book by Gavin Schmidt and Joshua Wolfe
Publisher: W.W Norton & Company.

Gavin Schmidt is not a climate scientist that is often mentioned in the UK media. Many people are familar with the names James Hansen and Michael Mann, but Gavin seems to have been missing from press headlines. However, anyone who has visited the RealClimate science blog, will be familiar with Gavins work and the other scientists that contribute to it.

'Climate Change - Picturing the Science' is a compilation of work written by various scientists and photographers, illustrated by some stunning photography. It takes you on a journey around the world, first looking at the tell, tell signs that indicate changes are taking place, then on to the science and diagnosis, finishing off with a look at possible solutions and future prevention.

The book is packed with information and is split up into sections such as (for example) 'Sea Ice', 'Sea Level', 'Aerosols', 'Risks to Human Health' and 'Renewable Energy'. This also makes the book a useful reference, as it is easier to find the appropriate statistics and information if you want a quick answer to a question.

The different writing styles of the contributing scientists mean that there should be something for everyone. There are personal stories like Kim Cobb's wonderful descriptions of doing field work on the coral reef at Palmyra island (climate scientists don't just work with computer models), dealing with injuries and life threatening storms. But there are also useful descriptions of the science. If you have always wondered how temperature anomolies are calculated, then some of the 'scientific' sections of the book will interest you.

If you like looking at pictures and photographs, then you won't be disapointed either. Just about every page is illustrated with a photographs, graphs and maps to illustrate the text.

Overall the book is well balanced and thought out, at the end is a section for 'further reading' which has some useful online sources as well as books.

A book suitable for a coffee table or a serious college library, well worth a read.

'Make Do and Mend' is an unusual book published by Michael O'Mara Books ltd, with a foreward by Jill Norman. It is a fascinating collection of Second World War instruction leaflets giving hints how, amongst other things, to save energy and to repair or look after clothes. Although not all the ideas are very practical in todays green world, especially the use of coal as a fuel, it is however still very interesting and amusing!

For younger generations i think some of the 'propaganda' type of comments will seem strange and amusing. Examples include:

"Save fuel for Battle"
"Buttered toast - or bullets"
"Your fuel sense means pennies in your purse"

One can see how the toast and bullets issue during WWII could translate to toast and green house gases today. On a more practical level, the book has many hints about repairing clothing and cooking food efficiently. There is a lot of emphasis on turning fires off or on when leaving or entering a room. It is a fascinating read, with many 1930s-1940s illustrations on just about every page.

The book is available from The Centre for Alternative Energy .