CREATESPACE Ice Age

Perspective (in terms of tens of thousands even millions of years) combined with real science elevates the historic discussions of climate change.

Paying 13 eur for this quality is not at all reasonable and to add here that this was a 90 pages book.

Difficult scientific subject well related for the layman.

If you'd like a cogent argument to use against those preaching global warming this might be the book for you. Two passages stood out:1. It is concluded that changes in the Earth's orbital geometry are the fundamental cause of Quaternary ice ages. A model of future climate based on the observed orbital-climate relationships... predicts that the long term-trend over the next several thousand years is towards extensive northern-hemisphere glaciation.2. The fact that sea level had been higher at certain times in the past than it is today had long been known -- on his voyage round the world aboard HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin, who was a geologist before he made a name as a naturalist, was one of several such pioneers who noticed raised beaches, several metres above the present day sea level, in different parts of the world.

The authors make it clear up front that they are not discussing Climate Change and related issues, and instead are focusing on the causal factors behind why full blown Ice Ages come and go. These factors include Precession (direction the Earth’s axis points rotates over time), Axial tilt (changes from its current 23.5 degrees over time), Eccentricity (how circular vs elliptical Earth’s orbit is), Sun’s cycles, and other unpredictables such as volcanic eruptions. Way too many people have obsessed on CO2 as the single factor as if control of that factor could give us control over climate. We have no control over the Sun, Precession, and Axial tilt, Eccentricity, and volcanic eruptions. Appreciating these other factors will leave the reader with a wiser, broader perspective on the climate issue and whether it is possible to 'control' climate, because just levering CO2 is unlikely to prevent shifts in climate which have been taking place long before we arrived and will likely continue long after we've left the scene.