The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science

By: Paul Behrens

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Paperback | 28 September 2020

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Paperback
352 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.5 x 14 x 3

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$36.75

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The environmental emergency is the greatest threat we face. Preventing it will require an unprecedented political and social response. And yet, there is still hope.

Academic, physicist, environmental expert and award-winning science communicator Paul Behrens presents a radical analysis of a civilisation on the brink of catastrophe. Setting out the pressing existential threats we face, he writes, in alternating chapters, of what the future could look like at its most pessimistic and hopeful.

In lucid and clear-sighted prose, Behrens argues that structural problems need structural solutions, and examines critical areas in which political will is required, including women's education, food and energy security, biodiversity and economics.

Industry Reviews

'One of those books suffused with intriguing facts and stories, the narrative takes the reader through alternate outcomes on key issues such as population, energy and food: the pessimistic scenarios outline what will happen if we don't take action; the hopeful scenario shows what is possible if we do.'

https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/18727627.opinion-the-change-required-now-greater-magnitude/

-- Tom Bromley * The Sailsbury Journal *

'urgent, compulsively readable and thoroughly researched'

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFO76haHLJ_/

-- Caoilinn Hughes * Instagram *

'It doesn't dumb down the science, it doesn't sugar-coat things, but it also offers possibilities that we can work towards, and, most importantly of all, inspires the reader to go and do something about it, which is what all those Hope chapters are kind of dependent on.'

https://awfullybigreviews.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-best-of-times-worst-of-times-by.html

-- Kelly McCaughrain * An Awfully Big Blog Adventure *

'@DrPaulBehrens wrote one of the most deep, wide ranging and thought-provoking books I read this year. It's a tour de force.'

-- Professor Julia Steinberger * Instagram *

Climate primer: How to debunk myths about climate change

'Author and scientist Paul Behrens picks apart some of the most egregious and long-standing myths around global warming'

https://news.trust.org/item/20201116115403-oz28n/

-- Thin Lei Win * Thomas Reuters Foundation *

8 of the best books of 2020 recommended by LSE blog editors

'The book will defamiliarise and radicalise you in the best way. It makes much media coverage of the environment look predictable and dated.'

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2020/12/17/8-of-the-best-books-of-2020-recommended-by-lse-blog-editors/

-- Ros Taylor, Managing Editor, LSE COVID-19 blog * LSE Review of Books *

'Paul Behrens...explains in accessible language a complex multidisciplinary issue that affects all of us -climate change.'

https://twitter.com/Admelioran/status/1356254045837656066

-- Anfisa Girusova * Twitter *

Cheddar Climate: Global Warming Claims, Making Space for Renewables, and Sustainable Sparkles
https://cheddar.com/media/cheddar-climate-global-warming-claims-making-space-for-renewables-and-sustainable-sparkles

* Cheddar News *

The Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios for the World as COP26 Ends: An environmental scientist assesses the outcomes and possibilities coming out of the climate conference in Glasgow.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/11/11/cop-26-climate-future-520817

-- Paul Behrens * Politico Magazine *

Near term threats & societal risk as the Earth changes state | Dr Paul Behrens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TTvwJY9ssc

* ClimateGenn *

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