They did it again this morning. It does not inspire confidence:
It took Steve Goreham about a year to build the logical, comprehensive and convincing case against those who blame mankind for global warming he presents in "Climatism!" (New Lenox Books), his first book.We first notice the lack of expertise in the field of climate science. Ok so Mr Goreham holds a Master's electrical engineering. What does that have to do with climatology?
A whitewater kayaking enthusiast, father of three and business executive who holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Goreham began researching the topic in December 2008 and finished the book, except for some late additions dealing with Climategate and the Copenhagen conference, in November 2009.
Next we notice the amount of time it took to research and write this skeptical guide. One year? What sort of research is that?
Luckily, the braintrust has an answer:
Goreham "read about 20 books and dozens of articles" in writing the book, which "became a project of about a hundred four- to five-page research papers." He based his conclusions on the evidence he reviewed -- which makes his approach exactly opposite that of the movement "Climatism!" debunks.Wow. 20 books and "dozens of articles."
That's the extent of the research from this non-climatologist. And yet the Trib, as far as I can tell, has yet to mention this panel of a 2 dozen or so PhDs all writing in favor of climate change.
One guy, an MBA kayaking enthusiast business executive vs all those PhDs writing for the National Research Council and the Trib goes against the scientists.
Interesting.
Well, a quick google search yielded a "Climatism" website with many testimonials, mostly not from Climate Scientists, an Amazon page selling the book with four glowing reviews and one urging getting another side to the story, and then websites praising the book from places such as the Trib, the Heartland Institute and "GlobalWarmingScam".
ReplyDeleteCould a non-scientist go through the literature pf climate science and do a decent job of summarizing it and explaining it to us, doing this as a sort of hobby? Is it likely this non-scientist would find gaps in the science itself, such that he could discredit the various different indicators? I wouldn't think so, but it might be important to keep an open mind.
I have seen one or two books in the library that seem to try to explain climate change, and one or two articles in the "Skeptical Inquirer" that do the same. It would be fine if someone wanted to publish a book questioning Climate Science, and used maybe the one of the IPCC reports as the template to criticize. But what is crucial for Goreham in this effort is his bibliography. Since he is a non-scientist, if he is going to criticize scientists, he needs to show peer reviewed scientific papers that support his conclusions. Unless he does that, then his book is itself a scam perpetrated on the American people.