From Rick: Author William Ruddiman's work was in a recent journal, which referenced this book. The review below was written by Glenn Gallagher and pulled from the Internet in the interest of time. It echoes my opinion.
One of the Best Explanations of how the Planet Warmed UpPlows, Plagues, and Petroleum is one of the most objective, detailed, excellent discussions of climate change you will read. No politics, no public policy, no annoying preachy undertones - just the facts on how our current global warming is occurring. Actually, the author William F. Ruddiman proposes the radical idea that humans have been changing the planet's climate for at least 8,000 years - ever since we started cutting down the forests, burning the grasslands, and planting crops. He makes a compelling case that small additional inputs of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmospheric system will eventually create large global warming effects. In fact, the author theorizes that if not for human intervention, we would currently be in a glacial building phase (onset of an ice age) right now.
The author discusses all the natural ways the climate can change - planetary orbital changes, change in solar radiance, volcanic activity, ocean currents, Milankovitch cycles, and other natural forcings. He also describes how agricultural activity, then industrial activity leads to global warming. Interestingly, the author does not view global warming as big a threat to human health as the lack of fresh water for our everyday needs.
Written in simple, accessible language, and avoiding unnecessary technical and scientific jargon. Intelligent to the point of brilliant. Refreshing like pure air. The author succeeds where a divisive figure like Al Gore does not - the author studiously avoids any hint of telling us what we should do (there are plenty of books out there for that). He just tells us like it is.
