Includes bibliographical references (pages 371-375) and index.

One of the leading science journalists and commentators working today, Chris Mooney delves into a red-hot debate in meteorology: whether the increasing ferocity of hurricanes is connected to global warming. In the wake of Katrina, Mooney follows the careers of leading scientists on either side of the argument through the 2006 hurricane season, tracing how the media, special interests, politics, and the weather itself have skewed and amplified what was already a fraught scientific debate. As Mooney puts it: ʺScientists, like hurricanes, do extraordinary things at high wind speeds.ʺ Mooney - a native of New Orleans - has written a fascinating and urgently compelling book that calls into question the great inconvenient truth of our day: Are we responsible for making hurricanes even bigger monsters than they already are? Also includes information on Hurricane Andres, Australia, blogs, George W. Bush, carbon dioxide, Tropical Cyclone Catarina, Hurricane Charley, Jule Gregory Charney, Judith Curry, cyclones, El Nino, Kerry Emanuel, ExxonMobil, global climate models (GCMs), Al Gore, William Gray, Greg Holland, Hurricane Ivan, Japan, Hurricane Katrina, Thomas Knutson, Chris Landsea, latent heat, theories of maximum potential intensity, maximum sustained wind speeds, National Hurricane Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), oil and gas industry, William Redfield, Herbert Riehl, Hurricane Rita, typhoons, water vapor, weather forecasting, Peter Webster, Tropical Storm Zeta, etc.

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