Understanding Earth's deep past : lessons for our climate future /

Consensus is growing that Earth's climate is warming. Beyond that, there is the very real threat that the Earth is moving from the "icehouse" climates of the past 30 million years toward a "greenhouse" future that prevailed during the age of the dinosaurs. This relatively short yet concisely written book was compiled by more than two dozen experts on the NRC's Committee on the Importance of Deep-Time Geologic Records for Understanding Climate Change Impacts. The goal of the report is to indicate what the geologic record shows about climate under past greenhouse conditions and to lay out "a deep-time climate research agenda" for further scientific investigations that are needed in order to get a clearer picture of what is in store for us as Earth moves into a greenhouse future. An extensive bibliography supports the text. The report is available for free viewing and downloading at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13111. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers/faculty, scientists, policy makers, and general audiences. C. W. Dimmick emeritus, Central Connecticut State University