Recently I finished The Uninhabitable Earth (2019), David Wallace-Wells' powerful best-seller about climate change. The book's a real slap in the face, which is exactly what the reader is promised in the first line: "It is worse, much worse, than you think." And then DWW tells you how much worse, from the vantage point of a journalist -- not an environmentalist -- who felt compelled to look deeply into the coming consequences of climate change and came away aghast, exclaiming holy shit, look at this, it's really bad.
There's science here, but it's not a science book. It's a global warming wake-up call, a polemic on what's happening and why humankind is reacting so poorly. You can find many reviews and excerpts online; here I'd like to type a few words about the book's cover, specifically the title, subtitle and graphics. That's beyond the author's sole authority, of course, a construction emanating from the marketing department. In this case, the cover functions as both a lure for readers and a commentary on the difficulty of communicating the dangers of global warning in the decades ahead.
Even according to worst-case scenarios, the planet will not actually become uninhabitable in the 21st century -- at least not due to climate change. Our little home on the edge of the galaxy may well become The Extremely Unpleasant, Turbulent and Depopulated Earth, but that's not a very catchy title. So I guess they dropped some "shock and awe" on the cover, boom, everything dead. Such a title certainly captures eyeballs, as they say in the trade, but it's also an exaggeration. In fact, DWW strives not to exaggerate in the text. So I wonder: if you start with an exaggerated title, aren't you opening yourself up to the general charge of hyperbole from the very people -- the skeptical, the apathetic, the ignorant -- who you want to convince?
Next, the subtitle: Life After Warming. Just awful. So milquetoast. (By the way, what exactly is milquetoast? Toast dipped in milk? Anyways, it sounds soggy and blah). While the book presents many scary scenarios for 2050 and beyond, it doesn't spend much energy considering the nature of existence "after warming." And, as DWW notes, there may be no "after" for a very long time, since the effects of climate change will continue to accrue unless we radically amend our behavior and global economy. The British edition of the book goes with A Story of the Future for its subtitle. That's better, understated and a bit cheeky. Keep calm and carry on.
Finally, the rolled-up-dead bumblebee. Or is it a honeybee? Honeybees are under threat from mites and pesticides, not climate change (as far as we know). Bumblebees, however, are getting the bum's rush from climate change, along with many other species. So let's say it's a dead bumblebee. I've seen them on my front walk. I don't like the way they buzz about as I'm digging in the garden. Sure, this image may evoke a pang of guilt for a moment, but ultimately it's as easily dismissed as the ubiquitous polar bear on the ice floe. No, there shouldn't be a dead human baby on the cover, and spare me the Statue of Liberty up to her neck in water, but the croaked bee doesn't do it for me.
So on the cover we've got an overstated title, milquetoast subtitle and understated image. Those quibbles aside, I recommend digging in. The Uninhabitable Earth is a fascinating book.
There's science here, but it's not a science book. It's a global warming wake-up call, a polemic on what's happening and why humankind is reacting so poorly. You can find many reviews and excerpts online; here I'd like to type a few words about the book's cover, specifically the title, subtitle and graphics. That's beyond the author's sole authority, of course, a construction emanating from the marketing department. In this case, the cover functions as both a lure for readers and a commentary on the difficulty of communicating the dangers of global warning in the decades ahead.
Even according to worst-case scenarios, the planet will not actually become uninhabitable in the 21st century -- at least not due to climate change. Our little home on the edge of the galaxy may well become The Extremely Unpleasant, Turbulent and Depopulated Earth, but that's not a very catchy title. So I guess they dropped some "shock and awe" on the cover, boom, everything dead. Such a title certainly captures eyeballs, as they say in the trade, but it's also an exaggeration. In fact, DWW strives not to exaggerate in the text. So I wonder: if you start with an exaggerated title, aren't you opening yourself up to the general charge of hyperbole from the very people -- the skeptical, the apathetic, the ignorant -- who you want to convince?
Next, the subtitle: Life After Warming. Just awful. So milquetoast. (By the way, what exactly is milquetoast? Toast dipped in milk? Anyways, it sounds soggy and blah). While the book presents many scary scenarios for 2050 and beyond, it doesn't spend much energy considering the nature of existence "after warming." And, as DWW notes, there may be no "after" for a very long time, since the effects of climate change will continue to accrue unless we radically amend our behavior and global economy. The British edition of the book goes with A Story of the Future for its subtitle. That's better, understated and a bit cheeky. Keep calm and carry on.
Finally, the rolled-up-dead bumblebee. Or is it a honeybee? Honeybees are under threat from mites and pesticides, not climate change (as far as we know). Bumblebees, however, are getting the bum's rush from climate change, along with many other species. So let's say it's a dead bumblebee. I've seen them on my front walk. I don't like the way they buzz about as I'm digging in the garden. Sure, this image may evoke a pang of guilt for a moment, but ultimately it's as easily dismissed as the ubiquitous polar bear on the ice floe. No, there shouldn't be a dead human baby on the cover, and spare me the Statue of Liberty up to her neck in water, but the croaked bee doesn't do it for me.
So on the cover we've got an overstated title, milquetoast subtitle and understated image. Those quibbles aside, I recommend digging in. The Uninhabitable Earth is a fascinating book.
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