Deep Reads: "The Skeptical Environmentalist" (2001)
Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 12:02AM 
Of all the books I've bought over the years, I think I've gone back to this one for data and charts more than any other, which makes sense, because it's a huge meta-data compendium, or basically, Bjorn Lomborg (who made his rep with this book) leveraging hundreds of other people's studies to give the reader a realistic appraisal of the world's state, the amazingly positive trends that got us here, and what's likely to happen going forward.
It is like a bible to me, and I've read everything Bjorn Lomborg has written since.
I like to note that I did my rank-ordering of environmental dangers with an expert group a few years before Lomborg did his own with the "Copenhagen Consensus" crowd of Nobel winners, but that's just my way of unsubtly insinuating that great minds think alike.
And yeah, I wish I had a mind as sharp as Lomborg's when it comes to data. He really is amazing and always provocative.
Best still: the guy's optimism.
Not had the pleasure of meeting the guy yet, but hope to someday.
Coolest factoid: his book was published the day before 9/11, and has remained an antidote to end-times pessimism every since.
Reader Comments (1)
I gave this book to my mother and Great Powers to my dad when they were over for the wedding. To say that both prompted some healthy debate is an understatement. But what is great with Lomborg's stuff is just how factual it all is, there is little room in the book for hyperbole and hysteria, both of which are so common in the environmental debate.