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Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth
by Mark Hertsgaard
For twenty years, Mark Hertsgaard investigated climate change, but it took the birth of his daughter to bring the truth home. Another revelation came when an expert advised that, without doubt, global warming had arrived, more than a hundred years earlier than expected.
Now, with his daughter and the next generation in mind, Hertsgaard delivers a resounding, motivating message of hope that will spur activism among parents, college students, and all readers. He gives specifics about what we can expect in the next fifty years: Chicago's climate transformed to resemble Houston's; the loss of cherished crops and luxuries, such as California wines; the redesign of U.S. cities. Addressing problems we'll face very soon and revealing where they’ll be most serious, Hertsgaard offers "pictures" of what unbiased experts expect, and looks at who is taking wise, creative precautions. Hot is, finally, a book about how we'll survive.
"[A] readable, passionate book ... persuasively argues that human survival depends on bottom-up, citizen-driven government action." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. The author's stated goal is to make readers feel hopeful so that they will act, but he is candid about his own lapses into despair ... Hopefully, this book will prompt readers to action. Starkly clear and of utmost importance." - Kirkus Reviews
"In Hot, one of America's finest journalists confronts one of the world's most urgent problems. Hertsgaard cuts through the denial and disinformation about climate change, offering a clear, tough-minded view of our predicament. More important, he shows that the worst harms of global warming are not inevitable and outlines the steps that can help to avert disaster. Hot bravely takes aim at perhaps the greatest climate threat of all: apathy." - Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation
"I know what you're thinking: The problem is so massive I can't bear to read any more about it. But you're wrong. Mark Hertsgaard not only makes the workings of climate change clear, vivid and comprehensible but gives us some reasons for hope. Some of the ways to fight or adapt to global warming are simpler—and more unexpected—than you would think, and some of the places where these lessons are being applied you never would have guessed. Hot is a lively, personal, very human piece of reportage about an issue that will ever more be at the very center of our lives." - Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost
"Mark Hertsgaard is the master of a kind of travelogue reporting that lets you understand possibilities and problems in a deep way. But this time, one of the places he's traveling to is the near future, and the news he brings back is equal parts scary, invigorating, and full of challenge. This is an important book." - Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
"Like the fairy tales that Mark reads to his daughter, Chiara, Hot is full of out-sized challenges and glimmers of hope. In this brilliant postcard from the year 2060, Mark explores a world that will be defined, for better or worse, by decisions made today as we conduct a massive planetary science experiment—one that future generations will grade us on." - Terry Tamminen, Secretary of the California EPA for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
This information about Hot was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mark Hertsgaard, described by Barbara Ehrenreich as "one of America's finest reporters," has written for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Time, and is author of four books, including Earth Odyssey. He has traveled the world seeking answers to the question of how to keep humanity alive in the face of global warning. A Soros fellow, he recently attended the Copenhagen Conference, widely considered the most important global meeting in the history of the climate issue.
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