Statistic un-nalysis

My favorite part of this book that I have read thus far has been the author's message on page 625. throughout the part that I have read, there is a very bleak picture of the environment's future that is decided with profit motives hands on the wheel. The author's message made him far less "Chicken Little-esque". He said that he has been vigorously learning about the scientific reaserch and studies of all different aspects of the environment for the last three years, and that he suspects "the people of 2100 to be much richer than we are, consume more energy, have a smaller global population, and enjoy more wilderness than we have today. I don't think that we have to worry about them." I consider myself well informed, but to be utterly confused by all the different aspects of global warming. This book has shown me how much business there is behind science.

Another side of this book that I have really liked is the power of "right", being used by the environmentalists. On page 54 Drake says "Scientists can't adopt that lofty attitude anymore. They can't say, 'I do the research, and I don't care how it is used.' That's out of date. It is irresponsible... Because, like it or not, we're in the middle of a war- a global war of information versus disinformation." This shows that there is disinformation coming from both sides to get people to adopt their view. And misinforming the public for their own good is a very steward like behavior, that can be rationalized by the calvary of righteousness. Their quest to make the world a better place with the suggestions hap hazard facts and figures off of a limited data set does not allow scientists, in the book or the real world, to accurate judge global warming or even take it beyond the title of a theory. That makes me wonder how you can fight a problem that even scientists (I understand that it is the dominant idea and I believe in it also) fiercely debate the existence of. So is it a black box, because we see changes in the environment, but we debate even the existence of the "box" from which they come.

As for the book as a piece of writing, I like it. I prefer learning when it comes in story form so this works out great for me. I think that it is very easy to see where things are going when they are supposed to be mysterious, and he uses really obvious metaphors, but it is fun to read.