Al Gore

An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It

Average customer rating:

A tragedy where both the villian and the victim is the humanity
An Inconvenient Truth
Brilliant environmental reference
Al's education
Great

An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
Al Gore
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Assault on Reason

ASIN: 1594865671
Release Date: 2006-05-26

Book Description

Our climate crisis may at times appear to be happening slowly, but in fact it is happening very quickly-and has become a true planetary emergency. The Chinese expression for crisis consists of two characters. The first is a symbol for danger; the second is a symbol for opportunity. In order to face down the danger that is stalking us and move through it, we first have to recognize that we are facing a crisis. So why is it that our leaders seem not to hear such clarion warnings? Are they resisting the truth because they know that the moment they acknowledge it, they will face a moral imperative to act? Is it simply more convenient to ignore the warnings? Perhaps, but inconvenient truths do not go away just because they are not seen. Indeed, when they are responded to, their significance doesnt diminish; it grows. -- Al Gore

Customer Reviews:

A tragedy where both the villian and the victim is the humanity.......2007-06-23

Humanity is sitting on a time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet's climate system into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced- a mind-boggling disaster tale that draws its special power from the fact that we are both the villians and the victims of the story.

The author is a former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on an all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. With wit, smarts and hore, 'An Inconvenient Truth' ultimately brings Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenge facing our global civilization. Gore-haters and global-warming naysayers will try to dismiss it, but it's hard to imagine how anyone -- no matter what their political or religious persuasion, or personal feelings about the former vice president -- can sit through it and not be profoundly affected.

The debate, Gore says, is over. The scientific community agrees the planet is heating up, we are primarily responsible, the effects are catastrophic, the effects are accelerating and there is still time to turn it around -- but not much time, maybe a decade.

Gore states and provides evidence that we are mlting the North Polar ice cap an virtually all of the mountain glaciers in the world. We are destabilizing the massive mound f ice on the Greenland and the equally enormous mass of ice propped up on the top of islands in West Antartica, threatning a worldwide increase in sea levels of as much as twenty feet. The list of what is now endangered due to global warming also includes the continued stable configuration of ocean and wind currents that has been in place since before the first cities were built almost 10,000 years ago.

We are dumping so much carbon dioxide into the Earth's environment that we have literally changed the relationship between the Earth and the Sun. So much of that CO2 is being absorbed into the oceans that if we continue at the current rate we will increase the saturation of calcium carbonate to levels that will prevent formation of corals and interfere with the making of shells by any sea creature.

Global warming, along with the cutting and burning of forests and other critical habitats, is causing the loss of living species at a level comparable to the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. That event was believed to have been caused by a giant asteroid. This time it is not an asteroid colliding with the Earth and wreaking havoc; it is us.

An Inconvenient Truth.......2007-06-11

I bought the book to be able to go over the charts used in the movie. Very impressive. A valuable tool for teaching purposes. His facts are straight, no bleeding heart stuff.

Brilliant environmental reference.......2007-06-07

The book is in essence a compendium for the movie by the same name and author, but an excellent one at that. It also works as a standalone reference and environmental document that everyone should read, regardless of having seen the movie.

Al's education.......2007-05-31

In introductory economics, the only economics course Mr. Gore ever took, he received a C-, which goes a long way toward explaining a remark that he would consider raising taxes should the economy fall into recession.

If the rudiments of fiscal policy proved to be too taxing for young Al, it should hardly be surprising that the self-appointed protector of the world's ecosystems had almost as much trouble understanding the basic concept of biology. After all, Mr. Gore's high school performance on the college board achievement tests in physics (488 out of 800 --"terrible," St. Albans retired teacher and assistant headmaster John Davis told The Post) and chemistry (519 out of 800 -- "He didn't do too well in chemistry," Mr. Davis observed) suggests that Mr. Gore would have trouble with science for the rest of his life. At Harvard and Vanderbilt, Mr. Gore continued bumbling along.

As a Harvard sophomore, scholar Al "earned" a D in Natural Sciences -- in a course presciently named "Man's Place in Nature." His senior year, Mr. Gore received a C+ in Natural Sciences.

At Vanderbilt divinity school, Mr. Gore took a course in theology and natural science. The assigned readings included the apocalyptic, and widely discredited "Limits to Growth," which formed much of the foundation for "Earth in the Balance." It is said that Mr. Gore failed to hand in his book report on time. Thus, his incomplete grade turned into an F, one of five Fs Mr. Gore received at divinity school, which may well be a worldwide record.

Great.......2007-05-31

Ever person in our country should see this and then take action. The pictures are amazing and the text is understandable.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century

Average customer rating:

Everyone should read this
Amazing!
great book for anyone who has respect and concern for society and/or the earth
Worldchanging Book Review
Fabulous

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century
Alex Steffen
Manufacturer: "Harry N. Abrams, Inc."
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810930951

Book Description

Worldchanging is poised to be the Whole Earth Catalog for this millennium. Written by leading new thinkers who believe that the means for building a better future lie all around us, Worldchanging is packed with the information, resources, reviews, and ideas that give readers the tools they need to make a difference. Brought together by Alex Steffen, co-founder of the popular and award-winning web site Worldchanging.com, this team of top-notch writers includes Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity, Geekcorps founder Ethan Zuckerman, sustainable food expert Anna Lappé, and many others. Renowned designer Stefan Sagmeister brings his extraordinary talents to Worldchanging, resulting in a book that will challenge readers to personally redefine the conversation about the future. Each chapter offers readers new answers to key questions, such as: Why does buying locally produced food make sense? What steps can I take to influence my workplace toward sustainability? How do I volunteer, advocate, and give more effectively? From eco-building to responsible shopping, political action to humanitarian relief, Worldchanging puts the power to solve problems into the reader's hands.

Customer Reviews:

Everyone should read this.......2007-06-22

This book is really informative, even for people that are already strong environmentalists, like us. Once you're done, donate it to a library so others can start saving the planet more effectively.

Amazing!.......2007-06-10

This book has done so much to inspire me. There are so many great ideas that we can all learn from, and ways we can easily intergrate eco-friendly living into out daily lives. It gives you direction in how to start changing the way we live, how to become a better & smarter consumer, it makes you want to go out and change the world! I cannot give this book a great enough review. It has truly hit home for me, and believe it will in one way or another do the same for anyone who picks it up. Read this book and pass it on, it would be a shame not to share with others. Kudos to all the many writers in this book, and Thank you!

great book for anyone who has respect and concern for society and/or the earth.......2007-03-30

this is a great book. it is well organized, well thought out and thorough. everyone should have a copy of this book. it peeks into many different philosophies of thought and gives great explanations into its viewpoints.

Worldchanging Book Review.......2007-03-27

This is an excellent book that contains a wealth of information. Great for anyone who cares about the world and wants to help make it better.

Fabulous.......2007-03-10

This is fabulous book. One you can read a few pages here and there. A wonderful guide to better living on this planet.

Average customer rating:

Perfect title...
An interesting look
An Important Call to Action
Better Than Acker
funny

The Assault on Reason
Al Gore
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Release Date: 2007-05-22

Amazon.com

The first question many people ask when hearing of a new book from Al Gore is, "Is it about the environment?" The answer is yes, but it's not (or, rather, not only) the kind of environment he wrote about in Earth in the Balance and of course painted such a vivid picture of in his Oscar-winning documentary (and companion book), An Inconvenient Truth. It's the political environment he's concerned about in The Assault on Reason: the way we debate and decide on the critical issues of the day. In an account that balances theoretical discussion of the foundations of democracy with a lacerating critique of the Bush administration, Gore argues that the marketplace of reasoned debate our country was founded on is being endangered by a variety of allied forces: the use of fear and the misuse of faith, the distractions of our entertainment culture, and the concentrations of power in the national media and the executive branch. In his essay and answers to our questions below, he introduces the crisis he sees, as well as the opportunity for its solution he envisions in the open forums of the Internet. A Message from Al Gore to Amazon.com Readers

<img src=" http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/authors/Gore_Al_300._V18976277_.jpg" border="0" align="right"> I've dedicated my book, The Assault on Reason, to my father, Senator Albert Gore Sr., the bravest politician I've ever known. In the 1970 mid-term elections, President Richard Nixon relied on a campaign of fear to consolidate his power. I was in the military at the time, on my way to Vietnam as an army journalist, and I watched as my father was accused of being unpatriotic because he was steadfast in his opposition to the War--and as he was labeled an atheist because he dared to oppose a constitutional amendment to foster government-sponsored prayer in the public schools. The 1970 campaign is now regarded by political historians as a watershed, marking a sharp decline in the tone of our national discourse--a decline that has only worsened in recent years as fear has become a more powerful political tool than trust, public consumption of entertainment has dramatically surpassed that of serious news, and blind faith has proven more potent than truth.

We are at a pivotal moment in American democracy. The persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, has reached levels that were previously unimaginable. It's too easy and too partisan to simply place the blame on the policies of President George W. Bush. We are all responsible for the decisions our country makes.

Reasoned, focused discourse is vital to our democracy to ensure a well-informed citizenry. But this is difficult in an environment in which we are experiencing a new pattern of serial obsessions that periodically take over the airwaves for weeks at a time--from the O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson trials to Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith.

Never has it been more vital for us to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from the climate crisis to the war in Iraq to the deficits and health and social welfare. Today, reason is under assault by forces using sophisticated techniques such as propaganda, psychology, and electronic mass media. Yet, democracy's advocates are beginning to use their own sophisticated techniques: the Internet, online organizing, blogs, and wikis. Although the challenges we face are great, I am more confident than ever before that democracy will prevail and that the American people are rising to the challenge of reinvigorating self-government. It is my great hope that those who read my book will choose to become part of a new movement to rekindle the true spirit of America.

Questions for Al Gore

Amazon.com:Of all I've read and seen on climate change, I don't think anything has had quite the impact on me that those vivid maps of shrinking coastlines did in An Inconvenient Truth. You've spent years trying to communicate the threat of climate change and you've learned how to use compelling images to tell that story, but in this book you're very wary of the power of visual images to overwhelm reason with fear. How do you spur people to action in a crisis like this without using fear?

Gore: I often open the slideshow by talking about the "climate crisis." The English meaning of the word "crisis" conveys alarm, but the Chinese and Japanese expressions use two characters together: the first means danger, but the second means opportunity. The animations do help to convey some of that sense of danger--but the opportunities are enormous. We are beginning to see companies taking advantage of the new markets that are emerging as they innovate and put to market the technologies that we need to solve this crisis. Some have become ubiquitous, like the hybrid electric engine and compact fluorescent light bulb. There are thousands of opportunities like this all around us if governments will show the type of bold leadership that we need--and work with industry to exploit these opportunities.

Amazon.com: You describe two problems with television culture: it's a top-down system in which, as you say, "Individuals receive, but they cannot send," and its physiological vividness allows it to bypass our reason. The user-created communities that seem so promising on the Internet would seem to solve the first problem, but what about the second?

Gore: There are a number of barriers for individuals who want to communicate over TV. The major networks won't give average Americans a voice, and it is virtually impossible to start a channel. One solution, that I have worked on with my partner, Joel Hyatt, is the creation of Current TV, where viewers can submit content over the Internet to air on the channel.

With regards to the Internet, anyone with access to a computer and broadband can create a website or blog and post content. They can send information into the public forum. Of course, we need to continue to work to bridge the digital divide, to ensure that we expand the access of people to the Internet, but the threshold for entry is much lower than that of television.

Amazon.com: You're the chairman of Current TV, the interactive cable channel aimed at young people. Can you talk about the challenges of constructing a platform where the kind of substantive dialogue you are looking for can take place?

Gore: One of the things I talk about in the book is infotainment--the "well-amused" audience that is bombarded with the latest programming about O.J. Simpson, or JonBenet Ramsey, or Anna Nicole Smith. What we are trying to do, in part, is to provide a public forum for viewers to submit content about issues of concern to them. And they have, by the thousands, on issues from the war in Iraq to the environment to education and others. I am continually amazed by both the quality of the submissions and the breadth and depth of the subject matter.

Amazon.com: You have a chapter on the importance of checks and balances in government (in a sense, that's what the whole book is about), and we're seeing the effect that active oversight from Congress is having right now. For most of your eight years in office, you and Bill Clinton had to work with a Republican Congress. I'm sure that at times (say, 1998) that had its frustrations, but do you think it was valuable to have that balance, or did it prevent you from doing what you came into office to do?

Gore: Checks and balances are vital to the functioning of our system of government. Of course it can have its frustrations, but the Founders intended that we have a system whereby no one branch has too much control over the others. Ultimately, it is up to voters to decide the control of Congress and the White House and then for elected officials to work to serve the public interest and to try to implement policies that serve the country. These are core values that are at the heart of who we are as a nation.

Amazon.com: I wanted to ask about the Office of the Vice President. I think it's safe to say that the last two vice presidents, you and Dick Cheney, have been the most powerful and influential in our history. Why do you think that is?

Gore: I think the answer is very different in the two administrations, but in a world that is truly globalized, with a broader information ecology, with challenges ranging from a more complex system of international issues ranging from the climate crisis to asymmetric attacks, it is not a surprise that a President might choose to draw upon more advice from the office of the vice president than in the past. This is a trend that I would expect to continue under future presidents, as the range of the demands on the presidency will not diminish over time.

Book Description

A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason

At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.

We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration's disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste.

Gore's larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.

Customer Reviews:

Perfect title..........2007-06-25

I must admit, even though I've heard Al speak, and I've been suprised by his illogical statements, that I'm still amazed to see him writing a book with the purpose of assulting reason!

Isn't it amazing, how by twisting the facts just a little, he's able to get the global situation into a position where he can affectively push HIS agenda?

An interesting look.......2007-06-23

into the current state of American political affairs. Gore's been in the public eye for many years, and he brings his experience to the fore. Quite worth the read from the soon to be (maybe) candidate.

An Important Call to Action.......2007-06-22

This book is a good read and useful refresher course in democracy and the constitution. If recent events have caused you to ponder the direction that our country is heading, then I challenge you to read this book.

It goes without saying that if you don't like Al Gore -- this book probably isn't going to change your mind about him. For some silly reason that I can't figure out, he is one of those guys that just seems to polarize people (most either like him or hate him, without much middle ground). If you're on the fence about Al, then I encourage you to read this with an open mind. I think you'll find that this book has a refreshing perspective.

The following are some of the key attributes that I believe make this a great book. Obviously, this is just my opinion (and I'm sure I'll hear about it from the rabble), but you can read the book and decide for yourself. If you haven't read the book, please don't waste our time...

1. I was intrigued by the discussion in the early chapters concerning the changeover from reading news in a newspaper to visual television news and how the two activate different parts of the brain. He does a excellent job of describing this in understandable terms and referencing recent, pertinent research. Yes, we all knew that tv was bad for us before Al Gore wrote it. This book explains why and in particular documents how people respond differently to news on tv, as opposed to newspapers.

2. I appreciated that the book included a well-kept notes section. These notes provide specific references and credits for quotations and data that are cited in the book. Don't believe reviews written here that accuse the author of fabricating data and information. There are 20 pages near end of the book that meticulously document references and cite quotations.

3. Yes, Al Gore does make some serious accusations against the current president and his administration. He doesn't pull any punches in this book. He calls everyone to account for misdeeds and inactivity including Congress, the Courts and the American people. He even acknowledges his own failures in Congress and as the VP. This book is not exclusively about putting George W. Bush on report, as some would have you believe. Moreover, its about recognizing problems that exist with our government today, because (and Dr. Phil would appreciate this) "Ya' can't change what ya' don't acknowledge..."

4. Along with #3 above, I appreciated the discussions in the book that worked as a useful refresher course on the Constitution. As part of documenting the misdeeds and inactivity that have plagued the country in recent years, the book discusses how the Constitution was intended to work. Remember High School & College Civics teachings of the checks and balances associated with the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of Government? There are some useful refreshers in this book, including numerous, specific quotes from those who actually wrote the Constitution. I found this very useful since its been years since I studied this information.

5. Lastly, the final chapter and conclusion of this book offer up a strategy for correcting the current situation. This book does NOT simply malign the current administration. Its a call to action for each and every one of us -- asking us to get involved and take back our government. It offers suggestions and avenues on how we can become more involved and learn more.

All in all, I thought this book was well-written, informative and thought-provoking. It stood as a useful reminder that our democracy is difficult and is constantly referred to as the great experiment. As such, it requires that we act as "the well-informed citizenry" to ensure that our government is "...of the people, by the people, for the people."

Better Than Acker.......2007-06-21

Let me say right off that this isn't the worst book I've ever read. Though at times I was tempted to try to force it down the garbage disposal, such fits passed quickly, and I thought it more, umm, reasonable to wait for the paperback. Years ago, when I read Kathy Acker's "Blood and Guts in High School," I would definitely have tried to force that book down the garbage disposal if I'd had one at the time, so I insist that Gore's "Assault on Reason" is better than "Blood and Guts in High School."

And there are a few good things about the book. Gore points out, for example, that watching lots of television can make one's brain curdle. Though this is old news, and is made no newer by the former vice president's alternately pretentious and condescending digressions on neuroscience and evolutionary biology, it does have the advantage of being true.

Gore justly criticizes President Bush for having no real energy policy. Even if Gore fails to encourage more oil production and nuclear power, which are serious in ways that wind and solar are indubitably not, and even if it's unseemly of him not to note that the Clinton administration also had a dismal record on energy, his criticism of the president is still valid.

He is also right to criticize Bush for fighting a war on the cheap. In addition to more troops, though, we needed more flexible rules of engagement, and we needed to destroy the hard-line Sunni tribal leadership. A couple of Gore's points about how we've mistreated prisoners are fair enough, but he ignores what is surely a more noteworthy aspect of the Iraq war, which is that it just might be the most politically correct conflict in military history.

Some of our soldiers have inflicted needless suffering, as happens during wars, but what is *different* about Iraq is how far we have gone out of our way to minimize civilian casualties. We spend extra billions on "smart" munitions and send marines running into buildings we could pulverize, even while our enemies broadcast beheadings online and try to slaughter as many civilians as possible. Yet we are still despised by our fair-weather allies, many of whom we've defended for decades, and Gore himself spends *much* more time criticizing our government and our military as inhumane than he does criticizing the people who want to establish a global caliphate, treat women like cattle, execute gays, and effectively reopen Auschwitz.

Welcome, Albert Gore, Jr., to what the late Jeanne Kirkpatrick used to call the "blame America first" crowd.

And then there's this: "We now know, of course, that there was absolutely no connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein." Well, it's true that there was no *operational* relationship, and no Iraqi role in the 9/11 attacks, but Al Qaeda *did* have contacts with the Iraqi government and *did* explore a working relationship, as has been documented in "The 9/11 Report" (pages 91 and 96 in the edition with the blue cover). Saddam also gave shelter to Abdul Rahman Yasin, who helped assemble explosives for the 1993 WTC bombing, an operation financed by Al Qaeda member Khaled Sheik Mohammed. (Yes, Saddam would eventually try to use the offer of Yasim's extradition as a bargaining chip, but he continued to shelter Yasim after Clinton, and later Bush, refused his terms.) In short, what we "now know" is that Mr. Gore--how can I put this gently?--is a big fat fibber.

Here are a just a few more of the book's many problems: 1) Gore frames the Walter Lippmann quotation on page 10 as supporting his own conclusions about television's effect on democracy, though the Lippmann quotation dates from 1922. 2) The anti-capitalist quotation by Lincoln that Gore applauds on page 88 is *not* by Lincoln. 3) Gore quotes John Kennedy (p. 120) on the evils of secrecy and yet fails to mention Kennedy's secrecy about his Addison's disease, his drug use, his mafia girlfriend, and, well, yadda yadda yadda. 4) Gore repeats Joe Wilson's claim that his report on Niger concluded there was no effort by Iraq to buy yellowcake uranium (p.125), even though George Tenet and others have said that Wilson's report came to no such conclusion. 5) Gore equates an FBI agent's presence at a public meeting with "infiltration" (p. 136). 6) Gore accuses the U.S. of murdering "as many as 37 prisoners," and yet he doesn't bother to provide a citation--though maybe the lack of a citation shouldn't be surprising here, given that a quick internet search reveals that many of these "murders" happened during prison riots. 7) Gore claims that global warming is a more pressing problem than terrorism, access to clean water, border security, and AIDS (p. 163). 8) Gore fails to mention that the much discussed "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." presidential briefing was primarily a historical document, and was partly in response to concerns the president himself had expressed about a domestic attack, even though intelligence officials were focused on targets overseas (Gore, p. 206; "9/11 Report," p. 374). 9) Gore downplays Saddam's involvement with terrorism, as if Iraq never sheltered Abu Nidal, never subsidized suicide bombing in Israel, and never attempted to assassinate the elder President Bush. 10) When it isn't being misleading or offensive, this book is REALLY dull; it's what I imagine Sunday school must be like for Unitarians.

The funny thing is, I don't think Al Gore is a wicked man. I think he finds George W. Bush infuriating, as I do myself on occasion, and I think he's prone to exaggeration and self-righteous histrionics. My guess is that Gore genuinely means well. But his book? The nicest thing you can say about it is that it isn't quite as physically painful to read as "Blood and Guts in High School."

Blood and Guts in High School: A Novel (Acker, Kathy)

funny.......2007-06-21

I can't stop laughing at the title!

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming

Average customer rating:

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming
shut up al gore!
Prophet of a new perverse religion
Everyone should read this book

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming
Al Gore
Manufacturer: Viking Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Assault on Reason
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An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future

ASIN: 0670062715
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Book Description

Former Vice President Al Gore's New York Times #1 bestselling book is a daring call to action, exposing the shocking reality of how humankind has aided in the destruction of our planet and the future we face if we do not take action to stop global warming. Now, Viking has adapted this book for the most important audience of all: today's youth, who have no choice but to confront this climate crisis head-on.

Dramatic full-color photos, illustrations, and graphs combine with Gore's effective and clear writing to explain global warming in very real terms: what it is, what causes it, and what will happen if we continue to ignore it. An Inconvenient Truth will change the way young people understand global warming and hopefully inspire them to help change the course of history.

Customer Reviews:

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming.......2007-05-27

I bought it for my 8 year old son, but I think I'm going to wait until he's a little older to read it with him. But I loved it. It put the issues we are facing in very simple terms. The next book for that generation needs to be what can be done. Everything from daily living to future careers that this generation can start studying for now.

shut up al gore!.......2007-05-24

Does anyone see how he is getting this stupid crap into our minds? He is now aiming this trash in to our teenagers minds! Now he is finding out that mid-aged people are finding this trash to be "trash" so now he is starting to aim at the young who don't know any better. Don't read this. Don't get brain washed! There is no proof of any of this. Us humans have only been keeping track of these kinda of things for what less than 50 years! The Earth has been around for millions of years with out people living here. We have what is called short term memory. So how can we prove that global warming is real when we haven't even been here for a speck of what the earth has been here.

Prophet of a new perverse religion.......2007-05-23

Al Gore's book, one of the most hysterical books about the climate on the market, follows the template of many fundamentalist believers who were converted to Christianity. For example, he explains that a car accident of his son has played an important role in his beliefs about global warming.

Rational reasoning is secondary. When Gore refers to scientific work, it is either scientific work that is known to be wrong (such as the so-called hockey stick graph) or a misinterpretation of work that is correct (he confuses the cause and effect in the CO2-temperature relationship, neglecting the fact that there is no known direct experimental evidence of the greenhouse effect).

Lots of chapters are filled with scientifically unjustified speculations about global warming causing health problems (completely doctored fear-mongering), strong hurricanes (no evidence for their strengthening), weather extremes (weather fluctuations are expected to shrink if global warming occurs), and many other things. He predicts 20 times higher sea level rise than the United Nations panel - one that already exaggerates - and he doesn't feel painful that from a rational perspective, such a prediction is nothing else than silliness.

It's not too surprising that the author is completely unable to think in a scientific way - he has never been anything like a scientist - but he should at least try to understand his own limitations. He doesn't.

Some chapters are dedicated to the question how the author can benefit from these things and what to do with those who disagree with him. Al Gore considers our planet - many off-topic pictures of Earth are included in the book - to be his small sick baby and he views himself as a leader to control Earth according to his visions which seems to display his megalomania. The general structure of the book is thus pretty similar to Mein Kampf.

The book is written in an optimized way to manipulate a certain class of intellectually limited readers and I know many people - some of them are even members of the scientific community - who are ready to take this blatant nonsense seriously.

Everyone should read this book.......2007-05-02

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's written in a way that everyone can understand, and details how and why global warming is happening, and what we can do about it. The photo comparisons of how the earth has changed in the last 100 years are astounding, and the data presented is indisputable. This book is the wake up call that the world needs to do something about the environment. And for all the people out there who might not like Al Gore, just ignore that it's written by him and judge it based on it's merits. It presents scientific fact, irregardless of the author's political beliefs. In short, if you haven't read this book yet, put it at the top of your priority list.

Voluntary Carbon Markets: An International Business Guide to What They Are and How They Work (Environmental Markets Insight Series)

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it is voluntary [for now]
Carbon 101

Voluntary Carbon Markets: An International Business Guide to What They Are and How They Work (Environmental Markets Insight Series)
Ricardo Bayon , Amanda Hawn , and Katherine Hamilton
Manufacturer: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 184407417X

Customer Reviews:

it is voluntary [for now].......2007-06-15

The most prominent thing about this book is of course the foreword by Al Gore. But whatever you might think of Gore's political views, the bulk of the text is a sober look at what it means to have a voluntary carbon market. As opposed to having government mandates.

Much of the book is uncertain. Not really about global warming per se. The book does not discuss significantly or really debate whether global warming is real. It is more or less taken as a given. Rather, the book's uncertainly revolves about what types of voluntary trading markets might arise. Voluntary because the US government has not made up its mind about federal requirements. Hence the biggest question is why should a US based company engage in such trading?

Candidly, and this will peeve some readers, it is mostly for public relations at this point in time. The book gives several reasons why it might be beneficial to trade. Like anticipating an eventual government edict about minimising pollution through such trades. So a far sighted multinational might venture a small gamble by engaging in some trades, and loudly touting its green credentials. The book does not come right out and say this. But a careful parsing suggests this view.

Carbon 101.......2007-04-11

A finely crafted manual on the emerging voluntary carbon markets.
A perfect mix of information for both the technical and non-technical user.

Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit

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A CONSERVATIVE WEIGHS IN
Did Earth in the Balance Achieve Its Purpose or Not?
Looking back at a book that changed the world
An old book with a new foreword
This is not a book about environmentalism

Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
Al Gore
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1594866376
Release Date: 2006-10-31

Book Description

Re-released on the heels of Al Gores #1 New York Times bestseller, An Inconvenient Truth, comes the paperback edition of his classic bestseller, Earth in the Balance. First published in 1992, it helped place the environment on the national agenda; now, as environmental issues move front-and-center in the public consciousness, the time is right to reflect deeply on the fate of our planet and commit ourselves to its future. While An Inconvenient Truth closely examines one menace to our environmentglobal warmingEarth in the Balance takes a broader approach, focusing on the threats that everyday choices pose to our climate, water, soil, and diversity of plant and animal life. A passionate, lifelong defender of the environment, Gore describesin brave and unforgettable termshow human actions and decisions can endanger or safeguard the vulnerable ecosystem that sustains us.

Customer Reviews:

A CONSERVATIVE WEIGHS IN.......2007-06-14

First of all I am not a liberal. I have never voted for a Democrat. I wasn't phased when the election was stolen from Mr Gore.

But - I enjoyed much of this book. I think gore's ideas re: the environment are dead on. When he warns that we're headed for serious environmental problems he includes the supporting documentation. His theories for avoiding this seem sound.

If you read "Earth In The Balance" you must also read "The Assault On Reason, which is perhaps even better. The Assault on Reason

Did Earth in the Balance Achieve Its Purpose or Not?.......2007-05-23

The angle to appraise this book from is the one the author intended: Did it achieve its stated purpose?

Al Gore is "in search of a true understanding of the global ecological crisis and how it can be resolved." Because the book was written in 1992, when awareness and understanding of the sustainability problem was low, Part One, "Balance at Risk," focuses on that. Al gets it precociously right with "It is this problem--global air pollution--that presents the true strategic threat to which we must now respond." This was long before the climate change problem reached center stage, or was even in the wings, due to lack of conclusive data.

Part Two opens with the greater question of "If our relationship to the ecological system is no longer healthy, how did we make so many poor choices along the way?" Then, in the very next paragraph, Al hits pay dirt with "For part of the explanation we must look to politics. ...there is also a fundamental problem with the political system itself. ...our political system itself has now been exploited, manhandled, and abused to the point that we are no longer making consistently intelligent choices about our course as a nation." This is explored, and the underlying cause is found to be "greed, self-involvement, and a focus on short term exploitation at the expense of the long term health of the system."

But Al goes no deeper than this. Exactly what is it about the political system that makes it so easily exploitable? Where are the exact points in the system that are being exploited? This is like asking a professional pool player to explain how he or she makes a certain difficult shot, when none of the amateurs can do it. How does the professional exploit the particular arrangement of pool balls? There must be an underlying pattern, and a technique to spot it and exploit it.

Because the root cause of why the political system is so easily exploitable is never reached, the book cannot deliver on its promise of "a true understanding of the global ecological crisis and how it can be resolved." After all, if you have not found the root cause, then how can you rationally resolve the problem?

Thus in Part Three when Al pulls out the big guns and presents the climax of the book, "A Global Marshall Plan," he is unable to convincingly say why the human system would accept the plan. It did not. Why? Because of lack of a proper diagnosis of the root cause of the problem.

But this is perhaps a subtle point, and should not detract from the book's great achievement: At a time when civilization had other priorities on its mind, Al Gore said in so many words, "Hey, wake up. The future of the earth is in jeopardy, because due to our own hubris and misbehavior, we have wrecked the delicate balance that all species must achieve with their ecological niche, if they are to flourish indefinitely."

Now, 15 years later, the world has at long last agreed. But it has yet to act, to put the earth back into balance.

Jack Harich

Looking back at a book that changed the world.......2007-02-28

In 1989, one U.S. senator began compiling information on a subject no other member of Congress wanted to look at-- the environment. He began bringing up the critical problem of climate change just when world scientists began to worry, at a time when the term "global warming" was foreign to members of Congress. Some politicians and lobbyists would've liked it to stay that way. To garner more attention to the crucial environmental problems that were being ignored by his fellow Congress members, he decided to write a book in order to spread the message of urgency to the general public. It worked and sparked a new interest in the environment. Earth in the Balance became the first book written by a sitting U.S. Senator to make the New York Times bestseller list since John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage (Wikipedia). That senator, of course, would go on to press some of the boldest environmental initiatives ever undertaken in U.S. government as an eight year vice president, Al Gore.

The winner of the 2000 election's popular vote and author/narrator of the recent An Inconvenient Truth book and documentary film, Al Gore has spent the greater part of his life on a mission to educate the public about environmental issues. In 1989, Gore presented his synopsis to a publisher, originally titled as "The New World War" (Maraniss 239). The book was unique in that it would not be ghost written and would not require the standard advance that most prominent public figures demanded. In fall of 1990, Gore began writing the book, which would result in a 711 page draft that would be later cut to just over 400 pages. "Portions of the manuscript came from speeches and op-ed pieces he had already written, and he was aided by a full time researcher and a hefty supporting group of scholars" (Turque 229). Included were many graphs, computer-generated mosaics, and pictures to firmly illustrate the environmental problems at hand. Gore had wanted the book to be like a tour around the Earth, in and out of its environmental problems. We see this same style even more so with his recent book An Inconvenient Truth, which consists mostly of pictures and graphs to best demonstrate the urgencies of global warming. Earth in the Balance, which included around 20 illustrations and pictures, was first published in 1992.

"We feel increasingly distant from our roots in the Earth," (1) writes Gore in the Introduction. "Are we so unique and powerful as to be essentially separate from the Earth?" (1) This is Gore's thesis question. The opening pages have resonance of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which he directly alludes to on page 3, both bringing up the proven harmful effects of DDT and Agent Orange and paying tribute to the ever so influential mother of the environmental movement.

Early on in the book, Gore establishes his stance on faith and science. He never blames science or separates it from his faith. Conflict between the two happens to be a common misperception of people whereas most people believe it is either one or the other. Gore includes faith and science together and establishes in the Forward of the 1993 Plume edition, "We are people of faith and of science, who for centuries, often traveled different roads. In a time of environmental crisis, we find these roads converging." Eliminating this science vs. faith stereotype in the beginning invites everyone and brings them together, something politics certainly does not do.

In the first two chapters, Gore also emphasizes education of the crisis, something he has continued to do with his global warming lectures, which have now led to the training of more lecturers and a massive environmental initiative of education. An emphasis on global warming is also evident in the first two chapters when Gore writes, "The north polar cap has thinned by 2% in just the last decade," (23). Gore goes on to explain why the 600% increase in levels of atmospheric chlorine is one of the reasons why global warming and air pollution are already problematic.

The economy is the subject of Gore's tenth chapter where he brings up the power of industry and our relationship with technology. He mentions the genesis of Love Canal, which had devastating ramifications, all because industry was thinking about convenience and profit, and not about the future. These thoughts carry over into chapter eleven where Gore writes, "I wonder whether America's political paralysis might stem in part from the coexistence of two powerful but clashing media for communicating political thought" (211). Politics do end up being the ultimate problem in battling environmental problems, as Gore reveals.
The League of Conservation Voters described Al Gore as the "environmental Paul Revere," in reference to the success of Earth in the Balance (Turque 235). The book had garnered up so much well deserved attention that it was essentially the reason why Clinton chose Gore as Vice President from a list of 40 candidates.

When Gore had begun writing Earth in the Balance, he also had the desire to produce a television series based on his research. Many knew that "Gore would be an effective narrator, more educator than politician" (Maraniss 246). This series never got off the ground because Gore turned to concentrate on his position as Vice President where he helped strengthen the Safe Drinking Water Act, adopt the toughest smog standards ever, accelerate the cleanup of the worst toxic waste sites, expand Americans' right to know about environmental hazards in their communities, and preserve millions of acres of parks, monuments and wilderness" (White House). Researchers at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government examined the environmental policy record of the Clinton/Gore administration and "determined that environmental quality improved overall during the decade" (Research Matters).

As we near 2007, our environmental problems have grown worse because of a turn for the worse. Our foreign, economic, and domestic policies are no better. What we need is leadership. Al Gore warned us of the political consequences to the environment. His warnings are in writing in Earth in the Balance, if we should ever look back in regret and wonder. A must read for anyone who cares about a safe, healthy environment and a better future. A must read for every American.

An old book with a new foreword.......2007-02-12

I was disappointed to see that this was an old book dating back to the 1990's, with a new foreword. PR

This is not a book about environmentalism.......2007-02-01

Don't get me wrong, it features a well referenced, lucid, healthy treatment of environmental trouble. However, the scope of the book is far broader; it wonders about the potential of the human species. Climate crisis is not a disease of the earth, but a symptom of our still novice ability to control power which develops faster than we can understand it.

Mr. Gore explores these challenges with shocking clarity and objectivism (impressive for a then-Senator!) and proposes solutions that not only preserve our economic and technological position but open opportunity to advance the state of the art.

The bibliography, a veritable gold mine of fascinating stuff to explore is worth the cover price alone.

Average customer rating:

Did any one who gave this book a high rating even bother to read it?
Dilemma of Conservative Democrats
A good biography of a cheap politician
Stink, Stank, Stunk
A Loser's Manual

Al Gore: A User's Manual
Alexander Cockburn , and Jeffrey St. Clair
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1859848036

Book Description

What sort of a man is Al Gore? What's his real political record? This is the first unsparing look at the man whom his parents raised from birth to be president of the United States. Inside these pages, you will find:

* How Al Gore and his father got on the payroll of one of America's most ruthless tycoons, Armand Hammer * How Al Gore has relentlessly exploited his sister's death and son's accident for personal political advantage * How Al Gore violated the most basic journalistic ethics by helping the cops run a sting operation on a black politician in Nashville * How Al Gore played midwife to the MX missile * How Al Gore became a soul brother of Newt Gingrich * How Al Gore race-baited Jesse Jackson and introduced George Bush to Willie Horton * How Al Gore shopped his vote in support of the Gulf War to get prime-time coverage for his speech * How Al Gore pushed Clinton into destroying the New Deal * How Al Gore plotted to stop Democrats from recapturing Congress in 1996 in order to keep his rival Dick Gephard from becoming Speaker of the House * How Al Gore leached campaign from nearly every corporate lobbyist in DC, and broke pledge after pledge to protect the environment

Customer Reviews:

Did any one who gave this book a high rating even bother to read it?.......2007-06-09

Did any one who gave this book a high rating even bother to read it? Not only is it poorly written, but it relies on unsupported theories, misinterpreted half truths, and gross fabrications to support it's allegations. There's very little substance to the book, not surprising given the author's lack of credentials and the convenient timing of this books publication. But hey, anything to sell a few more copies right?

I'm all for pointing out the hypocrisies of political figures. But please try to make the allegations atleast slightly based in fact.

Dilemma of Conservative Democrats.......2006-01-03

I read this book with a sickening feeling inside of me. Liberals and progressives like me are compelled to support the Republican-lite wing of the modern right leaning Democratic party politicians. Clinton and Gore were not progressives or true men of the people. They did not promote the common good or enhance domestic welfare. The authors forget to mention in their very excellent book that Gore wrote to the airline industry executives and told them that his airline safety initiative would not harm their financial base. Proper airline safety,profiling, baggage checking and secured cockpits would have diminished the probability of Sept.11. Gore is a typical dixiecrat, son of the South, rich man's spoiled son who pandered to defense,nuclear and corporate interests who bankrolled him. The book is truthful,intelligent and compelling. We liberals must stop electing rightist Southern "democrats" who support militarism,intervention and the gutting of the social safety net. The liberal renaiisance of the Democratic party must develop and conservative social darwinism must decline in our nation. Gore is Bush without neoconservative advisors. Let us demand democratic politicians who promote health care,nursing home reform,consumer rights,affordable housing and safe environments. I want to thank the authors for their courage and integrity in writing this painful and troubling book.

A good biography of a cheap politician.......2001-06-03

Find out in this book how Al Gore while vice president helped companies loot millions of acres of our forests, fastened the extinction of the spotted owl, blocked efforts to make companies pay more than little or no royalty fees to loot taxpayer owned resources, helped increase contractor fraud at the Pentagon, helped strengthen the racist and civil liberties destroying criminal justice system, supported drilling off the coast of Mexico and in the National Petroleum reserve in Alaska, supported stripping mining, especially that of the mountain top removal variety, supported the setting of emissions standards well below that of the Kyoto protocol which were never met, helped George W. pollute Texas by his support of Nafta, helped strengthen fossil fuel producers, helped weaken Affirmative action in government, supported the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, supported what will perhaps one day be the destruction of the U'wa people in Colombia through his very extensive relationship with Occidental Petroleum and support for the death squad government there, supported Monsanto's crusade to dump genitically modified foods on Europe, presided over an economy of stagnant and declining wages and greater insecurity for American workers. The list can go on and on.

They give a good outline of Gore's congressional career. They portray him as pro-gun (not too different than Mr. Cockburn's views of course), pro-tabacoo, pro-Reaganite arms buildup (he was a prime mober for the midgetman missle), a consisten support of the Jesse Helms line on the homosexual question, someone who while occasionally roaring against the more blatant corporate criminals turned a blind eye to the radiation tests that gave children leukemia ( killing at least one) at the Oak Ridge nuclear lab in Tennesse and helped establish a precedent by getting a waiver on the Endagered species act against the snail darter species for a worthless dam that only benefited construction and cement magnates. In the 88' campaign he campaigned as right wing demagogue because that is what Patrick Caddell, the pollster, told him what the "silent majority" were looking for. Actually a not insubstantial part of that group was inclined to support Jesse Jackson and Gore did very badly in the primaries but not before travelling to New York for the party elite to help ruin Jackson's canidacy along with the demagogue Ed Koch.

The section on Tipper's crusade against obscene lyrics is rather amusing--the supposed Gore family encounter with the music of Prince which originally spurred Tipper on her crusade and Gore praising the music of Frank Zappa during a senate hearing.

The authors could have done a little less of the "tell-all stuff"==e.g. how policy was supposedly made and interactions in the white house e.g. Bob Woodward's account of Clinton's alleged reaction to having to break his campaign promises and support Alan Greenspan's neoliberalism--and expanded on some of the more important issues. They say absolutely nothing about a very important issue, about Gore's working to pressure African countries, paritcularly South Africa, into complying with drug company patents which block countries from producing genereic AIDs drugs at very substantially lower cost. They repeat the canard about Gore claiming he invented the internet, that he and Tipper were the inspiration for "Love Story" and so on.

But overall this book is so much more substantive than the book put out by Cockburn's former friend Christopher Hitchens. The latter's book was fawned over by the likes of Chris Mathews, David Horowitz and Larry Klayment of Judicial Watch. Rush Limbaugh called Hitchens, a self-declared hardcore socialist, "our favorite liberal." The authors have gotten no such attention and that is very telling.

Stink, Stank, Stunk.......2001-01-13

I can't believe that I read this book from cover to cover. The very subject of Al Gore, his dishonestness, and his complete lack of integrity, is enough to make one give up their belief in the validity of the American government system.

A Loser's Manual.......2001-01-05

Cockburn and St. Clair did what none of the other books on Gore dared to do: critique the prince of Tennessee from the left. They show how Gore betrayed labor, coddled the big telecommunications firms, sold himself to the defense and nuclear industry, stabbed blacks in the back by supporting tax credits for racist schools and by pushing to destroy the federal welfare system and flip-flopped on abortion. They even reveal how Gore ran away from his pledges to protect the environment. All in pursuit of his sole, all-consumming ambition: to win the White House whatever the cost. Ultimately, Gore was defeated by the very forces he had turned his back on: greens, trade unionists and peace activists. In that sense, St. Clair and Cockburn's book can be seen as a Loser's Manual. Amazon's offering it at a great discount. It's also a fine investment, since if there's one thing we know about Gore it's that he'll be back.

At Any Cost : How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election

Average customer rating:

Pointless drivel.
"Gore won that election"?????
Worth re-reading again and again!
Congratulations to Al Gore. He made the list...........
Ballot stuffing Republicans!!

At Any Cost : How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election
Bill Sammon
Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0895262274

Amazon.com

Washington Times reporter Bill Sammon makes it clear in the opening pages of At Any Cost that he's not a big fan of Al Gore. In this fast-paced account of what happened to Florida's controversial vote, he explains how a defeated Gore desperately fought to turn things around. He starts by suggesting that tens of thousands of voters in the Florida Panhandle--Republican country--decided not to cast ballots when the media wrongly called the state for Gore early in the evening on Election Day, before all the polls had closed in the western part of the state. Without this blunder--which hasn't received nearly the attention heaped on the media for prematurely calling the election for George W. Bush several hours later--Sammon believes Gore would have given up his post-election campaign much sooner. Sammon also believes this had repercussions outside Florida: "If not for the networks' early and erroneous projections, Bush might have easily won the popular vote, and carried a few congressional seats with him."

The bulk of the book zeros in on Gore and his goal of "seizing the presidency." In one nifty bit of reporting, Sammon tracks down a navy lieutenant whose military ballot Gore's lawyers were determined to throw out. Sammon describes the unseemly spectacle of their success: <blockquote> When the [Duval County] canvassing board announced that the ballots of 149 soldiers, sailors, and airmen had been disqualified, a pair of jubilant Gore lawyers exchanged high-fives. A Republican, visibly shaken by this sight, demanded to know how they could celebrate the disenfranchisement of U.S. military members risking their lives around the world. One of the Gore lawyers glibly replied, "A win's a win." </blockquote> Sammon also covers all that business about the chads, Gore's "smear campaign" against Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and the Supreme Court's controversial Bush v. Gore ruling. This is by no means the definitive story of what happened in Florida, but it's a useful piece of journalism--and one that Bush's supporters will read with that heady mixture of outrage and excitement that politics uniquely provides. --John J. Miller

Book Description

An inside story of exactly how Al Gore dragged a one-day presidential election into a five-week ordeal and nearly pulled off the largest act of political larceny ever in American politics.

Customer Reviews:

Pointless drivel........2007-04-13

Extreme boredom compelled me to start reading this book - profound boredom compelled me stop. Bill Sammon blabs on endlessly at a grade-school level about nothing in particular, occasionally detouring to drop a fishy-sounding factoid on the reader before rambling on again. Though I could not bring myself finish this book, I can't imagine there being a point to all this - especially since history has revealed Gore actually should have won the election, having gotten more VOTES. I'm surprised this is still in print.

"Gore won that election"????? .......2005-09-23

Gore did in fact win the popular vote, the same popular vote that Bush won over Kerry in 2004 which some democrats said didn't mean anything. But Bush won the electoral college vote and won over 32 states to Gore. Al Gore couldn't even carry his own state.

In 2004, Gore couldn't even win a place on the democrat ticket, turned his back on his friend Joe Lieberman and endorsed that nutcase Howard Dean only because Dean was at that time the front runner and Gore no doubt expected Dean to reciprocate by asking him to be his running mate.

As I see it, in every event, Gore is a loser. In fact I even dedicated a song on my local radio station to Gore in 2000 and did the same for Kerry in 2004. The song was an old Beatles song called "I'm A Loser." Sure fits doesn't it?

Worth re-reading again and again!.......2005-08-30

A lot of times when I am waiting for my new batch of books to come in, I'll re-read an old one. I did just that with At Any Cost and it made my blood boil all over again.

When will the democrats ever run a clean campaign? Although this election was nearly five years ago, the furor still lives on. Al Gore and his band of democrat thieves tried to pull every dirty trick in the book to win. Unfortunately for Al, but fortunately for Americans, it didn't work.

What dirty trick? From throwing out military votes to getting the major networks to pre-call an early win for Gore and discourage voters from even going to the booths (kinda of like the fake exit polls we saw in 2004 on election day) to bringing up things in Bush's past from 25 years before just 3 days before the election, clearly this band of thieves would go as low as possible to win. Then acted like a bunch of crybabies when they lost.

In looking back and even when talking to other democrats, it's interesting that now, after seeing the real Al Gore, even those who voted for Gore are glad he lost.

This man is no gentleman. Who used his sisters death from cancer as a means of exploitation to speak against tobacco use in one campaign and then when speaking in North Carolina some time later, bragged about how he picked up tobacco as a child. Clearly this is a man who will do and say anything to get a vote.

His carrying on post election and acting like a spoiled kid. Screething and yelling reminiscent of Teddy Kennedy. His support for Howard Dean when he was the front runner shows clearly that Al Gore has poor taste and lousy judgement. Who would have wanted this jerk (Gore or Dean)as our President?

If you haven't already read this book I highly recommend it. Also recommend the 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. Gore and Dean justifiably both made the list, in fact the top 20. I also recommend Prince Albert: The Life and Lies of Al Gore. This man is no saint. He would have made a horrible president. Thank God Americans voted for the right man for the right job at the right time....GEORGE W. BUSH!

Congratulations to Al Gore. He made the list..................2005-08-29

Al Gore made the list of one of the top 100 People Screwing Up America in a n ew, best seller by Bernard Goldberg. I have only one complaint with Goldberg, he should have had Big, Fat Al in first place, not 13th.

As At Any Cost revealed, Al Gore would stoop to any level to get what he wants. He tried all so hard to steal that 2000 election as the democrats tried again in 2004. At Any Cost reveals why Al Gore was in 2000 like John Kerry was in 2004, the wrong man, in the wrong place for the wrong job. After seeing the new, reinvented-bellowing Post-Presidential race contender Al Gore, how many people who voted for this idiot would have liked to have seen him win?

Pick up a copy of 100 People Screwing Up America. It makes great supplemental reading along with At Any Cost. Read how Al Gore tired to exploit his dead sister for votes and then a few years later completely changed (flip/flopped ala John Kerry) in North Carolina solely to get votes. This man has no soul and no conscience. And by the way, unlike democrats like Howie Dean and Al Gore who shout that they hate republicans, I don't hate democrats. In fact I think every republican should own 2 or 3! They make great gardeners. He-he-he-he.

Ballot stuffing Republicans!!.......2005-06-14

I find it hilarious that some jerk would support a book about Gore "stealing" the election while "voting" multiple times under different aliases. The reviews below by "John Wain," "Anna Mae," "Vince Elliot," "Ray Delaney," "Sam T'Angelo," "John Costa," and "Kerry Jackson" are all by the same person. Do you think he has enough brain cells to understand the concept of irony? Will these conservative a--holes stop at nothing to advance their agenda, including going through the trouble of registering multiple Amazon identities and writing multiple reviews of the same book? All of his "reviews" were written just prior to the 2004 election. Was this Republican trying to sway the election by writing multiple supportive reviews for a book about a Democrat (supposedly) trying to sway an election? Unbelievable! What a bunch of yahoos! I patiently await the day that this country returns to sanity when dittohead idiots like this crawl back under the rock they came out from under.

Chicken Little Agenda: Debunking "Experts'" Lies

Average customer rating:

Agenda confusing.
It's About Time
INFORMATION IS POWER!
A Thinker's Antidote To Fear
Do yourself a very big favor and read it

Chicken Little Agenda: Debunking "Experts'" Lies
Robert G. Williscroft
Manufacturer: Pelican Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years
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Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel - Why Everything You Know Is Wrong

ASIN: 1589803523

Book Description

A scientist debunks the hysteria and distortions created by the environmental movement and emphasizes America's need for social improvement.

Author R. G. Williscroft, who served for 23 years with the U.S. Navy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, firmly establishes that the sky is not falling--the global greenhouse is not out of control, the ozone layer is still there, and the Cold War is over. This fascinating and accessible book reviews the scientific evidence of environmental concerns such as global warming, the dangers of nuclear power, and shortage of water. The author argues that most of these concerns are misplaced and emphasizes instead the real crisis in education, the intrusion of big government, and the decline of morality.

Customer Reviews:

Agenda confusing........2006-11-06

The book has much information debunking various hazards to mankind and has good examples of real solutions to modern envoirnmental issues. Chicken Little Agenda is a little hard to read because it is not smooth flowing in it's construction. It's a good document but a slow read.

It's About Time.......2006-08-25

Finally, a book that debunks hysterical hype on a host of hot button social issues for the left in easy to understand, logical, and scientifically accurate terms. The author also takes on other left-wing sacred cows with the same attention to detail.

INFORMATION IS POWER!.......2006-08-24

FINALLY! A book about higher matters that I can understand!

The daily news is full of unpleasant problems regarding our world, whether it be the ozone hole, global warming, terrorists, illegal immigrants, the Bird Flu, fuel dependency, food toxicity, antibiotic resistant bacteria - well you understand what I am trying to say. Fear at every door!

This book presents another possibility. It gives the reader the knowledge to decide what the real fears are so that we can create a real plan that most of us can understand for each individual's good, and not be wagged around by those who have gotten caught up in a trendy hysteria, political gain, or fifteen minutes of fame.

We have been dealing with many of the current issues since the l980s, and we still are. What we have been doing hasn't worked...SO...dosn't it make sense to explore another path. Information is power, and The Chicken Little Agenda gives the reader the power of knowledge. It is easy to understand, written with easily accessible concepts. It is definitely not over you head!

A Thinker's Antidote To Fear.......2006-07-21

Fair disclosure: Chicken Little's author is my dad.

If you've had a son, though--or been one--you'll appreciate that an endorsement from this direction is by no means a guarantee. Still, I can't help it: I'm impressed.

My dad's been writing this book for most of my life. He and I have been around the block once or twice on many of the issues between its covers, and I was pleased to find that the lessons I learned along the way about the real world--you know, this big rock we all live on--translate well into print.

The fundamental thesis here is that there's a real world out there if you're willing to ignore the spin-doctors and go look for it. It's a place whose attributes are measurable, consistent, and... brace yourself... rather encouraging!

I'd recommend my dad's book to anybody who professes to have an open mind. Will you agree with everything he has to say? Maybe not. But since his point is that assertions can be checked, give it a try.

Odds are you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Do yourself a very big favor and read it.......2006-06-15

What if I told you there was a book that even a person with no scientific knowledge could read and understand that would dispel all your fears about "global warming", nuclear energy, "ozone holes", and much of what the daily media tells you poses a terrible threat to the Earth and you? What if I told you the book was written by a retired submarine officer with a B.S. in oceanography and meteorology from the University of Washington and a M.S. and Ph.D. in engineering from California Coast University? What if I told you that, after reading "The Chicken Little Agenda" you would be the best informed, smartest person in the room when some idiot began to tell everyone that the Earth was doomed, there's no way to provide electricity without producing greenhouse gases, blah, blah, blah! This is hands-down the best book I have read in a very long time when it comes to explaining and debunking the kind of nonsense in Al Gore's new film or the cover stories of Time and other so-called news magazines. Do yourself a very big favor and read it.

Average customer rating:

Al Gore's Heritage is Top Notch.
Review of notes
Both sides of the story.....
Excellent account of an enigma
Good background reading

Inventing Al Gore
Bill Turque
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618131604

Amazon.com

Bill Turque's biography of Vice President Al Gore will probably be remembered mainly for its charge that Gore smoked pot much more often in the 1970s than he has previously acknowledged. Yet this allegation--delivered by apparently credible sources--is just a tiny snippet from Gore's life story, as told by this Newsweek reporter. Turque begins with Gore's childhood years in Washington as the son of a senator and traces his steady climb to become the Democratic Party's favored candidate for president in 2000. The author admires Gore's liberal politics, but is also frustrated by what he considers the vice president's tendency to trim: <blockquote>Gore is an usually thoughtful politician who has been an important, even prophetic voice on issues like global warming, arms control, and the changes wrought by the Information Age. But his life and career have also been punctuated by separations never quite achieved, and by bold strokes never quite converted into personal or political liberation.</blockquote> Turque recounts a number of Gore scandals, most notably his questionable fundraising at Buddhist temples and heavy-handed calls to party donors (over which he famously claimed there was "no controlling legal authority"). And these stories clearly trouble Turque: Gore, like President Clinton, plays "games with the truth. But where Clinton's lies have been those of self-protection and survival, Gore's have by and large been ones of self-aggrandizement and glorification." Overall, Inventing Al Gore is a balanced and authoritative portrayal of a man whose most important years may lie ahead. --John J. Miller

Book Description

Why did Al Gore, after angry opposition to the Vietnam War, submit to the draft? What happened in Vietnam that made him sullen and bitter? After renouncing politics, what set him back on the track mapped out for him? What made him claim (falsely) that he invented the Internet? How closely is he allied with the tobacco industry? What is the real nature of his partnership with Bill Clinton? How was it altered by the Lewinsky affair? INVENTING AL GORE addresses these issues and more as it unveils the true motivations, ideals, and idiosyncracies of one of Washington's most inscrutable men. Bill Turque, who covered both of Gore's vice presidential campaigns and the Clinton White House, draws on extensive access to Gore's key advisers, friends, and family. He unmasks a man who in private can sing and dance to George Strait's music but in public measures every comment and gesture with legendary caution. As Turque details, Gore's great political albatross -- a lack of empathy -- was hatched during his lonely childhood as the product of ambitious political parents who groomed him for the presidency. Turque's keen analysis also uncovers the genesis of Gore's questionable fund-raising and of a political platform laden with worthy but emotionally safe planks such as bioethics, global warming, and the Internet. In addition, Inventing Al Gore illuminates how personal tragedies have shaped his political life and the remarkable influence that women, from his mother to Naomi Wolf, have had on his career. INVENTING AL GORE reveals Gore to be one of the most intelligent, idealistic men in Washington, yet one who is repeatedly prone to prevarication, exaggeration, and avoidance of hard issues. Turque offers a meticulously researched narrative filled with colorful, insightful details that sharpen the debate over whether Gore can outgrow his limitations and excel in the office he has prepared for all his life.

Customer Reviews:

Al Gore's Heritage is Top Notch........2005-08-22

Loved the pictures on cover and in the photo section; it's hard to imagine he was ever that young. As a mother of three boys, I can safely say that he was a cute little boy, and was trained to become president of the United States from the age of four. He was too cautious about being called a liberal that he bent over a bit too far the other way. I was called a 'liberal' recently because of my version of the MARCH OF THE PENGUINS movie. I said, "I am not conservative, either; I am not a Democrat (though I do tend in that direction); I am not a Republican -- I am not political.

In 1989, Al Gore traveled to Antarctica to prove his environmental study of global warming and damage to the ozone layer. To not be an astronomer, he still was very believable. I'm just wondering if he noticed that seventy-mile march those male penguins made to 'mate,' and the seventy-mile march the females made to get food for the young. I hope so. He looked good in that parka, with his hair all wind blown. As the young Nashville reporter, he looked like son, Zach.

The 'flower child' Tipper with her first baby was beautiful in 1971. The family photos were just marvelous. I remember when his dad, Al, Sr. was our Senator from Tennessee. It's hilarious that Clinton had the gall to criticize Al Gore after his loyalty to a corrupt politician (that's why he had the impartial 'stare'!) and erroneously made the statement about his co-pilot & friend's "lack of political instinct." Pauline Gore was the real politician in that family even though it was the dad who was elected. Gore has good political genes and training.

Clinton never was the real president; his wife Hilary was, and held the apron strings. He wasn't very smart anyway, but not appreciating Gore's refusal to say nasty things about him is inhuman. Al Gore would have accummulated more votes and there would have been no question at all about his winning the election if he had just turned his back on Clinton after he lied about Monica ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman!") and campaigned on his own integrity.

He and Tipper became much bigger as they aged; I am getting smaller (lost another 1/2 inch due to osteoporosis), but they are still good looking and dignified people. Al Gore does not need "inventing" as he was a wholesome, mannerly candidate, just not Southern enough to carry his home state. He was well-educated in the East (like our mayor and former mayor) but he did turn his back on us here in Tennessee. If it had been the other way, and he had deserted Clinton's sinking ship, he would have been (maybe still could be) the best President of the United States ever.

Review of notes.......2004-12-30

I'll be brief. I have not read the book, I'm not a big Gore fan. I'm commenting on the mention of Gore "claiming (falsely) to have invented the Internet" in the main review. Check the Daily Howler on that. Search for Gore Internet.

Point: Gore never spoke this famous quote. It was made up. Gore said, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." This caught no one's attention because ... IT WAS TRUE. Even Gingrich gave him credit for that.

After the RNC laundered Gore's statement, and spun it dry, the spun-quote was repeated by pundits for 20 months.

That Turque supports this LIE in his book completely disqualifies him from any suspicion of veracity, or pretense to veracity.

Not that I don't believe Gore has spun things, especially his supposed environmental stance. But it would be bad to point that out, because that would make him out to be LESS liberal, and wouldn't serve the attack machine.

Well, Gore's over, but the pundits lying is not.

Both sides of the story............2003-02-01

seems evident in this book. I feel the author made an honest attempt to write an unbiased account of Al Gore. His strengths are demonstrated as well as his faults. The only weak spot in the book is that the 2000 election wasn't covered.

Excellent account of an enigma.......2002-11-21

Al Gore recently emerged from "mending fences" in Tennessee to launch a media-driven national charm offensive that he hopes will land him in the White House in 2004. Even though the former vice president seems more at ease these days as he exchanges barbs with the likes of David Letterman, Gore still comes across as uncomfortable and at times coached (did handlers teach him to laugh?) largely because he is the enigma Bill Turque describes in Inventing Al Gore: A Biography. For those who love and despise the former vice president, and for the vast majority in whom he inspires absolutely no emotion one way or the other, Turque's biography, written before the 2000 election debacle, remains relevant today. After you finish Turque's fair and balanced account of Gore, you will be pumped full of the substantive and trivial and won't be any closer to knowing who the former vice president is than you were in 2000, 1996, 1992, 1988, or last week on Larry King. This in no way detracts from Turque's biography, and if anything proves the author knew his subject is a mystery. Neither David Maraniss nor anyone else has been able to unravel this complex politician, and unlike Turque they didn't have the insight to know it is impossible.

Good background reading.......2001-01-02

This biography does just give lip service to the politician's childhood. The author explains the world in which Al Gore grew up. It describes pieces of his father's life in a way which shows you where Al picked up many of his mannerisms. You will see where the candidate came from.

After reading through this, I know that Al Gore is not as Green as his book would lead you to believe. He does listen to businesses and has accepted money. This is no different than any other candidate. This book brings all of this to your attention so that you can make your own informed decision.

The tone and flow are good. I had no trouble following the narrative or understanding what point the author was trying to make. Too often, an author has his own axe to grind and steps away from informing the reader so that the reader can make his or her own decision. Turque's style makes this a good read.

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