State of Fear

I just received this from a good friend who teaches university-level meteorology and climatology:

I just purchased "State of Fear", the latest opus from schlockmeister Michael Crichton. I bought it because I'd heard that it has something to do with climate change. After reading the first hundred pages or so, however, I was completely baffled. Then, I read the epilogue and looked at the bibliography (yes!) and visited some web sites and I now realize that I have basically wasted my money. Apparently, the plot concerns killer environmentalists who wreak havoc around the globe to further their lies about global warming. Their purpose: to preserve their sources of funding! As is typical with Crichton, there is just enough science to convince non-scientists that he knows what he's talking about. Most of the references in his bibliography could have been selected by the Cato Institute. I'd be worried that his book might influence public opinion, but I doubt that many people will be able to plow through this turgid volume. (I mean, he's actually got graphs in the book, for crying out loud!) Of course, it's being praised by the usual suspects (e.g., George Will) and predictably denounced by others (e.g., any scientist who actually knows anything about climate change.) He suffers from the usual syndrome of the scientific ideologue: he assumes that results that support his thesis are true and that those that contradict it are false. One example: in his bibliography, he cites a paper in which the authors conclude that the contribution of land-use changes to the rise in global mean surface temperature is considerably larger than indicated in previous calculations. Naturally, the more recent calculations must be correct. I mean, they wouldn't have gotten it published otherwise, right?

Still, there's one good thing about the book: it's gotten me fired up about the coming semester!

By the way, here's a good discussion of Crichton's faulty science (a lot of people have written much more thoughtful comments than mine!)

Marc:

What I like is that you've actually read the thing (better than a lot of reviewers do!) I've already heard the Crichton book is a piece of crap. I'm amazed how easy it is to stampede people on these issues: people love to hear what they want, I guess. Even a close acquaintance is always saying that climate scientists in the mid-70's thought an Ice Age was nigh (despite my predictable objection - it was always a minority opinion at that time).