It’s Dora’s birthday and she’s having a big birthday bash. All of her family and friends will be there. Will you come to the party, too?

How should I make (and spend) money? What gives my life meaning? Should I be afraid of death? Philosophical questions such as these--timely, personal, and relevant to daily life--are explored in the best-selling TWENTY QUESTIONS. Through an exploration of classical and contemporary approaches to these problems in philosophy, literature, and beyond, TWENTY QUESTIONS provides a comprehensive and engaging introduction to philosophical reasoning.

Is the weather truly getting worse? When it comes to global warming, dire predictions seem to be all we see or hear. Climatologists Patrick Michaels and Robert Balling Jr. explain why the news and information we receive about global warming have become so apocalyptic. The science itself has become increasingly biased, with warnings of extreme consequences from global warming becoming the norm. That bias is then communicated through the media, who focus on only extreme predictions. The authors compellingly illuminate the other side of the story, the science we aren't being told. This body of work details how the impact of global warming is far less severe than is generally believed and far from catastrophic.

Michaels (environmental sciences, U. of Virginia) and Balling (climatology, Arizona State U.) argue that discussion about global warming has been driven by an unwarranted hysteria. They contend that the global temperature data keeps getting revised to show more global warming than the time before. They then offer chapters in which they seek to debunk the idea that hurricanes are stronger because of global warming, that Greenland and Antarctica are in danger of massive ice loss, and that the deaths from heat waves in Europe in 2003 are signs of a problem beyond technological and political fix. Finally, they present a theory of publication bias, which explains why the scientific literature is skewed towards gloomy scenarios and propose solutions, such as stripping peer reviewers of anonymity. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Explores the science and politics of global warming and argues that it is vastly overrated as an environmental threat. Draws on scientific data to show that initial forecasts of rapid global warming were wrong, and points out that attempts to fix the forecast by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are even more misguided than the original projections. Michaels is a research professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia. A co-author, Robert C. Balling, Jr., is director of the Office of Climatology at Arizona State University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)