Book Summary and Reviews of Human Nature by Kate Marvel

Book Summary

A captivating exploration of climate change, through the lens of nine different emotions, to better understand the science, history, and future of our changing planet.

Dr. Kate Marvel is a renowned climate scientist and researcher whose work on climate change led her to grapple with strong, complicated emotions. Initially, she resisted those feelings, afraid they would interfere with her objective scientific judgement. But over time she realized that there is no one way to think—or feel—about climate change. To live on and care for our changing planet, we need to embrace the full spectrum of human emotion.

That's why she's written Human Nature, the story of climate change told through nine different emotions. As Marvel argues, we need every emotion we can muster if we're going to counter the usual myopic perspectives on climate change and care enough to make better decisions. And this book is a dazzling call to care.

In Human Nature, each chapter uses a different emotion to illustrate the science behind our changing climate. We feel the wonder of being able to use climate models to predict the future. We feel anger at those who have knowingly destroyed the planet for profit. We feel love for our beautiful Earth, the only good planet. With Marvel as our guide, we get to feel it all—and we can begin to turn our strong feelings into strong action.

Human Nature is a remarkable, hopeful look at climate science that prioritizes feelings—and in doing so charts a path forward for life together in our swiftly evolving world.