Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased and read an advanced release of this book from Mark Steyn’s online store. The “Hockey-Stick” graph, which became the iconic symbol for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) third assessment, deceptively lacked a portion of tree-ring analysis that didn’t correlate with the spike in the modern instrumented temperature record (“Hide the decline”, "Mike's Nature trick"). The omitted data casts doubt on the ability of tree-ring proxies to detect temperature spikes in the past. Referring to the deceit Steyn stated in a blog: “Michael Mann was the man behind the fraudulent climate-change “hockey-stick” graph…” Mann sued for defamation. Steyn now raises the stakes by moving beyond his 270 word post to this 300 page book that pile drives a host of claims, made by accomplished scientists, of deception and improper science into Mann’s work. If there are courses in science ethics, this book should be a required text. Though I’ve followed Climate Audit’s posts detailing the problems with the “Hockey Stick” and Steyn’s web posts related to Mann’s legal suit, this book is still very informative. I didn’t realize how many scientists are on record critical of Mann’s methods, ethics, or both. Steyn has compiled 120 sections of critiques, accounting for at least 120 different scientists (some of the critiques have multiple authors). Number 89, for instance, is a note to the editor of Nature Geoscience responding to a Mann paper. The note is endorsed by 23 scientists and starts: “Several aspects of their tree-ring growth simulations are erroneous.” But Steyn piles on an additional 24th scientist, a tree-ring researcher, who called the study “highly questionable.” The Nature correspondent providing this quote further synopsized: “Questions entire science of tree ring dating. Misleads public.” Steyn is correctly listed as the compiler/editor since the bulk of the work are not his words but the words of mostly PhD scientists. Having a PhD shouldn’t matter but as Steyn points out “a cat may look at a king, but the position of Emperor Mike’s courtiers is that only a cat with a PhD may gaze upon His Tree-Ringed Majesty.” Mann’s defenders rely on their “authority” to justify their work but Steyn strips that authority away with this book. Furthermore, he quotes a range of scientists; from those who believe Anthropogenic Global Warming is a problem to sceptics who don’t. Steyn presents what he states on the book’s cover: “In their own words, on Michael Mann, His Hockey Stick, and their damage to science.” Climate science has been damaged but the book identifies problems that hopefully climate scientists will fix to undo the damage. Steyn isn’t just interested in winning a legal suit about free speech. He is making the case that what he has to say is as important as his right to say it. He states in the forward “… a goal for me is lifting the climate of fear that Mann and his fellow enforcers have imposed on a critical field of science and in the broader sphere of public policy.” This book is a good resource for those who have been following the “Hockey Stick” saga as well as those who are new to the controversies. The 120 sections are about two pages each and easy to read. It makes it hard to stop reading since one is always tempted to read just one more. The sections are grouped into 12 aspects “of Mann and his work” such as the abolition of uncertainty or the eventual disfavor of the “Hockey Stick” by the IPCC. It is worth the price of the book just to have the statements located together, although, the electronic version of this book might make it easier to check the provided web links to delve further into context and specific subjects. Each scientist mentioned is also listed in the index. As always, Steyn’s wit makes the reading pleasurable.