Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming - Softcover

"Storm World . . . skillfully anatomizes the scientific and political debate over hurricanes and global warming . . . Mooney convincingly portrays that debate as a classic paradigm shift in progress."?Washington Post

  Are hurricanes increasing in ferocity and frequency because of global warming? And, if so: What can we do to protect ourselves? In the wake of Katrina, leading science journalist Chris Mooney delves into these urgent questions. Storm World charts the work of top meteorologists on both sides of the argument through the 2006 hurricane season and, in this updated edition, the record-breaking events of 2007. The result is a startling and dynamic account of how the media, special interests, politics, and the weather itself have skewed and amplified what was already a red-hot scientific dispute.

"A clear-eyed, uncompromising account of storms and climates (of the both the planetary and political sort) . . . Storm World has everything a non-expert would want from a book on hurricane science?the context, the basic concepts, the key players, and the implications."?American Prospect

  "Mooney has hit upon an important and controversial topic, and attacks it with vigor."?Boston Globe

Chris Mooney is the author of the Republican War on Science and has written for Harper's, Wired, and many other publications. He lives in Los Angeles.

One of the leading science journalists and commentators working today, Chris Mooney delves into a red-hot debate in meteorology: whether the increasing ferocity of hurricanes is connected to global warming. In the wake of Katrina, Mooney follows the careers of leading scientists on either side of the argument through the 2006 hurricane season, tracing how the media, special interests, politics, and the weather itself have skewed and amplified what was already a fraught scientific dispute. As Mooney puts it: "Scientists, like hurricanes, do extraordinary things at high wind speeds."

Mooney?a native of New Orleans?has written a fascinating and nuanced book on one of the most urgently compelling offshoots of the global warming debate: are we responsible for making hurricanes even bigger monsters than they already are?