when presenting their point of view). Still, most will benefit from his discussion of this topic and I, for one, came away believing that something should be done now about this problem.

5 of 11 people found this review helpful

Bias and Scattered

This is not the worst of global warming volumes, but it is not very good. The author does not examine all the global warming evidence, but starts with the conviction that global warming exists (and is really bad), then looks for evidence to support this (and only this) belief (including the gaya hypothesis and magic doors). The data is scattered and a points sometimes even contradictory. There are a number of cases of the form; Here is a really bad thing that may happen; This is how it could happen; If it happens it will be really really bad; Just think about how bad it would be if this happened! It is very unlikely for this to occur. Audible has some good global warming books on both sides of the this argument, this is not one of them.

4 of 9 people found this review helpful

Too long for message.

12 hours if way too long to get across the message this author is working on. There are interesting bits, but, it is such a tedious repetitive listen over a 12 hour period.

2 of 7 people found this review helpful