*Gore, Al. 2006. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. Rodale Books: PA

*Isham, Jonathan, and Sissel Waage, editors. 2007 Ignition: What You Can Do To Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement. 2007. Island Press: WA

Ignition boldly outlines a number of strategies for generating the social revolution required to deal with the human and ecological consequences of climate change. There are no easy solutions but there are guidelines for affecting social change.

*Monbiot, George. 2007. Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning. South End Press: MA

Monbiot pulls no punches in this frank and disturbing assessment of what it will take to slow the train of global warming. Armed with a scientist's command of facts and an irreverence towards those who distort them (friend and foe), Monbiot outlines a plan for what may be humanity's last chance to act before climate reaches a catastrophic tipping point.

*Pearce, Fred. 2007. With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change. Beacon Press; MA

Pearce's book provides a comprehensive look at climate change in the past, present, and future. He explains why climate change is like climbing to the tippy top of a ladder. At some point, the ladder becomes unsteady and you fall. We don't know where the tipping pointsare in Earth's climate, but we know they exist. And if we cross one, there is little we can do to stop the resultant catastrophe.

*Mooney, Chris. 2007. Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming. Harcourt: FL.

Mooney brings some common sense and insightful reporting to the role of global warming in hurricane frequency and intensity. From the role of scientists in public communication to the media frenzy fueled by blogs, Mooney's scope is comprehensive.

*Archer, David. 2007. Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast. Blackwell Publishing: MA

Written for college students, Global Warming presents a detailed and comprehensive review of climate science and prediction.

*DeRothschild, David. 2007. The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook: 77 Essential Skills to Stop Climate Change--Or Live Through It. Melcher Media: NY

With 77 suggestions (corresponding to Live Earth's air date of 7-7-07), this book offers easy-to-read, somewhat lighthearted tools for taking the first steps to reducing your carbon footprint and increasing your action on global warming. The problem with these laundry lists is that they fail to deliver the sense of urgency or the degree of effort required to be effective. It will take a lot more than "I recycle: and "I drive a hybrid, too" to deliver more than a glancing blow at the climate crisis.

*Stern, Nicolas. 2006. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Cambridge: NY

This widely cited publication put economics and climate change on the same footing. Though the details may be debated, Stern's work offers one of the most solid and comprehensive reviews of the economic and social consequences of unchecked climate change. The bottom line: the costs of action now are less than the costs of action at a later time. There simply is no economic excuse for waiting to solve the problem of human-produced CO2.

*Woodside, Christine. 2006. The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence: Alternative Power Sources for the Average American. The Lyons Press: CT.

Woodside's book is a good start but a bit uneven in its broad treatment of issues and solutions.

Linden, Eugene. 2006. The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilization. Simon & Schuster: NY

Linden uses the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina as an example of what humanity could face as the consequences of global warming take hold.

*Gelbspan, Ross. 1997. The Heat Is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earths Threatened Climate. Addison-Wesley: MA

Gelbspan provides interesting insights into the misinformation stategy of the global warming skeptics camp.

*Cool, Nathan Todd. 2006. Is it Hot in Here? The simple truth about global warming. iUniverse: NY.

*Lovelock, James. 2006. The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity. Basic Books: NY

*Philander, S. George. 1998. Is the Temperature Rising? The Uncertain Science of Global Warming. Princeton University Press: NJ.

Reference for: Chapter 8, Figure 8-4, 8-30, The Pacific El Nino and La Nina, A Brief History of Meteorology

*Ruddiman, William. Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate. 2005. Princeton University Press: NJ

Ruddiman presents an interesting perspective on “modern” human-caused climate change. He argues that modifications of landscapes and climate can be traced back at least 8,000 years. In doing so, he provides a longer-term view of human activities and their consequences than commonly discussed.

*Weart, Spencer R. 2003. The Discovery of Global Warming. Harvard University Press: MA

Naturalists and scientists have long warned about the potential of human-released carbon dioxide to cause climate change. Weart provides a detailed and compelling look at the history of scientific efforts to document the effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide on climate.
See also

An Inconvenient Truth. 2006. Paramount. (DVD)

This video should be required viewing of all college students. No matter what you think about the politics, Gore presents evidence. That evidence makes a great starting point for a semester-long discussion on the role of science and debate over global warming.

*Kirschvink, Joseph L. 1992: Chapter 2.3- Late Proterozoic Low-Latitude Global Glaciation: the Snowball Earth. In Schopf, J.W.; Klein, C. (eds.) 1992: The Proterozoic Biosphere – A Multidisciplinary Study. Cambridge, pp. 51-52.

Reference for: Chapter 3, Plate Tectonics and Snowball Earth

Krirschvink’s paper reinvigorated Harlan’s original hypothesis and gave credence to the idea that Earth once experienced extreme glaciations.

*Ruddiman, William. 2001. Earth’s Climate, Past and Future. W.H. Freeman: NY

Reference for: Chapter 8, Table 8.2

Ruddiman’s textbook provides a comprehensive, well-written, and nicely illustrated introductory summary of the major concepts related to Earth’s climate. Professor Sean loves this book and highly recommends it as a reference for anyone who wants to know more about climate change.

*Siedler, Gerold, John Church, and John Gould. 2001. Ocean Circulation and Climate: Observing and Modeling the Global Ocean. Academic Press: CA

*Fasham, Michael J. R., editor. 2003. Ocean Biogeochemistry: The Role of the Ocean Carbon Cycle in Global Change. Springer: NY

Reference for: Chapter 13, Global Primary Productivity.

*Ainley, David. 2002. The Adélie Penguin: Bellwether of Climate Change. Columbia University Press: NY

Professor Sean traveled with David Ainley to the Weddell Sea in 1988. The man is a walking encyclopedia on birds. This book is a scientific account of research on the effects of climate change on the Adélie Penguin.