NOTE: IF YOU LIKE A PRODUCT, CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW PRICE & BUY IT (PAGE WILL OPEN IN A NEW TAB).9 Best Books on Climate Change & Global Warming + Reviews
A curated list of the best books on climate change and global warming, featuring the top reviewed books on climate science, climate politics, and the essentials of what you need to know about global climate change.
Global climate change — also known as global warming or global climate degradation — is one of the most, if not the most, pressing issues facing the human race and our collective biosphere. Given its enormity and significance we thought it would be important to curate a list of the best education content about this global phenomenon. For a brief background, here are a few salient points about global climate change, as found by NASA: there’s been an exponential growth in atmospheric CO2 from the 1950’s to 2017, from 300 to 400 parts per million; the sea level rose about 6.7 inches in the last century; coral bleaching is at an all-time high with the acidity of surface ocean waters increasing about 30%; and, according to the World Wildlife Fund, we’re seeing unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss across several kinds of species. If this doesn’t want to make you learn about climate change and help to resolve the problem, we don’t know what will. For this collection, we curated for the best books on climate change, selecting the top-reviewed and award-winning books that discuss the history and science behind anthropogenic climate change. You’ll find works by Elizabeth Kolbert and Bill McKibben — in addition to a few best selling books like, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” and “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate”. We reviewed and researched each of these books on climate change and are happy with our selection. If you feel a similar way, let us know.
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Researched
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Qualities we looked for overall:
+ Works of literature that discuss or involve the subjects of global climate change, environmental science, earth systems science, environmentalism, environmental ethics, biodiversity, renewable energy technologies and ‘green’ business solutions.
+ Award-winning or best selling books.
+ Award-winning or best selling authors.
+ Highly lauded, written by established authors (relatively subjective quality based on author’s prolificity/fecundity).
+ Well reviewed by popular periodicals (e.g., The New York Times, and The Guardian).
+ Thought-provoking and/or interesting ideas and content (relatively subjective quality).
+ Ideas and/or arguments that engender a greater understanding of environmental awareness, climate change, environmental ethics and/or sustainability (relatively subjective quality).
+ Written in a digestible and/or intelligible way that is accessible to multiple audiences (relatively subjective quality).
+ Includes up-to-date data on climate science (preferred).
+ Written in an expository and normative frame (preferred).
Qualities we tried to avoid overall:
– Fail to acknowledge the scientific data and consensus around global climate change.
– Works of fiction and opinion pieces.
– Requires prior knowledge of climate science.
– Categorized with the category of a ‘scientific textbook’.
Editor’s Top 5 Rated Selections
9 Best Books on Climate Change & Global Warming + Reviews // In our opinion, these are a few of the best products we came across in our search, given the overall qualities that we were curating for in this collection. We focused on the following qualities when curating for this particular selection of products:
+ Award-winning or best selling books.
+ Award-winning or best selling authors.
+ Highly lauded, written by established authors (relatively subjective quality based on author’s prolificity/fecundity).
+ Well reviewed by popular periodicals (e.g., The New York Times, and The Guardian).
+ Thought-provoking and/or interesting ideas and content (relatively subjective quality).
+ Ideas and/or arguments that engender a greater understanding of environmental awareness, climate change, environmental ethics and/or sustainability (relatively subjective quality).
+ Written in a digestible and/or intelligible way that is accessible to multiple audiences (relatively subjective quality).
*While we work to ensure the products we select possess these qualities, actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than that shown on our web site. Do not rely solely on the information provided here.
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“This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate”.
By: Naomi Klein
Editor's Note
Naomi Klein’s, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” is perhaps one of the most influential books on climate change for the modern era, as it takes on concepts of neoliberalism (i.e., a new form of free market economics that allows ‘business as usual’ to run rampant and largely without environmental considerations). Klein tackles both the economic and political side of the capitalistic philosophy, while, too, explaining the societal implications and potential consequences of a continued, changing climate under our current level of production. Although daunting at times, Klein does a good job balancing realistic and optimistic approaches, introducing a number of substantiated carbon mitigation policies and ‘green’ business opportunities that would allow us to slow our current rate of climate change. In sum, it’s a wonderful, highly-reviewed books on climate change that weaves together lessons from political science, market economics, consumer psychology, and climate science.
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“Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming”.
By: Naomi Oreskes
Editor's Note
“Merchants of Doubt” is an incredibly relevant book on climte change, especially given the growing awareness around political and media ‘spin’ (i.e., a twisting or construing of information to fit a certain bias or agenda). In this book — which was recently made into a well reviewed documentary film — Naomi Oreskes takes the brilliant approach of comparing and contrasting the current denial of climate science to the denial around the negative health impacts of smoking…in addition to a number of other confidence schemes throughout history. Oreskes’ research is as important and enlightening as it is shocking. When it comes to the best books on climate change, this is a must-read. If you’re more interested in the film, we’ll link to it, here.
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“The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History”.
By: Elizabeth Kolbert
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“The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate”. (Princeton Science Library)
By: David Archer
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“Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change”.
By: Elizabeth Kolbert
Editor's Note
A staple book for any environmental studies or earth science student is Elizabeth Kolbert’s, “Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change”. In this piece, Kolbert breaks down the study of climate change — and the concurrent impacts of climate change — into three simple parts: Nature, Man, and Time. Each part is broken down into a series of digestible chapters which present new and compelling data and anecdotal accounts of how global climate degradation is altering our planet for the worse. Kolbert writes about the more salient consequences, like glacial melting and sea level rise, but also the impacts she’s noticed on a local level throughout her travels across the globe. It’s a beautiful and emotional work that echoes another moving and classic book in the environmental space, Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”. If you’re passionate about climate journalism and are looking for books on climate change that approach the subject from this angle, we recommend giving this book a read. We found a pretty stellar review, here, if you’re still not convinced.
a few more curated collections, by The Bestlyy Editors
Continued, Part 2, 3 Favorites
9 Best Books on Climate Change & Global Warming + Reviews, A List of The Best, Top Reviewed Books on Climate Science, Climate Change Debates & Details on What You Need To Know about Climate Change.
Favorites
9 Best Books on Climate Change & Global Warming + Reviews // While combing through products, we found these gems. These are a few of our personal favorites — maybe we share the same taste. We focused on the following qualities when curating for this particular selection of products:
+ Award-winning or best selling books.
+ Award-winning or best selling authors.
+ Highly lauded, written by established authors (relatively subjective quality based on author’s prolificity/fecundity).
+ Well reviewed by popular periodicals (e.g., The New York Times, and The Guardian).
+ Thought-provoking and/or interesting ideas and content (relatively subjective quality).
+ Ideas and/or arguments that engender a greater understanding of environmental awareness, climate change, environmental ethics and/or sustainability (relatively subjective quality).
+ Written in a digestible and/or intelligible way that is accessible to multiple audiences (relatively subjective quality).
+ Includes up-to-date data on climate science (preferred).
+ Written in an expository and normative frame (preferred).
*While we work to ensure the products we select possess these qualities, actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than that shown on our web site. Do not rely solely on the information provided here.
Details
“The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World”.
By: Andrea Wulf
Editor's Note
For this book, it is perhaps helpful to list the many awards and accolades it has received throughout the years: it’s a National Best Seller; one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year; Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The James Wright Award for Nature Writing, the Costa Biography Award, the Royal Geographic Society’s Ness Award, and the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award; it was a Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Kirkus Prize Prize for Nonfiction, and the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award; and it was awarded the a Best Book of the Year award by The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, Nature, Jezebel, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, New Scientist, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard, and The Spectator.
“The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World” is a cornerstone work on the philosophy, history and overall subject of environmentalism — chronicling the growth of the movement, its theories, ideas and concepts, and its many brilliant vanguards. When it comes to a list of the best books on climate change, we knew we had to include a work the discusses the notion of ‘Nature’ and the corresponding history of environmentalism.
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“CO2 Rising: The World’s Greatest Environmental Challenge”. (MIT Press)
By: Tyler Volk
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“The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy”.
By: Lester R. Brown
a few more curated collections, by The Bestlyy Editors
Continued, Part 3, 1 Budget Pick
9 Best Books on Climate Change & Global Warming + Reviews, A List of The Best, Top Reviewed Books on Climate Science, Climate Change Debates & Details on What You Need To Know about Climate Change.
Budget Picks
9 Best Books on Climate Change & Global Warming + Reviews // These are a few solid choices if you’re on a budget. We focused on the following qualities when curating for this particular selection of products:
+ Award-winning or best selling authors.
+ Highly lauded, written by established authors (relatively subjective quality based on author’s prolificity/fecundity).
+ Well reviewed by popular periodicals (e.g., The New York Times, and The Guardian).
+ Thought-provoking and/or interesting ideas and content (relatively subjective quality).
+ Ideas and/or arguments that engender a greater understanding of environmental awareness, climate change, environmental ethics and/or sustainability (relatively subjective quality).
+ Written in a digestible and/or intelligible way that is accessible to multiple audiences (relatively subjective quality).
*While we work to ensure the products we select possess these qualities, actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than that shown on our web site. Do not rely solely on the information provided here.
Details
“Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet”.
By: Bill McKibben
tags: best books on climate change, best books global warming, book reviews, list of the best climate change books, top reviewed books on climate science, climate change debates, what you need to know about climate change, top books on climate change
