The Coming Global Superstorm

Rating:
Summary: Hypocrisy!
Review: This is not so much a review for would-be readers as it is an illustration of the irony. Art relates this coming storm (partially) to environmental decay by humans.

Yet at the same time, why allow trees to be cut down to publish a book that expresses his concerns? It is as if he is feigning to be environmentally concerned only for his own profit. If he truly cares about the environment and weather patterns, he should stop writing books that waste precious trees.

I enjoy listening to his show, but his books reflect what an opportunist he truly is.

Rating:
Summary: This is science?
Review: Art Bell and Whitley Strieber are simply out to cash in on the hysteria they have promoted to the totally frightened uninformed masses. Art should stick to to his very entertaining radio program and Whitley is just hanging on Art's coattails. A perfect followon to the equally vapid "Quickening".

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Hypothesis ([e-mail])
Review: This book pieces together three seemingly unrelated groups of facts to come to an astonishing conclusion: Earth's climate is inherently unstable, and we may be on the cusp of a catastrophic climate change.

The first cluster of facts relates to the evidence for escalating climate change, and I think they do a good job of collecting these while conceding valid criticisms of the orthodox global warming hypothesis (e.g., that global temperatures on the whole aren't rising nearly as fast as the computer models say that they should, given the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and that CO2 levels are even now anomalously low in geologic terms). They present a picture of global warming and species extinction that is primarily a result of very long-range climatological instability to which mankind may be contributing, rather than putting the whole burden of it on our shoulders. In this way, they avoid the shrill guilt-mongering tone of the environmentalists while gently suggesting that we as a species can do something about the problem. This is a very refreshing approach.

The second cluster of facts on which they draw concerns archaeological anomalies such as the Sphinx, the Baalbek ruins, the Cheops pyramid, etc., that are exceedingly hard to fit into the standard theories of man's prehistory. Astonishingly, they relate these to the whole global warming debate by positing that the ancient flood legends are a thinly-disguised history of what happened to the relatively advanced prehistoric civilization that must have created these imposing ruins. My one criticism of the book would be that in delving into this area, they revel too much in interpreting and extrapolating ancient legends, reinterpretations of the zodiac, etc., rather than sticking to very solid facts (such as the gigantic ruins created by the engineering feats of the ancients). In their defense, they do clearly state where they are speculating.

The third cluster of facts relate to actual archaeological and geological evidence of past superstorms and massive species extinctions caused thereby, such as the fossil evidence of sudden freezing of the mammoths, core samples of Greenland and Antarctic glaciers that show sudden temperature shifts and changes in atmospheric methane concentrations, etc. I thought most of this was quite solid.

The authors -- correctly, in my view -- don't extrapolate global warming trends linearly, but instead posit that these trends will reverse violently at some point. This isn't apocalyptic millenial madness; this is the way many chaotic systems behave. Earthquakes are a good example: the continents are drifting slowly with respect to each other, but the changes don't, in the main, happen gradually. There is a gradual buildup of energy and strain in the system, during which time everything appears to be reassuringly stable, and this is followed by a sudden, catastrophic release, and then the whole process repeats, on a very slow, geologic time scale -- to which the human mind accustoms itself only with great difficulty. The authors show good scientific instincts in picking this outcome rather than the standard one; their conception of a sudden reorganization of prevailing wind currents that mixes tropic and artic air directly in a giant superstorm is a creative and credible hypothesis (the Great Red Spot of Jupiter is such a storm, which has lasted for centuries -- the authors don't make this connection, however).

Weaving all this together with a fictional account of a future "superstorm" makes this a very readable book; the authors, being laymen, have done a good job of making science understandable while making relatively few mistakes and mischaracterizations. Popularizing science is hard to do without straying into the zone of junk science, but on the whole I think the authors succeed in doing this by being very clear on where they are speculating and where they are not.

Rating:
Summary: the coming global superstorm
Review: I read this book in disbelief that the authors would think that this mix of supposition and fiction would cause any rush of panic or fear that this would actually happen this fast and this undetected by our vast network of weather detection satellites.I have purchased books by both of the authors in the past but after this fiasco I don't think I am going to buy any more.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry Gang ... Art Bell is a sell out!
Review: This book is like Art Bell-- It sparks interest and the falls into boring rehitoric and self endulging doom and gloom that deserves to be in the budget bin. I am one of those who feel betrayed by Bell and his need to suck us of money like a vampire, and continues to give us schlock with no substance. These books are like his shows. He only shows up part time and still has the audacity to put his name on it. He is a sell out and I feel like I was robbed of my money. Well fool me once Mr. Bell (The Art of Talk) Fool me twice (the Quickening) and now you are out with this bathroom reader.

Rating:
Summary: Prediction comes close to reality.
Review: Art Bell's predictions of a rapid and intense change in our weather patterns should cause everyone to be concerned about the consequences that severe weather can bring. His style of writing is similar in structure to other books of metaphysical content such as, "Next: A Poetic Odyssey, by Lee Frank.

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking & Enlightening!
Review: This is one of those books that you just can't put down! Fiction, fact and some drama!

Rating:
Summary: Junk Science at its Best
Review: The Coming Global Superstorm is science fiction pap. Light on fact and heavy on speculation extrapolated from junk science mixed with just enough facts to add some credibility to the book.

Bell & Strieber have collected mountains of urban legends, folk tales and junk science, mixed it together and created yet another great book for the doomsday crowd.

If you are a fan of Art Bell buy it to complete your collection but if you are looking for a well researched and documented book on the changes in the weather and the earth in general this is not it.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, but it's still fiction, folks!
Review: I just love this kind of stuff! It's so exciting to read all this information brought together to support a scenario, but then, it never really turns out the way the book said it would. Remember thirty-five years or so ago when African Genesis and Territorial Emperitive (I think the author's name was Robert Audrey) came out? It was a long time ago but the facts brought together were so compelling -- and over the next couple of decades it was repeatedly bashed with some saying it had been debunked. The problem with these kind of books is not to accept everything as accurate until some period of time has passed and the thesis played out a bit. Of course according to this book, many of us wouldn't be here any more! But Mr.Bell and Mr.Strieber have written a very, very interesting and readable book and I congratulate them hearily on their success.

Rating:
Summary: Block out some time to read this...
Review: The book arrived before I had expected... Planned to simply skim the chapter titles... ended up reading it cover to cover! A believable premise, support by research and very engaging fiction.