For ten years I (a physicist) have been reading both scientific and political news about global warming. This has led to strong feelings of frustration in trying to answer the question: "Why is the global warming steamroller so overwhelming?" Julian Simon provides the answer - not a very encouraging one, but his explanation of the causes of the hoodwinking could form the basis for fixing what is wrong with the way we form opinions. I am not confident that we could ever develop his suggested "Truth Lobby," but the idea is intriguing. My reading of a library copy of this book has motivated me toward buying the book for presentation to the president of our local college. I would do so in the hope that reading it would help her understand the hoodwinking that is happening under her nose in the college's "Environmental Studies" program (part of the college's Department of Politics). Simon exhibits admirable restraint where I might have resorted to ridicule. I think that he didn't go far enough in identifying vested interests in people with impeccable motives (e.g., "Saving the Earth"). Now, if we can just convince Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Dan Rather and Bill Clinton that they don't know jake about climate science ... . This is an important, scholarly book with importance outside the area of environmental activism.
