In Review

09 January 2009 12:44 BST

Ice, Mud and Blood by Chris Turney

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, out now, hardback, £15.99, 248 pp.

In a nutshell...

Accessible, informative, gripping, humorous and sobering.

What's it all about?

Chris Turney's Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past, succinctly outlines the issue of climate change, from age-old discoveries and debates to personal comment and professional research.

Turney looks to our planet's history with a view to explaining its future, charting past climatic changes from the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum - a period in which the earth's temperature skyrocketed - to ice ages and droughts.

Through his extensive research and charismatic approach, Turney provides a convincing explanation of the concepts, causes and effects of climate change, covering natural phenomena and the risks that we pose to the environment and ultimately ourselves through the use of fossil fuels - unlocking carbon that has been stored for millions of years at an alarming rate with the effect of clogging up our atmosphere with greenhouse gases.

Who's it by?

Chris Turney is a geologist and holds a Chair in Physical Geography at the University of Exeter. While specialising in past climates, Turney has written for several publications and is author of Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened, a book that tackles major scientific questions such as the reason for the dinosaurs' extinction.

As an example...

"When we delve into the layers from 55 million years ago, something disturbing emerges. In what appears to be the blink of an eye, the temperature of this planet went through the roof. This is the mother of all doomsday scenarios. This was the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum."

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

Ice, Mud and Blood is more of an academic coffee table read and is unlikely to be made into a film. However, from the starling revelations of our planet's past, it would not be surprising if this formed the basis of a colossal disaster movie that makes The Day After Tomorrow look like an April shower.

Is it going to be the next Da Vinci code and be made into a film, or stay in libraries forever?

This book will make appearances on the shelves of students, those with a passing interest in the issues relating to climate change and staunch academics alike. Tackling the issue of the hour, Turney is no doubt going to be a name to remember when people begin to look back and wonder what more they could have done to prevent the onslaught of a massive climatic shift.

What the others say

"Chris Turney surveys capricious climates of the past, from early Snowball Earth to the frost fairs of the Little Ice Age and captures the intriguing stories of how science uncovered this unexpectedly volatile past." - New Scientist

So is it any good?

This book is a light read given the weighty subject matter and is humorous and informative but nonetheless a pre-emptive 'I told you so'. Drawing on evidence from millions of years ago, Turney's extensive research paints a grim picture of what we as humans face if our excesses continue to push our planet to the brink of its capabilities. Written in an informative yet accessible way, this is a great book for those looking for a slightly more in-depth analysis of climate change, but do not want to get too bogged down in "the science".

The book provides a concise and authoritative account of key discoveries by scientists in the past and from all over the globe, as well as drawing on hundreds of year's worth of experiments, debates and discoveries. Ice, Mud and Blood makes for fascinating reading, which is written with obvious passion; the book will be also be of interest to climate change sceptics and those that claim what is happening to our climate is "natural" and his arguments should not be ignored. Turney writes with the drama deserving of the issues, portraying the climatic cycles of our planet in a vibrant and lucid way.

Although short in length, it does not compromise on impact and detail. 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

Zephie Begolo