Global Catastrophes

Global Catastrophes PDF Author: Bill McGuire
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198715935
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
In this Very Short Introduction Bill McGuire explores the potential catastrophes facing our planet. Assessing both the probability of these events happening in the future, and our chances of survival, this new edition brings our understanding of global disasters and risk research up to date, by using recent case studies from around the world.

Global Catastrophes

Global Catastrophes PDF Author: Bill McGuire
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198715935
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 153

Get Book

Book Description
In this Very Short Introduction Bill McGuire explores the potential catastrophes facing our planet. Assessing both the probability of these events happening in the future, and our chances of survival, this new edition brings our understanding of global disasters and risk research up to date, by using recent case studies from around the world.

Global Catastrophes: A Very Short Introduction

Global Catastrophes: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Bill McGuire
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191024996
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Life on earth will come to an end. It's just a matter of when. In this Very Short Introduction, Bill McGuire explores the many potential catastrophes facing our planet and our species in the future, and looks at both the probability of these events happening and our chances of survival. From the likely consequences of global warming to the inevitable destruction of the earth in the far future, McGuire considers a range of 'end of the world scenarios', including the New Ice Age, asteroid and comet impact, supervolcanoes, and mega-tsunami. Updated with a number of recent case studies from around the world, this new edition brings our understanding of global disasters and risk research up to date. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Global Catastrophic Risks

Global Catastrophic Risks PDF Author: Nick Bostrom
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199606501
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
A Global Catastrophic Risk is one that has the potential to inflict serious damage to human well-being on a global scale. This book focuses on such risks arising from natural catastrophes (Earth-based or beyond), nuclear war, terrorism, biological weapons, totalitarianism, advanced nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and social collapse.

Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction

Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Mark Maslin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191029114
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Climate change is still, arguably, the most critical and controversial issue facing the world in the twenty-first century. Previously published as Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction, the new edition is now Climate Change: A Very Short introduction, reflecting an important change in the terminology of the last decade. In the third edition, Mark Maslin includes crucial updates from the last few years, including the results of the 2013 IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, the effects of ocean acidification, and the impact of changes to global population and health. Exploring all of the key topics in the debate, Maslin makes sense of the complexities climate change involves, from political and social issues to environmental and scientific. Looking at its predicated impacts, he explores all of the controversies, and also explains the various proposed solutions. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Modern War: A Very Short Introduction

Modern War: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Richard English
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199607893
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Warfare is one of the most dangerous threat faced by modern humanity. It is also one of the key influences that has shaped the politics, economics, and culture of the modern world. This book explores the assumptions we make about modern warfare and considers what we can learn from the historical reality.

Global Warming

Global Warming PDF Author: Mark Maslin
Publisher: Voyageur Press (MN)
ISBN: 9780760329658
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Describes the evidence of global warming, its causes, its predicted impacts, and how its detrimental effects can be reduced.

Disaster by Choice

Disaster by Choice PDF Author: Ilan Kelman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192578286
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
An earthquake shatters Haiti and a hurricane slices through Texas. We hear that nature runs rampant, seeking to destroy us through these 'natural disasters'. Science recounts a different story, however: disasters are not the consequence of natural causes; they are the consequence of human choices and decisions. we put ourselves in harm's way; we fail to take measures which we know would prevent disasters, no matter what the environment does. This can be both hard to accept, and hard to unravel. A complex of factors shape disasters. They arise from the political processes dictating where and what we build, and from social circumstances which create and perpetuate poverty and discrimination. They develop from the social preference to blame nature for the damage wrought, when in fact events such as earthquakes and storms are entirely commonplace environmental processes We feel the need to fight natural forces, to reclaim what we assume is ours, and to protect ourselves from what we perceive to be wrath from outside our communities. This attitude distracts us from the real causes of disasters: humanity's decisions, as societies and as individuals. It stops us accepting the real solutions to disasters: making better decisions. This book explores stories of some of our worst disasters to show how we can and should act to stop people dying when nature unleashes its energies. The disaster is not the tornado, the volcanic eruption, or climate change, but the deaths and injuries, the loss of irreplaceable property, and the lack and even denial of support to affected people, so that a short-term interruption becomes a long-term recovery nightmare. But we can combat this, as Kelman shows, describing inspiring examples of effective human action that limits damage, such as managing flooding in Toronto and villages in Bangladesh, or wildfire in Colorado. Throughout, his message is clear: there is no such thing as a natural disaster. The disaster lies in our inability to deal with the environment and with ourselves.

Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction

Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Mark Maslin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0192840975
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Global Warming is one of the most controversial scientific issues of the twenty first century. This book provides an informative, up-to-date, and readable book about the predicted impacts of global warming and the surprises that could be in store for us in the near future. - ;Global Warming is one of the most controversial scientific issues of the twenty-first century. This is a problem that has serious economic, sociological, geopolitical, political, and personal implications. This Very Short Introduction is an informative, up-to-date, and readable book about the predicted impacts of global warming and the surprises that could be in store for us in the near future. It unpacks the controversies that surround global warming, drawing on material from the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a huge collaborative study drawing together current thinking on the subject from experts in a range of disciplines, and for the first time presents the findings of the Panel for a general readership. The book also discusses the politics of global warming, and looks at what we can do now to adapt to climate change and mitigate its worst effects. -

The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction

The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Helen Graham
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192803778
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
"Helen Graham highlights the domestic and international context of the Spanish Civil War, and reveals its origins in the political and cultural anxieties provoked by the rapid modernization of Europe. Using personal narratives, she combines a powerfully human account of the war an its aftermath with a disturbing ethical enquiry into its legacy for the 21st century."--BOOK JACKET.

Extinction: A Very Short Introduction

Extinction: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Paul B. Wignall
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192534017
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
Most people are familiar with the dodo and the dinosaur, but extinction has occurred throughout the history of life, with the result that nearly all the species that have ever existed are now extinct. Today, species are disappearing at an ever increasing rate, whilst past losses have occurred during several great crises. Issues such as habitat destruction, conservation, climate change, and, during major crises, volacanism and meteorite impact, can all contribute towards the demise of a group. In this Very Short Introduction, Paul B. Wignall looks at the causes and nature of extinctions, past and present, and the factors that can make a species vulnerable. Summarising what we know about all of the major and minor exctinction events, he examines some of the greatest debates in modern science, such as the relative role of climate and humans in the death of the Pleistocene megafauna, including mammoths and giant ground sloths, and the roles that global warming, ocean acidification, and deforestation are playing in present-day extinctions ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.