Overview

Imagine a world of wildly escalating temperatures, apocalyptic flooding, devastating storms and catastrophic sea level rise. This might sound like a prediction for the future or the storyline of a new Hollywood blockbuster but it's something quite different: it's our past. In a day and age when where we're bombarded with worrying forecasts for future climate, it seems hard to believe that such things could come to pass. Yet almost everywhere we turn, the landscape is screaming out that the world is a capricious place. The problem is if we don't tune in, the message is lost. We need to decipher the past and learn from it. In Ice, Mud and Blood, Professor Chris Turney explores the changing climate and the risks facing us today as we continue to drive our planet to new extremes.

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9780230553828

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Reviews

'The book does not disappoint, as we are taken on a meteorological journey through time, discovering the planet has a turbulent, disaster-prone history' - Current World Archaeology 'An entertaining, state-of-the-art overview of key issues in paleoclimatology...Chris Turney's new book is a great addition to a legacy of climate science literature.' - Holocene 'Ice, Mud and Blood has the readability of a novel with the feel of an interesting college lecturer. From the moment you begin to read it, it is hard to put the book down.' - Celsias.com 'Turney writes calmly and clearly about warming, cooling and other enormous climatic events in earth's geological past. He explains why they add to scientific concern about human greenhouse gas emissions, not detract as sceptics contend. A top contribution to the global warming debate.' - Australian 'Chris Turney's Ice, Mud and Blood is lively, well-researched, and up-to-date. A summary of key discoveries by scientists about past climate change, it ranges widely across time and all over the planet. Turney begins many of these stories with delightful anecdotes about people who centuries ago stumbled on confusing observations that in time came to be understood as the result of climate change.' Professor William F. Ruddiman, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, USA and author of Plows, Plagues and Petroleum 'Chris Turney has unveiled a climate crystal ball. It's made of ice, covered in mud, and tells the past and likely future of life on Earth. Join him as he delves expertly into the layered depths of climatic history and exposes the stark warnings to all fossil-fuelled humanity that they hold.' Dr Dave Reay, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, UK and author of Climate Change Begins at Home 'A great read on a critically important subject. Turney's best book yet.' Tim Flannery, Professor, Earth & Life Science, Macquarie University 'Ice, Mud and Blood is just what the global warming debate needs -- a sober but passionate account of past climate change by a leading climate scientist that builds to an uncompromising climax: unnatural climate change is here and it's only going to get worse. With a great eye for a story and a quirky turn of phrase, Turney tells how human history has twisted and turned at the helm of a capricious Nature. All the more frightening then to hear that the environmental challenges we face in the coming decades go beyond anything our species has ever had to contend with. A timely rallying call from someone on the frontline.' Dr Iain Stewart, School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, and presenter and author of the BBC's Earth: Climate Wars 'A sobering and vividly told tale' New Scientist 'Chris Turney is an outstanding young scientist and this book explores the changing climate and the risks facing us today' Devon Life 'It has been an exciting time to be a scientist working in this area, and Chris Turney's book Ice, Mud and Blood conveys that excitement wonderfully.' - Nature 'Written with humour and personal flair, Ice, Mud and Blood is a must-read for anyone concerned about the issues we face as we get closer and closer to the tipping point, when the effects of climate change will be unstoppable. 8/10' - inthenews.co.uk 'Its virtues are the same as his previous book, the careful documentation of exactly how we know what we know, and less dictation of the conclusions!If you want just one book, not too thick or too technical, that will give you the intellectual tools to at least understand what the climate change experts are talking about, this is the one.' - www.scienceblogs.com

Author Information

CHRIS TURNEY is a British geologist and currently holds a Chair in Physical Geography at the University of Exeter, UK. Turney researches and teaches on past climate change and what it means for the future. He has published numerous scientific papers and magazine articles, and given frequent media interviews, thanks to his infectious enthusiasm for working out what happened when. In 2007, Turney was awarded The Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal for outstanding young Quaternary scientist for his pioneering research into past climate change and dating the past.

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