We can now say unequivocally that the warmest period of the present 'interglacial' is over. . . from here on we can expect a cooling off until within about 10,000 years the world will be in the grip of another full ice age." That firm note of conviction runs through Gribbin's cogent summary of the forces shaping earth's climate, and distinguishes it from the many "iffy" conjectures abounding. The arguments he summons are based both on old theories (Milankovich's ice age model) and on very recent data obtained from space probes, sedimentary analysis, statistical studies, and increasingly sensitive computer models. Excitingly, a new central dogma is emerging—that of a changing sun. It appears that the. sun's nuclear furnace may have "gone off the boil" so that the center is 10% cooler than it was, say, 10 million years ago. That, in combination with notable surface fluctuations—sunspot cycles, solar flares, "gusts" of solar wind—would go far to account for the ups and downs of earth's weather. In turn, periodic changes in the shape of earth's orbit, the angle of its tilt, and its constant "wobble" assure that the amount of heat reaching the surface will vary over latitude, season, and century. Thus it is an unstable sun interacting with an unstable earth (and both interacting with the movements of the other parts of the solar system) which ultimately shapes our weather. Not that man is not a factor. Gribbin, more conjectural here, feels that industrial pollution—dust, heat, the greenhouse effect, aerosols—may contribute a warming effect in the years ahead. He is also certain that political solutions must be sought to avoid crop shortages and famine. Subtle and sophisticated in flavor, Gribbin's account is to be commended not only for his emphasis on the astrophysics of climate (his field), but for his understanding of present political realities.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0684158078
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1979
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
