Wütendes Wetter: Auf der Suche nach den Schuldigen für Hitzewellen, Hochwasser und Stürme

by Friederike Otto, Benjamin von Brackel

Hitze, wie wir sie aus fernen Urlaubsregionen kannten, sintflutartiger Starkregen, verheerende Stü Ist das schon Klimawandel – oder immer noch „nur“ Wetter? Die Physikerin Friederike Otto hat die Attribution Science mitentwickelt. Mittels dieser revolutionären Methode kann sie genau berechnen, wann der Klimawandel im Spiel ist. War eine Katastrophe wie Harvey menschengemacht? Ist eine Dürreperiode Folge der globalen Erwärmung oder nur ein heißer Sommer, wie es ihn schon immer gab? Die Zahlen Eine Hitzewelle wie in Deutschland 2018 ist durch den Klimawandel mindestens doppelt so wahrscheinlich geworden wie früher. Man kann konkrete Verursacher für Wetterphänomene haftbar machen ‒ Unternehmen, ja ganze Länder können jetzt vor Gericht gebracht werden. Und es wird verhindert, dass der Klimawandel weiter als Argument missbraucht Politiker können sich nicht mehr auf ihn berufen, um Missmanagement und eigenes Versagen zu vertuschen. Dieses Buch bringt Klarheit in eine erhitzte Debatte.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Climate Change, Nature, Environment, Ecology, Social Justice

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 15, 2019

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angry Weather by Friederike Otto tells readers about the importance of attribution science in understanding climate change. The Weather Attribution Team has developed a way to connect localized extreme weather events to climate change. To do this, they must be able to model what the world would be like if there was no climate change and then calculate if the weather event was created by climate change.

Otto considers recent extreme weather and explains if it was connected to climate change. She also addresses broader climate change issues.

Attribution science is a complex idea, and perhaps if Otto did detail the process I would not understand it. Still, it is a weakness in the book that the scientific method is not discussed.

Parts of the book were interesting, and she addresses some issues with passion. But overall, it was a boring read and it was hard to pick it up to finish the book. I don't know if the translation added to this problem, or if this remarkable scientist just isn't a remarkable writer.

I was given a free book by the publisher through LibraryThing in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Den Hauptteil des Buches nimmt die Beschreibung von Attributionsstudien ein. Wie sie entwickelt worden, wie sie funktionieren, etc.
Das war zwar interessant, der wirklich spannende Part - wie Attributionswissenschaft aber helfen kann, Extremwetterereignisse dem Klimawandel zu zuordnen und dies dann eben auch vor Gericht zu nutzen, um z. B. gegen Ölkonzerne etc. vorzugehen - kam mir etwas zu kurz.
Ich freue mich aber schon auf Ottos neues Buch, Klima(un)gerechtigkeit.
3,5*

[Arndis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stjörnur

mjög áhugaverð en ritstíllinn kemur ekki alveg öllu til skila. samt mjög mikilvægir hlutir til að vita en hefði mátt nota fleiri vísindaleg dæmi til að styrkja frásögnina og útskýra rökstuðninginn betur.

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Scientists are now able to study (some? most?) weather events and be able to determine how much more likely that event was made by climate change (or if climate change even made it more likely at all)! That is, they do it quickly, before the event fades from people’s memories and other events have happened in the meantime. This is unusual, since for scientists, peer review is important before publishing results of studies, but this can take months to do.

This book explains how they do that, primarily using models. There is a very small group of scientists worldwide who are currently doing this; the author is one of those scientists. She also looks at a few specific weather events and explains how they came up with their findings.

I thought this was good. There’s more to it than I’ve mentioned in my summary, and I can’t explain it well, but I did find it interesting. It may have been particularly interesting because about a month ago, there was an extreme heat wave where I am in Alberta, as well as in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. I had actually heard a couple of weeks ago that they had determined that this heat wave WAS more likely due to climate change and that it was 2C warmer than it would otherwise have been without climate change; when I heard that, I had no idea that a book I’d planned to pick up this month was going to look at that very thing! And, checking online, it was this group of scientists who came up with that.

[Μιχάλης Δαγκλής · Rating 5 out of 5]

Με ένα καλοκαίρι γεμάτο απίστευτους καύσωνες, ο Άγριος Καιρός είναι πραγματικά διαφωτιστικος σχετικά με το τι συμβαίνει παγκοσμίως. Στο βιβλίο αναφέρονται και οι φονικές πυρκαγιές στο Μάτι. Η Κλιματική Αλλαγή έχει ξεκινήσει και μετρά ήδη πολλά θύματα. Το βιβλίο είναι ανησυχητικό, σε ενημερώνει για πολλά κλιματικά θέματα και λειτουργεί σαν μέσο αφύπνισης για τον μεγάλο κίνδυνο που έρχεται.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dieses Buch war sprachlich sehr verständlich geschrieben (keine schwurbeligen Formulierungen), hatte an jeder Stelle einen argumentativen Zweck (kein Bullshit), war schnell gelesen (konzise) und überzeugend.

Ich hatte (obwohl es mit 200 nicht sehr dicht beschriebenen Seiten) relativ kurz war nicht den Eindruck, dass anstelle ausreichend tiefgehender Erklärungen irgendwo falsche Vereinfachungen oder Überspitzungen eingebaut wurden.
Stattdessen bieten einerseits wohldosierte Referenzen genug Möglichkeiten noch selbst nachzulesen und/oder in die Tiefe zu gehen, andererseits wurden Unsicherheiten und komplizierte Sachlagen ganz transparent benannt und beschrieben.

Wer einen Überblick zum Potential der Extremwetterereignis-Attributions-Forschung erhalten möchte, dabei noch eine spannende Sidestory zum Hurrikan Harvey und allerlei aus der Geschichte der Wetter-, Klima- und Klimawandelforschung lesen möchte, bekommt hier genau das.

[Nathan Gilliatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book. What sets it apart from earlier works is its introduction of attribution science, which seems like a big deal: Scientists are figuring out methods for determining the probability that a given weather event is the result of climate change. But in an effort to write for a general audience, the author ends up avoiding virtually all of the science, so there's not much more detail than what I wrote in the last sentence. Instead, the book goes off into the basics of global warming and the politics of climate denialism, and I really wanted to learn more about what's new now, not what's happened over recent decades.

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'd like to preface with saying I don't necessarily disagree with anything presented in this book.

Probably because not much was presented other than learning what an attribution study is, and hearing over and over again all the vague comments that lead you to be curious enough to read the published paper that the book talks about.

It's a book about a paper and how the paper came to be, with little to no actual interesting facts other than how they wrote the paper and did the study.

I didn't want to read a book for the sole purpose of making me want to read a paper! Ugh. Solid bore.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zwei Sterne statt einem eigentlich nur, weil das Thema so wichtig ist. Ich weiß gar nicht, wo anfangen: Ich weiß immer noch nicht, was genau "attribution science" macht, außer irgendwie Wahrscheinlichkeiten mittels Modellen zu ermitteln und daraus kausale Schlüsse zu ziehen. Das ist wissenschaftstheoretisch extrem spannend, aber Wissenschaftsjournalismus bedeutet hier leider dumbing down bis zur Unverständlichkeit. Spätestens seit Gigerenzer wissen wir doch, dass man sehr aufpassen muss, wenn man über Wahrscheinlichkeiten redet und nicht missverstanden werden will. Und dann noch Kausalaussagen obendrauf. Und dann noch ein politisch aufgeladenes Thema, puh. – Seltsam, und so weit ich sehe auch gänzlich unbegründet, ist Ottos Optimismus. Vielleicht lese ich die falschen Bücher, aber das hier ist das erste, das nicht davon ausgeht, dass das 2-Grad-Ziel überschritten werden wird. Ich lese ja gerne mal eine Außenseiterposition, aber Otto scheint sich gar nicht bewusst zu sein, wie sehr sie beschwichtigt. – Meines Erachtens wird zu viel auf Klimaskeptiker eingegangen. Das Problem sind nicht diejenigen, die nichts vom anthropogenen Klimawandel wissen oder ihn leugnen, sondern diejenigen – die überwiegende Mehrheit! -, die trotz Wissen nichts tun. – Ich bin nicht überzeugt, dass attribution science wirklich für die Politik wichtig ist. Für mich klingt das so, als würde man diskutieren, zu viel Prozent die Zerstörung der Synagoge in irgendeiner bestimmten deutschen Kleinstadt 1938 auf das Konto des schon vor 1933 verbreiteten Antisemitismus und wie viele Prozent aus Konto der Nazi-Propaganda geht. Was sollen wir mit der Info anfangen, dass irgendeine Dürre in Ostafrika auch ohne Klimawandel wahrscheinlich gewesen wäre? – Ich find's gut, dass mal jemand außerhalb der Genderliteratur konsequent das Gendersternchen benutzt!

[Jelka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. I found most parts to be interesting, didn't love the writing style though. Especially in the beginning it felt like Friedericke Otto tried too hard to make a "boring" topic sound interesting.

I hadn't heard of attribution science before reading this book but the author did a good job of explaining it and its benefits on a very basic level.

Someone should've told the audiobook narrator that the peer in peer review is an English word meaning one that is of equal standing with another and should be pronounced accordingly - not like the Scandinavian/Dutch first name.

[Danial Rahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freiderike Otto the rockstar of Climate Change field has written a wonderful book explaining her Attribution Concept where she has made a compelling evidence based argument atrributing extreme weather disasters to climate change.

[Roger Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

9

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Η κλιματική κρίση είναι δεδομένο αναμφισβήτητο για τους επιστήμονες και δυστυχώς, αμφισβητούμενο από μεγάλο κομμάτι της κοινωνίας. Η Otto είναι επιστήμονας του κλίματος και πιο συγκεκριμένα, εδώ και κάποια χρόνια ανήκει σε μια ομάδα που ερευνα τα ακραία καιρικά φαινόμενα που βιώνουμε σε διάφορες περιοχές και ελέγχει κατά πόσο αυτά είναι αποτελέσματα της κλιματικής αλλαγής και σε τι ποσοστό. Φιλόδοξο και σημαντικό εγχείρημα. Το βιβλίο θα ήθελε μια καλύτερη επιμέλεια ώστε να αποφύγει επαναλήψεις ή να ρέει καλύτερα η αφήγηση του.

[Mert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only one thing to say about this: Everybody should read this book - especially lawyers! (English title: angry weather)

[Matt Beaty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting one: part scientific memoir, part history of climate science, and part social commentary. The team Otto works on runs simulations based on the assumption that no human generated greenhouse gases were emitted and compares that to the simulations run on contemporary (sometimes, real-time) weather events. This shows how much, if any, human emitted greenhouse gases increased the chance of the weather event. Using this as a basis for attribution, Otto hopes to show that his team can provide nations how to direct resources to prepare for the future. Perhaps, the information could be used as evidence in trials against the contributors of climate change.

Some thoughts as a non-scientist. It would be interesting to see how ice cores could be used to get a better attribution estimate. Their methods rely on heavy amounts of computing, which relies a lot on energy and rare earth metals (pulling in info from the recent book I read). It would be interesting to see the costs of their studies on climate changes. Didn't know that more CO2 allows for more H2O to be stored in the air, which is a pretty straightforward explanation of why emissions can lead to heavier rains.

As for the writing, it was very engaging and enjoyable. It mixed in some of the science (it does not go into details how the models work, which is a huge downfall to climate scientists, because people who have been convinced global climate change doesn't exist will not suddenly change their mind based on yet another Algorithm) with his history of working with his current research team with a bit of history of major storms (Harvey in Houston). I could have done without the chapter on insurance, because that's boring. No one will ever make insurance not boring, but bless Otto for putting it near the end of the book, because it was nonetheless an interesting look at how finances could help alleviate damage.

There was some interesting talk about their modification of the peer review system. They have their models peer reviewed for each method and event type. But they then work in real-time to attribute the increased risk to climate change, not peer reviewing those works until later. This is a media strategy and practical one at that. Immediacy bias is important to peoples' attention (see my connecting some thoughts from my previous non-fiction read to this book).

Good read.

[Mohammad Al Refaei · Rating 3 out of 5]

ربما سمعنا جيمعنا عن التغيّر المُناخي، لكن هل يمكن لنا أن نربط حدثًا متطرفًا كعاصفةٍ هوجاء أو سيلٍ غزيرٍ يغرق القرى أو جفافٍ يأتي على المحاصيل بالتغيّر المُناخي؟
لا تقتصر الغاية من هذا السؤال على البحث العلمي والانتقال من الظلام إلى النور، بل تتعداه إلى مساعدتنا على التحضر لغضب الطقس المرتبط بالتغيّر المُناخي، ويصل إلى رسم الخطوط لمقاضاة الشركات والدول المتسببة فيه وتعويض المتضررين.

بدايةً، الكتاب سلسٌ إلى حدٍّ كبيرٍ، وهو مناسبٌ لأي شخصٍ لا يعلم عن التغيّر المناخي إلّا ما يسمعه في نشرات الأخبار، وهنا تُحسب للكاتبة نقطةٌ، إلّا أنّه في الوقت نفسه شحيحٌ إلى حدٍ ما بالمعلومات، فنجد أن الكتابة آثرت التبسيط على التفصيل، وهذا لا يعيب الكتاب، إلّا أنني كنت أتوق إلى المزيد من التفاصيل والشروحات عن كيفية تشكل ظواهر الطقس المتطرفة وعن كيفية إجراء المحاكات الحاسوبية لربط التغيّر المناخي بها. لا أدعي أنني خبيرٌ بهذه الأمور، لكنني كنت لأستمتع بالكتاب أكثر لو كان أغنى.

الكتاب موثقٌ بصورةٍ قويةٍ ويمكن الرجوع إلى المصادر للاستزادة منها.

بالمختصر: أنصح به لمن يريد أن يتعرف بسهولةٍ ويسرٍ دون إفاضةٍ عن: لماذا صار الطقس أغضب وما علاقة التغيّر المناخي به وما يمكننا فعله حيال ذلك.

[DomiCzytaPL · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Wściekła pogoda” to książka popularnonaukowa, dzięki której możemy zagłębić się w analizę ekstremalnych zjawisk pogodowych jakimi są huragany, powodzie czy fale upałów, będące w dużej mierze następstwem zmian klimatycznych. Fascynująca, a jednocześnie przerażająca to lektura, kiedy podążając za niemiecką badaczką, weźmiemy pod uwagę tendencję do zaprzeczania przez polityków i przestawicieli wielkich koncernów jakoby człowiek miał realny wpływ na pogodę. Jednak dane naukowe nie kłamią. Klimat się ociepla, a człowiek bardzo mocno się do tego procesu przyczynia, z uwagi na rabunkową gospodarkę surowcami naturalnymi. Bardzo ciekawa jest to książka, napisana przystępnym językiem i oparta na wielu przykładach pogodowych anomalii. Polecam!

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: A description of the use of attribution science to assess the probability that anthropogenic-caused climate change is a factor in particular extreme weather events.

You’ve heard the discussions. An extreme drought results in unprecedented forest fires. A record and extended heatwave results in hundreds of heat-related deaths. A hurricane stalls over a major coastal city and dumps record amounts of rainfall resulting in extensive flooding, property damage, and deaths. Record spring rainfalls flood farmlands resulting in major crop losses. Commentators will cite these as yet more examples of climate change, while those denying climate change will argue that these are rare but naturally occurring events.

It turns out that many climate scientists are quiet during these discussions. Weather is complicated. Most climate scientists observe long term trends and the impacts these have as inputs to weather systems. But they are reluctant to opine on individual events. In the last decade, a new area of climate science has developed called attribution science that is used to determine to what extent anthropogenic climate change has contributed to the magnitude or probability of an individual event. Friederike Otto is one of the scientists on the forefront of this emerging field and this book serves as a description of this field and its uses for the lay reader interested in climate research. (For those wanting a more technical version of this material, this article , co-authored by this author, goes deeper into their research methodologies and studies of climate events.)

She uses her team’s real-time research of Hurricane Harvey that dropped over 40 inches of rain on the Houston metro area as an example of attribution science, which has also studied European heatwaves. She details how they isolated the variable they would look at, which in this case was rainfall amounts. Then there is the work of collecting, modelling and analyzing large amounts of data, both about this particular storm and weather data going as far back as possible, in many cases from 30 to 100 years. Using peer-reviewed mathematical modelling, within three weeks the team estimates that climate change makes an event like Harvey three times more likely at the current state of change. In Harvey’s case, this was an event that would occur every 9,000 years under historic conditions, but three times more probable due to climate change. That’s still very unlikely, but also signals the increased likelihood of lesser flooding events.

The account of their study of Harvey is interlaced with explanations about how rising global temperatures from CO2 emissions contribute to changes in weather patterns contributing to more extreme events. She also describes the fossil fuel industry’s spending to cast doubts on climate research. She is honest about the number of weather events they studied where climate change played little or no part and the kinds of events currently not amenable to this approach. One of the most valuable aspects of this research is the information it gives governmental bodies to take steps to prepare when once rare events–floods, storms, droughts, can be predicted to be more common. She describes steps taken in Europe for the sheltering of vulnerable populations during heat waves as an example. If flooding becomes more popular, permits for construction in what were once infrequent flood plains need to be re-evaluated.

There are aspects of this work that are controversial. For one thing, studies like the one on Harvey, are published in real-time, and only subsequently in journals that are peer-reviewed. The argument is that the models are peer-reviewed, as are subsequent articles, but that in the elapse of time, and given the obscurity of most academic journals, this information is most timely and helpful in policy discussions in the immediate context of an event rather than when it is in the rear view mirror.

The other controversial element is to use the results of attribution science in lawsuits for damages against fossil fuel companies who have contributed to climate change. She describes such efforts. I am concerned that these models, built on multiple variables and probabilities may be better to use in future planning than to assess damages arising from past actions, whether the actors were aware of or not of the possible consequences of the actions.

I don’t think the energy companies are without fault in all this, but there seemed a bit too much of a “go after ExxonMobil” in this book for my liking, and I think this can backfire on what seems to be an emerging and useful area of research. Far better it seems to me to use this research for good public policy decisions going forward. Also, the author notes how even 30 years of data is a bare minimum in climate research. This area of research is in its infancy, and while promising, will be proven out more definitively as they continue to produce studies of events, particularly ones with similar variables. But if I were a planner concerned with both the economic viability and disaster preparedness of my region, I would be paying attention.

________________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer Program. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Greystone Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a short (I read in two days) but important book. Once we accept that climate change is real (and all serious people have) we can begin to determine - what are its effects? Dr. Otto and her colleagues are taking a first step towards that goal and using what she calls "attribution science" to determine which events are caused by climate change and how likely are they to happen? The rain from Hurricane Harvey - yes climate change. The heat waves in Europe not so much. It also allows for the determination of "fault" for damages during these events U.S. 30% China 20% etc. etc.

If there is any weakness to this book it is that it is flimsy on the actual hard science and it doesn't give us the understanding of how exactly they get to these determinations - I would have liked a bit more explanation of how they crunch the numbers but that may be asking to much of a book written for a general audience and I can't really judge the validity of their methods anyhow. I would suggest our policy makers to sit down with Dr. Otto and her colleagues and form a U.N. attribution science team to make these determinations and keep this at the forefront of our understanding of exactly what the costs of our inaction are in lives and money. Hoping someone listens.

[Sofia Hunimuni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hervorragendes Buch, das sehr menschliche Einblicke in die Welt der Wissenschaft gibt.

Besonders lesenswert finde ich das Buch für Leute, die sich vom Thema Klimakrise erschlagen fühlen. Die Art von Klarheit und Verständlichkeit, mit der die Autorin über Extremwetter spricht, gibt der lesenden Person Wissen an die Hand, ohne sie zu erschlagen und ergänzt es mit Geschichten oder Erfahrungen drumherum.

Viele Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler tun sich schwer mit der Kommunikation ihrer Ergebnisse und ihrer Forschung. Dieses Buch ist eines der Musterbeispiele, wie Wissenschaft nahbar gezeigt werden kann.
Es ist ein guter Mix aus gut erklärten Sachverhalten zB. aus den Bereichen Klimaforschung und Attribution (wie ordnen wir einem Wetterereignis zu ob es durch die Klimakrise wahrscheinlicher wurde?), aber auch Einordnungen, was wir noch nicht wissen. Was wir noch nicht vorausberechnen können und warum.

Abwechselnd mit diesem gut vermittelten Sachbuchwissen kommen immer wieder Kapitel, bei denen wir die Autorin und ihr Team durch die intensivste Phase ihres Forscherlebens begleiten dürfen: Ihre Berechnungen hatten den Zusammenhang zwischen einem Extremwetter-Ereignis und der Klimakrise gezeigt. Und auf ein Mal möchte jeder mit diesem Team sprechen. Diese Kapitel machten das Buch für mich unheimlich spannend.

Ich kann es nur wärmstens empfehlen!

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heard about this one from a great Guardian article. A neat idea to twine together two strands: first, Otto and team's work in responding to a particular weather event in Texas and, second, the broader story about her team's initialization, development, academic and political reception, and grand plans. I would have liked more about the modeling, roll-out, and so on, and also more about attribution science, but this is a hybrid intended as much to convince people about the existence of the problem as it is about practitioners and critics of the new science from an operational standpoint. Worthwhile work - here's hoping for success.

[Susanne Tröstl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friederike Otto erklärt leicht verständlich im Vortragston, was Zuordnungswissenschaft kann und wie sie ab sofort und in Zukunft Klarheit bringen und so auf Entwicklungen in der Klimapolitik von Staaten, Konzernen, Versicherungen, Juristen, ... eingesetzt werden kann. Ein wichtiger Baustein mehr zu diesem für uns nunmehr entscheidenden Thema. Diese intelligente und mutige Frau und ihre Kolleg*innen leisten mit ihrer Arbeit einen sehr wichtigen Beitrag dazu, dass wir das Ruder doch noch herumreissen können.

[Katie_la_geek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting and informative book. Climate change is something that affects us all in one way or another and Friederike Otto has done a great job of explaining the science behind it without being boring. I was expecting a little more 'weather' and a little less science but that didn't dampen my enjoyment of the book. I don't think that this is going to change the minds of sceptics but, for those who want a little more information about what is happening around us, I recommend this short read.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is not really about climate change but about the emerging science of attribution. This is revolutionary method for pinpointing the role of climate change in extreme weather events. They now can figure out how much climate change has impacted events like drought, heat waves, extreme rainfall. Currently hurricanes are too complex for analysis. This information can be used in a variety of ways: planning, loss calculations, even lawsuits against countries or corporations. Not gripping reading but an important new tool and topic.

[Maciej · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kolejna pozycja o tym jak klimat mści się na nas...
Przeczytałem dużo pozycji dotyczących zmian klimatu, każda traktowała o delikatnie innym aspekcie naszej działalności wobec globalnego ocieplenia. Ta książka zaznacza jak brak działań odbija się na nas czkawką oraz pokazuje w jakim stopniu te gwałtowne zmiany pogody są spowodowane przez to jak podchodzimy do eksploatacji dóbr naturalnych. Świetnie się czyta chociaż treść jest szalenie smutna.

na skalach:
goodreads: 3,75/5
lubimyczytać: 7,510
u mnie: 75/100

[Rick Fifield · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that with weather events and by studying these weather events determine whether or not Climate Change and global warming played a part in the severity of the weather and how much likely it will accrue in the future. This is a new area of science that looks at past and current weather events, heat waves, hurricanes, cold snap or excessive rain.

My problem with this book comes in the chapter where the blame comes in. After that I lost interest, I liked the idea of what they are doing but this was too much.

[Lennart · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Angry Weather" is a triumph of science communication. It is a book that will leave you both more knowledgeable and more motivated to engage with the challenges of our changing climate. Her seminal scientific work has been made into a very easy to read book that can educate the general reader on this topic that, as she shows in this work, is becoming immediately relevant for everybody. Otto's narrative is a great reminder that while the weather may be angry, our response to it should not be despair, but informed, collective action.

[Brian Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Science is not a universal remedy for panic and ignorance …” is an essential line from the tail end of Otto’s book. It sums up the idea that defining climate change is like nailing Jell-O to the wall. It also underscores the fact that climate and weather are not the same thing. Otto uses key examples and doesn’t weigh down studies with esoteric language. She does an excellent job at presenting her case and offers insight on when to blame an extreme event on climate change and when not too. A must-read for any environmentalist who is deeply concerned for future generations.

[Angi James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information

This had a lot of interesting information. I didn't realize how evil ExxonMobil was/is in putting out false information to downplay or deny climate change. Their "experts" are not scientists but loud talking heads.

You can use your computer to help provide the calculations for some of the data sets.

Everyday people can band together to fight corporations who contribute to the global warming crisis making them pay towards restitution instead of just reaping all the benefits of their actions.

[Nelson Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just the weather is angry now

One of the a Christmas gifts recommended by Katharine Hayhoe was this book. Glad I read it and have a better idea of what climate is doing and a bit about what it is not doing.

I highly recommend this book which is both easy to read (because it is well written) and hard to read (because of what we learn). I hope to hear from more scientist on the subject in the future.