Weather, Climate and Climate Change: Human Perspectives

This is a very good text. It has two main aspects strongly in its favour. firstly, the production and layout are inviting. There are numerous diagrams and illustrations (and two excellent full-colour plate sections), text boxes going into more detail on topics and providing case studies, sets of key ideas to provide an overview and the usual references, questions and web section at the end. Secondly, the topics have been re-arranged in such a way as to better prepare the novice which added considerably to the book's readability. Experts might want to look at quite restricted areas but beginners tend to think in broad terms and simple questions. By having the first portion look at broad concepts and the second to look at regional and local detail, the authors have been able to separate and clarify matters that other texts have, in the past, failed to do. For these reasons this should be seen as an excellent introduction to the topic and deserves a wide readership.

Dr Paul S Ganderton, the Teaching Ecology Group's Book Review Editor.

This new perspective by Greg O'Hare and his colleagues is far from tedious and will be valuable for undergraduates seeking a comprehensive, modern, well presented and interesting treatment of atmospheric science in a form that displays human relevance.

The virtue of this book is that it provides in one package a good background on atmospheric processes, regional climates, climate change and human implications.

This attractive volume provides a fine entree to modern climatology, and it should stimulate students to delve further into this increasingly vibrant area.

Andrew Goudie - Master of St Cross College, Oxford

Times Higher Education Supplement May 27 2005 p. XXII