An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It

This book should be required reading for everyone on the planet who can read. While obviously a topic that some disagree with, the bottom line is that we're doing way too much to harm the environment and to empower big business. Let's all try to change a few of the things we're doing to contribute to waste, pollution, etc. This should not be a political issue. However, I would have never picked up the book, read it, and become passionate about the subject had it NOT been written by this famous author. Please, folks, keep an open mind.

If you read the customer reviews of this book closely, you'll notice two things:

1. The majority of the one and two star reviews are written by people who apparently haven't read the book or seen the movie and are just using this space to promote their own, or somebody else's, book.

2. These same people, many of whom describe An Inconvenient Truth as "political propaganda," are also overwhelmingly promoting a right wing political agenda that has NOTHING to do with mainsteam science.

As both the book and the movie point out in careful detail, over 900 peer-reviewed, independent, international scientific studies have all reached the same conclusion: Global warming is real, it is being exacerbated by the burning of fossil fuels, and it constitutes a clear and present danger to human health and safety and the global economy.

It's time for America to stop shirking its responsibility as the dominant superpower in the face of a global climate crisis. We need more leaders like the former vice president with the guts to challenge American business and technology to come up with job-creating innovations that will help reduce CO2 emissions so our children can inherit a planet that is as habitable as the one we were born to.

Let's show the world America hasn't lost its can-do spirit!

I am a layman who loves to read books about science. To me politics has no business mucking around in science. I simply want to know what research is being done in a field, and what the general scientific consensus is about a given topic.

Al Gore's book is an excellent starting point for those who want to learn some of the basics of global warming, but are reluctant to leap into a more academic book on the subject. Although I have read several books on this topic I was interested to see what Al Gore had to say about it. When I got my copy my first reaction was "Oh no, this is just a simple minded picture book." I was mistaken. Pictures are worth a thousand words. We are presented with photos of glaciers taken now, and in the past. The change is startling. Or the satellite photos of Lake Chad, which used to be the size of Lake Erie, but has almost totally dried up in just 40 years.. He tells us about those cute penguins we saw in the movie "March of the Penguins": 70% of them are now gone. They can't find enough hard ice to raise their offspring. The statistics he presents in many graphs are quite frightening. Sample: in the 1950s there were about 10 floods in the U.S.; In the 1990s there were close to 200.

Some readers who want to learn about global warming, but who are not fans of Mr. Gore might tire of the several biographical segments added to the book. Whatever your feelings are about him, you have to admire the amount of traveling he did to seek out answers. He's gone through all the continents - traveled up the Amazon, been to both Antarctica and the North Pole (both on top of it, and under it in a submarine).

Mind you, this book will not take you a long distance into the topic. It is an introduction, and if the material presented intrigues you, then you should take the next step and read some more books on the subject such as:

The Discovery of Global Warming by Spencer Weart (a history of global warming research)
Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert (easy reading)
Red Sky At Morning by James Speth (how do we address the problem)
Is The Temperature Rising, by George Philander (a little more technical)
The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery (easy reading)
Climate Change by William Burroughs (quite technical)
The Ice Chronicles by Paul Mayewski (about the ice cores that tell us about past climate)
High Tide by Mark Lynas (how global warming is already affecting people)
The Long Summer by Brian Fagan (climate change through the history of civilization)
Atmosphere, Climate and Change by Thomas Graedel (somewhat technical but accessible)

OK, I'm a lifelong Republican. And for the longest time I resisted the 'global warming' stuff as "hogwash" as Rush says. But for the first time, the actual facts in this book changed my mind. I'm somewhat embarrassed by the overwhelming evidence submitted by Gore, but hey, when you're right, you're right. Congratulations, you've got to hand it to someone who sticks with an issue until the truth comes out.

Like many Americans who were disappointed when Al Gore's bid for president were unsuccessful, this loss didn't fall by the wayside. He is using his presence and power to bring awareness to a very important cause - global warming. I am relieved to know someone of Mr. Gore's stature, is out there is continuing to remind us of the "inconvenient truth", yes it is inconvenient and better to deny the real scary truth, yes it is inconvenient to get a car with better emission output, yes it is inconvenient to tell the cashier "no need to bag that juice" so that bag doesn't become another piece of garbage that contributes to the greenhouse gases. Can't we designate one day, where we can use our own book bags, tote bags instead of the paper or plastic bags at the grocers? This can make such a difference if each of us can pinch in somehow. How about designating a day, where we are encouraged to walk or bike or take mass transit to work? It may not be possible for some, so how about rearranging your schedule and carpool? Yes it is inconvenient for most of us Americans to take our part. Gore breaks it down for all of us non-meteorologist with the use of maps, full-color photos, lab data, graphs etc....so us laments can understand the severe crisis our planet is in. Remember the chaos in New Orleans? It can happen again to the next coastal city, so New York City, Atlantic City, Miami, Washington D.C. Myrtle Beach, Savannah, Charleston, Jacksonville, Boston, Portland-Maine, don't say Gore didn't tell you so. I'd admit this book instills fear as the facts were quite disturbing. I am saddened to think that in 50 years my children will not enjoy our earth's luster and beauty, instead they might be dodging looters, bizarre weather catastrophes, soaring hot temperatures and eventual doom. I came away from this book wanting to know more. I can relate to Gore as he is like many of us, non-scientists. I describe him as a messenger, and he acknowledges those dozens of scientists that helped him understand this crisis. There are skeptics to Gore's facts, it is important that we evaluate our human behaviors. Our beautiful planet earth doesn't have the resources to accommodate our abuse. This is a MUST read if anyone cares for our children. Every classroom or at least every school should buy this book.