The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert [Formato Kindle]

It never ceases to amaze me to regularly come across so-called "reviews" of books on amazon by people who have not read the book in question. Pick any book on a controversial topic and you will find a stream of such outpourings masquerading as reviews by ideologically driven non-readers.

Are such people so insecure in their own positions or worldviews, or so dogmatic that they cannot even bother to read a book that takes a stance different from the one they hold? Instead they need to immediately login and launch into abusive tirades, putdowns and ad hominem attacks? Real reviews may be positive or negative, laudatory or critical, but reviews by non-readers are dishonest, hypocritical and pathetic. That some of these non-readers are recognisably well known names and partisans in the very issues or debates covered in a particular book compounds the hypocrisy.

Let me repeat, one cannot honestly review a book one has not read. Nor can one attack an author without giving chapter and verse examples from that book of where he or she has committed the heinous and fallacious errors of which he/she is accused.

I have read Donna Laframboise's "The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert". It has a cleverly provocative title that some true believers in catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) could consider sacrilegious. The book is however not an argument against CAGW as such. It is neither an academic treatise nor a polemic, but an investigative report into the operations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)... an investigation that uncovers a sleazy underbelly to a powerful and prestigious organisation before which much of the world's media, opinion makers and political leaders genuflect.

Laframboise brings a reporter's eyes and nose to the IPCC. The book is an easy and fast read but Laframboise's breezy writing belies the extensive research and explosive details contained therein. It's revelations and allegations are disturbing - and are supported by extensive footnotes and links that build a persuasive case that the IPCC is, in fact, a law unto itself - a hotbed of cronyism, shoddy science in the service of political activism, and politically-correct hand wringing. If she is even half correct, the IPCC has a serious case to answer. Read it for yourself, follow her links, examine her footnotes and then give your critique or rebuttal. Until then hold your tongue... and your typing fingers.

In The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert, Donna Laframboise blows the lid off the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Instead of being a neutral body evaluating whether there has, in fact, been unprecedented global warming, the IPCC started with the premise that global warming was increasing at an alarming rate. Instead of investigating whether this warming was due to natural temperature cycles related to natural phenomena, human induced production of a trace atmospheric gas, carbon dioxide, was the cause celebre from the beginning. Instead of convening the world's experts, Laframboise exposes many of the IPCC "scientists" as being young, un-degreed, sometimes unpublished fledglings! She shows abundant examples of true world experts, purposely avoided by the UN IPCC, because they disagreed with the anthropogenic global warming party line.
Surprisingly, instead of gathering scientists with no preconceived notions of climate change, Donna Laframbroise lays bare the high percentage of IPCC scientist who had been closely associated with and many times employed by the powerful and monied environmental activist groups, such as the World Wildlife Fund, The Environmental Defense Fund, and others. Thus, these IPCC staff were following an agenda. They were "more activist than scientist!" She exposes The IPCC as a shoddy organization who didn't even follow what few rules it had, but portrayed itself as the indisputable oracle of impending climate disaster backed by the consensus of "thousands" of the world's most best scientists!
The Delinquent Teenager... is a fascinating unraveling of the world's most powerful voice for redistributing trillions of dollars in the name of the unproven theory of anthropogenic global warming, a theory rapidly losing many of its early proponents.
If Donna Laframbroise hasn't put the final nail in the coffin of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, I'll be surprised!

As of this writing, there are 3 negative reviews, 21 ea 5 star, and 1 ea 4 star reviews.

Its painfully obvious that none of the 1 star reviewers even read the book. Which when one thinks of it, is a good metaphor for the IPCC. Why review the actual thing, when you can just present your pre-concieved viewpoint?

Peter Gleick: If you need it, I will give you the 4.95, so you can actually read the book. I bought the pdf version, so I can lend you that.

A short summary, Peter. The book is about how the IPCC is structured, and how it works, albeit dysfunctionally. Its about how the IPCC is composed of climate activists from NGOs like Greenpeace, the WWF and EDF. Its about how the IPCC ignores its own rules, especially on grey literature. Its about how, when an independent review made recommenadtions to reform the IPCC, the IPCC simply ignored most of them.

Most telling is the recommendation to institute a Conflict of Interest (COI) rule. I find it amazing that a large governmental organization DOES NOT HAVE A COI code.

When asked why the COI has not been put in place for the AR5, Pachuari replied that it would be unfair to the members who had already been chosen. (!?!)

So, Peter, you are supposedly a scientist. Try researching the topic next time, please.

My review? Well written, and concise. Everything is documented, with links to the source information. Much of that information is from the IPCC.

I recommend reading it twice. Once, to get the full impact without breaking the flow. But watch your blood pressure.

The next time you read it, follow the links. As a good scientist should do; trust, but verify.

If this book does not shatter your opinion of the IPCC, then you must already be a member of the IPCC.