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{{Short description|2010 book by Andrew Montford}}
⚫ {{Infobox Book
{{pp-semi-indef}}
⚫ {{Infobox book
| name = The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science | name = The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science
| title_orig = | title_orig =
| translator = | translator =
| image = ] | image = The hockey stick illusion.jpg
| image_caption = | caption =
| author = ] | author = ]
| illustrator = | illustrator =
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}} }}


'''''The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science''''' is a book written by ] and published by ] in 2010. Montford, an ] and science ] who publishes a ] which is sceptical of ],<ref name="Ridley_2010-02-03_Spectator" /> provides his analysis of the history of the "]" of global temperatures for the last 1000 years and the controversy surrounding the research which produced the graph. The book describes the history of the graph from its inception to the beginning of the ]. '''''The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science''''' is a book written by ] and published by ] in 2010, which promotes ].<ref name="Hewitt" /><ref name="Joyner" />


Montford, an ] and science ] who publishes a ] called 'Bishop Hill',<ref name="Ridley_2010-02-03_Spectator" /><ref>{{cite web|title=House of Commons Science and Technology Committee - Memorandum submitted by Andrew Montford (CRU 36) - The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, Session 2009-2010 - Science and Technology Committee|website=UK Parliament|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/387b/387we38.htm|access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref> writes about the "]" of global temperatures for the last 1000 years. The book has been criticized for its inaccuracies.
Since its release, the book has received a mixture of positive and negative reviews; '']'' referred to it as "Montford's entertaining conspiracy yarn", <ref name="Ward_2010-08-25_Guardian" /> while '']'' described it as a "a detailed and brilliant piece of science writing"<ref name="Ridley_2010-02-03_Spectator" /> and '']'' described it as "a remarkable scientific detective story".<ref name="Booker_2010-01-30_Telegraph" />


==Background== ==Background==
According to Montford, in 2005 he followed a link from a British political blog to the ] website. While perusing the site, Montford noticed that new readers often asked if there was an introduction to the site and the story of the hockey stick controversy. In 2008, after the story of Caspar Ammann's "purported" replication of the hockey stick became public, Montford wrote his own summary of the controversy.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p13" /> According to Montford, in 2005 he followed a link from a British political blog to the ] website. While perusing the site, Montford noticed that new readers often asked if there was an introduction to the site and the story of the hockey stick controversy. In 2008, after the story of Caspar Ammann's "purported" replication of the hockey stick became public, Montford wrote his own summary of the controversy.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p13" />


Montford published the summary on his Bishop Hill blog and called it ''Caspar and the Jesus paper''<ref name="Montford_2008_Bishophill" />. Montford states that word of his paper caused the traffic to his blog to surge from several hundred hits a day to to 30,000 in just three days. Montford adds that there was also an attempt to use his paper as a source in Misplaced Pages. After Montford saw the hockey stick graph used in a science book manuscript he was reviewing, he decided to expand his paper into book form.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p13" /> Montford published the summary on his Bishop Hill blog and called it ''Caspar and the Jesus paper''.<ref name="Montford_2008_Bishophill" /> Montford states that word of his article caused the traffic to his blog to surge from several hundred hits a day to 30,000 in just three days. Montford adds that there was also an attempt to use his article as a source in Misplaced Pages. After Montford saw the hockey stick graph used in a science book manuscript he was reviewing, he decided to expand his article into book form.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p13" />


==Synopsis== ==Synopsis==
] Figure 7.1.c (red) based on Lamb 1965 showing central England temperatures; central England temperatures to 2007 shown from Jones et al. 2009 (green dashed line).<ref name="Jones 09">P. D. Jones et al., The Holocene 19,1 (2009) pp. 3–49, High-resolution palaeoclimatology of the last millennium: a review of current status and future prospects Appendix A</ref> The high medieval temperatures contrast with the "hockey stick" MBH99 40 year average (blue, uncertainties omitted) and Moberg et al. 2005 low frequency signal (black).]]

]4 data from 1850 to 2013.]]
''The Hockey Stick Illusion'' relates the story of ], ] and ]' "hockey stick graph" starting from when it first appeared in '']''.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p30" /> The book describes how ] first became interested in the graph and his subsequent struggle to replicate the results of "MBH98" (the original 1998 study) and the refusal of Mann to release his source code and filtered dataset.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p57" /> It details the publication of a paper by McIntyre and ] in 2003 which criticized MBH98, and follows with Mann and his associates' rebuttals. The book recounts reactions to the dispute over the graph, including investigations by the ] and ] and hearings held on the graph before the ]. Efforts taken by other scientists to verify Mann's work and McIntyre's and others' responses to those efforts are described.<!-- Passive voice, could be rewritten --><ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p151-401" /> ''The Hockey Stick Illusion'' first outlines a brief ] with particular emphasis on the ] in 1990, with its inclusion of a schematic based on central England temperatures which Montford describes as a representation of common knowledge at that time. He then argues that a need to overturn this "well-embedded paradigm" was met by the 1998 publication by ], ] and ]' of their "]" in '']''.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p30" /> The book describes how ] first became interested in the graph in 2002 and the difficulties he found in replicating the results of "MBH98" (the original 1998 study) using available datasets, and further data which Mann gave him on request.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p57" /> It details the publication of a paper by McIntyre and ] in 2003 which criticized MBH98, and follows with Mann and his associates' rebuttals. The book recounts reactions to the dispute over the graph, including investigations by the ] and ] and hearings held on the graph before the ]. Efforts taken by other scientists to verify Mann's work and McIntyre's and others' responses to those efforts are described.<!-- Passive voice, could be rewritten --><ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p151-401" />


The last chapter of the book deals with what the book calls ]. Here, the author compares several e-mails to the evidence he presents in ''The Hockey Stick Illusion.'' Montford focuses on those e-mails dealing with the ] process and how these pertained to Stephen McIntyre's efforts to obtain the data and methodology from Mann's and other ]' published works.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p402-449" /> The last chapter of the book deals with what the book calls ]. Here, the author compares several e-mails to the evidence he presents in ''The Hockey Stick Illusion.'' Montford focuses on those e-mails dealing with the ] process and how these pertained to Stephen McIntyre's efforts to obtain the data and methodology from Mann's and other ]' published works.<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p402-449" />
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==Reception== ==Reception==


Montford had set out to provide a more detailed explanation than the primers ] had written describing the case he and McIntyre had produced against the MBH climate reconstructions,{{sfn|Montford|2010|p=13}} and when McKitrick contributed to a 2014 compilation published by the ] think-tank, he opened with a sentence saying the "best place to start when learning about the hockey stick is Andrew Montford's superb book".<ref></ref><ref name="IPA">{{cite book|author1=John Roskam|author2=Alan J. Moran|title=Climate Change: The Facts 2014|url=https://ipa.org.au/publications-ipa/books/climate-change-facts-2014|year=2014|publisher=Institute of Public Affairs|isbn=978-0-986398-30-8}}</ref> ] discussed it in '']'',<ref name="Ridley_2010-02-03_Spectator" /> and in '']'' magazine said the book was "written with grace and flair" and deserved to win prizes, while conceding that he had financial interests in coal mining.<ref name="prospect"/>
Many reviews have praised the book for its content, writing style and accessibility. Climatologist ] called ''The Hockey Stick Illusion'' "a well documented and well written book on the subject of the “hockey wars.” It is required reading for anyone wanting to understand the ] climate skeptics and particularly the climate auditors," such as ] and ]. She wrote that the book "presents a well reasoned and well documented argument". <ref name="Curry_2010-09-25_judithcurry" /> Among those also praising the book was ], who called it "probably the best book about the Hockey Stick."<ref>http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010091511627/life-and-science/energy-and-environment/book-review-the-hockey-stick-illusion-climategate-and-the-corruption-of-science.html</ref> A number of other newspaper and magazine articles have praised the book, including reviews in '']'' <ref>Brannan, Joe, "", ''Geoscientist'', August 2010.</ref>, '']''<ref>Dawson, John, "", '']'', July 29, 2010, Volume LIV Number 7-8.</ref>, '']''<ref name="Booker_2010-01-30_Telegraph" /><ref name="Booker_2010-07-04_Telegraph" />, '']'' <ref name="Ridley_2010-02-03_Spectator" />, '']'' magazine <ref name="prospect"/>, '']''<ref name="Bruce Robbins">{{cite news|url=http://beta.thecourier.co.uk/Living/Outdoors/article/348/bishop-hill-the-blogger-putting-climate-science-to-test.html|title=Bishop Hill: the blogger putting climate science to test|last=Robbins|first=Bruce|date=2 April 2010|work=The Courier|publisher=The Courier|accessdate=25 May 2010}}</ref>, and the '']''.<ref name="Foster_2010-07-09_FP" />


However, several reviewers criticized the book as providing cover for individuals opposing action on climate change. ], writing in the '']'', criticised the book as only being able to "cut the mustard with tabloid intellectuals but not with most scientists." Noting that Montford has not made any relevant scientific contributions, he commented that the book "might serve a psychological need in those who can't face their own complicity in climate change, but at the end of the day it's exactly what it says on the box: a write-up of somebody else's blog" and criticised the book as "at worst, ... a yapping terrier worrying the bull; it cripples action, potentially costing lives and livelihoods."<ref name="McIntosh">{{cite journal|last=McIntosh|first=Alastair|title=Reviews - The Hockey Stick Illusion|journal=Scottish Review of Books|volume=6|issue=3|year=2010|url=http://www.scottishreviewofbooks.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=357:reviews&catid=36:volume-6-issue-3-2010&Itemid=85}}</ref> Montford's book was also reviewed unfavorably for similar reasons by ] in '']'',<ref name="Ward_2010-08-25_Guardian" /> '']''<ref>Nick, Hewitt. "", ''Chemistry World'', September, 2010.</ref> and in a second '']'' review.<ref>{{cite web|last=Joyner|first=Richard|title=Mean-spirited scepticism|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/08/mean-spirited-scepticism-montford-hockey-stic/|date=2010-08-23}}</ref> Other reviewers criticized the book as providing cover for individuals opposing ]. ] in '']'' described how "Montford's entertaining conspiracy yarn" presented arguments based on "glaring inaccuracies".<ref name="Ward_2010-08-25_Guardian" /> In '']'', Ward said Montford's "incredible yarn is based on a misleading and one-sided version of events, littered with inaccuracies".<ref name="Ward GeoS">{{cite news|url=http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/site/GSL/lang/en/page8394.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007062942/http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/site/GSL/lang/en/page8394.html|archive-date=2010-10-07|title=Not so jolly hockey stick|last=Ward|first=Bob|date=October 2010|work=]|access-date=8 April 2011}}</ref> Nick Hewitt in '']'' outlined the basic physics of climate change, and said that, unable to dispute this, ], "(or sceptics as they are disingenuously described in this book) have made sustained attempts to discredit climate scientists and the way they work", concluding that "Readers of ''Chemistry World'' will have far better things to do than read this pedantic book."<ref name="Hewitt">{{citation|last=Hewitt|first=Nick|url=http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2010/September/Reviews/ClimateChangeScepticism.asp| title=The hockey stick illusion: climategate and the corruption of science|journal=Chemistry World|year=2010|volume=7|issue=9}}</ref> Richard Joyner, writing in '']'', described it as "a McCarthyite book that uses the full range of smear tactics to peddle climate change denial."<ref name="Joyner">{{cite web|last=Joyner|first=Richard|title=Mean-spirited scepticism|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/08/mean-spirited-scepticism-montford-hockey-stic/|date=2010-08-23}}</ref>


==See also== ==See also==
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*] *]
*] *]
⚫ *]
*] *]
*] *]
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<!-- order by Author_date_publisher--> <!-- order by Author_date_publisher-->

<ref name="Booker_2010-01-30_Telegraph">{{cite news
⚫ | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7113582/Amazongate-new-evidence-of-the-IPCCs-failures.html
| title=Amazongate: new evidence of the IPCC's failures
| last=Booker
⚫ | first=Christopher
⚫ | date=2010-01-30
| publisher=]
⚫ | accessdate= 2010-05-14
| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5sHQhQ0IN
⚫ | archivedate = 2010-08-26
| quote = Montford's book, if inevitably technical, expertly recounts a remarkable scientific detective story.

| location=London}}</ref>

<ref name="Booker_2010-07-04_Telegraph">{{cite news
| url=http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/sunday-telegraph-the-london-uk/mi_8064/is_20100704/kidnap-sponsored-state/ai_n54318813/
| date=2010-07-04
| title =Kidnap - as sponsored by the state
| author=]
| publisher=]
| page=31
| accessdate=2010-07-14
}}</ref>

<ref name="Curry_2010-09-25_judithcurry"> by ], September 25, 2010.</ref>

<ref name="Montford_2008_Bishophill">{{Harvnb|Montford|2008}}</ref> <ref name="Montford_2008_Bishophill">{{Harvnb|Montford|2008}}</ref>


<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p13">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|p= 13<!--|loc= chapter 1-->}}</ref> <ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p13">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|p= 13<!--|loc= chapter 1-->}}</ref>


<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p30">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|p= 30<!--|loc= chapter 1-->}}</ref> <ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p30">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|pp= 19–30<!--|loc= chapter 1-->}}</ref>

⚫ <ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p57">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|p= 57<!--|loc= chapter 3-->}}</ref>


<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p151-401">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|p= 151—401<!--|loc= chapter 6-11-->}}</ref> <ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p57">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|pp= 57–87<!--|loc= chapter 3-->}}</ref>


<ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p402-449">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|p= 402—49<!--|loc= chapter 17-->}}</ref> <ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p151-401">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|pp= 151–401<!--|loc= chapter 6-11-->}}</ref>


⚫ <ref name="Montford_2010_Stacey_p402-449">{{Harvnb|Montford|2010|pp= 402–49<!--|loc= chapter 17-->}}</ref>
<ref name="Foster_2010-07-09_FP">Foster, Peter, "", '']'', July 9, 2010.</ref>


<ref name="prospect">{{cite news <ref name="prospect">{{cite news
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| date = 2010-03-10 | date = 2010-03-10
| title = The case against the hockey stick | title = The case against the hockey stick
| author = ] | author = Matt Ridley
| author-link = Matt Ridley
| work = ] (]) | work = ] (])
| accessdate = 2010-04-03 | access-date = 2010-04-03
}}</ref> }}</ref>


<ref name="Ridley_2010-02-03_Spectator">{{cite news <ref name="Ridley_2010-02-03_Spectator">{{cite news
|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/print/politics/all/5749853/the-global-warming-guerrillas.thtml |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2010/02/the-global-warming-guerrillas/
|title=The global warming guerrillas |title=The global warming guerrillas
|author = ] |author = Matt Ridley
|author-link = Matt Ridley
|date=2010-02-03 |date=2010-02-03
|publisher=] (]) |publisher=] (])
|accessdate=2010-04-09 |access-date=2017-01-08
}}</ref> }}</ref>


<ref name="Ward_2010-08-25_Guardian"> {{cite news <ref name="Ward_2010-08-25_Guardian">{{cite news
| url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/19/climate-sceptics-mislead-public | url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/19/climate-sceptics-mislead-public
| title = Did climate sceptics mislead the public over the significance of the hacked emails? | title = Did climate sceptics mislead the public over the significance of the hacked emails?
| author = ] | author = Bob Ward
| author-link = Bob Ward (communications director)
| work = ] | work = ]
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100825121029/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/19/climate-sceptics-mislead-public
| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5sHNPBO1d
| archivedate = 2010-08-26 | archive-date = 2010-08-25
| accessdate = 2010-08-19 | url-status = live
⚫ | access-date = 2010-08-19
| quote = ''This article was amended on 20 August 2010 following a complaint from Andrew Montford to make it clear that we did not mean to imply that Andrew Montford deliberately published false information in order to support the arguments made in his book. We apologise if such a false impression was given. '' | quote = ''This article was amended on 20 August 2010 following a complaint from Andrew Montford to make it clear that we did not mean to imply that Andrew Montford deliberately published false information in order to support the arguments made in his book. We apologise if such a false impression was given. ''

| location=London | location=London
| date=2010-08-19}}</ref> | date=2010-08-19}}</ref>
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<!-- <!--
Here are some currently unused sources Here are some currently unused sources



<ref name="Ward_2010-08-19_Guardian"> {{cite news <ref name="Ward_2010-08-19_Guardian"> {{cite news
| url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/19/climate-sceptics-mislead-public | url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/19/climate-sceptics-mislead-public
| title = Did climate sceptics mislead the public over the significance of the hacked emails? | title = Did climate sceptics mislead the public over the significance of the hacked emails?
| author = ] | author = Bob Ward
| author-link = Bob Ward
| work = ] | work = ]
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100825121029/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/19/climate-sceptics-mislead-public
| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5sESwSkX3
| archivedate = 2010-08-25 | archive-date = 2010-08-25
| accessdate = 2010-08-19 | url-status = live
⚫ | access-date = 2010-08-19
| quote = Montford's entertaining conspiracy yarn reaches two apparently devastating conclusions about the work of climate scientists, partly based on his analysis of the hacked email messages. | quote = Montford's entertaining conspiracy yarn reaches two apparently devastating conclusions about the work of climate scientists, partly based on his analysis of the hacked email messages.

| location=London | location=London
| date=2010-08-19}}</ref> | date=2010-08-19}}</ref>
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|date=2010-03-25 |date=2010-03-25
|work=Times Higher Education |work=Times Higher Education
|accessdate=26 April 2010 |access-date=26 April 2010
}}</ref> }}</ref>


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| date=2010-02-27 | date=2010-02-27
| title =A perfect storm is brewing for the IPCC | title =A perfect storm is brewing for the IPCC
| author=] | author=Christopher Booker
⚫ | author-link=Christopher Booker
| publisher=www.telegraph.co.uk | publisher=www.telegraph.co.uk
| accessdate= 2010-04-03 | access-date= 2010-04-03
⚫ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100523101234/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7332803/A-perfect-storm-is-brewing-for-the-IPCC.html
| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5sHRm8vhl
| archivedate = 2010-08-26 | archive-date = 2010-05-23
| url-status=live

| location=London}}</ref> | location=London}}</ref>


<ref name="Fisher_2010_JofEL">{{Cite journal <ref name="Fisher_2010_JofEL">{{Cite journal
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| coauthors= Pasky Pascual and Wendy Wagner | coauthors= Pasky Pascual and Wendy Wagner
| title = Understanding Environmental Models in Their Legal and Regulatory Context | title = Understanding Environmental Models in Their Legal and Regulatory Context
| journal = Journal of Environmental Law, ], ] | journal = Journal of Environmental Law
| volume = 22 | volume = 22
| issue = 2 | issue = 2
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| year = 2010 | year = 2010
| url = http://jel.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/2/251 | url = http://jel.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/2/251
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100807174246/http://jel.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/2/251
| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5rFIPyTmx
| archivedate = 2010-07-15 | archive-date = 2010-08-07
| url-status = live
| doi = 10.1093/jel/eqq012 | doi = 10.1093/jel/eqq012
| quote = 1.1 The Prevalence of Models in Environmental Regulation In the policy sphere many of these disputes have been in relation to policy-catalyst models. This is not surprising. As such models are establishing the premises for potential state action, it is obvious they will be controversial with different actors arguing for and against such action.36 Moreover, these disputes will also involve a range of public and private institutions as the models in question are derived from a range of sources.37 Notes 37 A W Montford, The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science (Stacey International, London 2010).
| quote = 1.1 The Prevalence of Models in Environmental Regulation


In the policy sphere many of these disputes have been in relation to policy-catalyst models. This is not
surprising. As such models are establishing the premises for potential state action, it is obvious they will be
controversial with different actors arguing for and against such action.36 Moreover, these disputes will
also involve a range of public and private institutions as the models in question are derived from a range of
sources.37


Notes


37 A W Montford, The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science (Stacey International, London 2010).
}}</ref> }}</ref>


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| month = 05 | month = 05
| url = http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27939/1/HartwellPaper_English_version.pdf | url = http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27939/1/HartwellPaper_English_version.pdf
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100705000455/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27939/1/HartwellPaper_English_version.pdf
| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5rFHmwWwi
| archivedate = 2010-07-15 | url-status = live
⚫ | archive-date = 2010-07-05
}}</ref> }}</ref>
--> -->
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| publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd | publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
| year=2009 | year=2009
| isbn=1441110526 | isbn=978-1-4411-1052-7
}} }}
* {{cite web
* {{cite journal|last=Montford|first=Andrew|title=Caspar and the Jesus paper|journal=Bishop Hill|date=August 11, 2008|url=http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2008/8/11/caspar-and-the-jesus-paper.html |ref=harv}}<!-- {{cite web
| ref=Montford2008
| last = Montford | last = Montford
| first = Andrew | first = Andrew
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| title=Caspar and the Jesus paper | title=Caspar and the Jesus paper
| date=2008-08-11 | date=2008-08-11
| accessdate=2010-04-01--> | access-date=2010-04-01
}}
* {{cite book * {{cite book
| ref=CITEREFMontford2010
| last=Montford | last=Montford
| first=Andrew | first=Andrew
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| publisher=Stacey International | publisher=Stacey International
| pages=482 | pages=482
| isbn=1906768358 | isbn=978-1-906768-35-5
}} }}
* {{cite journal |author=PAGES 2k Consortium| title=A global multiproxy database for temperature reconstructions of the Common Era - Scientific Data | journal=Scientific Data | date=11 July 2017 | volume=4 | issue=1 | page=170088 | doi=10.1038/sdata.2017.88 | pmid=28696409 | pmc=5505119}}


==External links== ==External links==
* at ] * at ]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Hockey Stick Illusion}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hockey Stick Illusion}}
] ]
]
] ]
]

]
]
⚫ ]

Latest revision as of 05:36, 13 December 2023

2010 book by Andrew Montford

The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science
AuthorA.W. Montford
LanguageEnglish
SubjectClimate change
PublisherStacey International
Publication date2010
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages482
ISBN978-1-906768-35-5

The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science is a book written by Andrew Montford and published by Stacey International in 2010, which promotes climate change denial.

Montford, an accountant and science publisher who publishes a blog called 'Bishop Hill', writes about the "hockey stick graph" of global temperatures for the last 1000 years. The book has been criticized for its inaccuracies.

Background

According to Montford, in 2005 he followed a link from a British political blog to the Climate Audit website. While perusing the site, Montford noticed that new readers often asked if there was an introduction to the site and the story of the hockey stick controversy. In 2008, after the story of Caspar Ammann's "purported" replication of the hockey stick became public, Montford wrote his own summary of the controversy.

Montford published the summary on his Bishop Hill blog and called it Caspar and the Jesus paper. Montford states that word of his article caused the traffic to his blog to surge from several hundred hits a day to 30,000 in just three days. Montford adds that there was also an attempt to use his article as a source in Misplaced Pages. After Montford saw the hockey stick graph used in a science book manuscript he was reviewing, he decided to expand his article into book form.

Synopsis

IPCC FAR 1990 Figure 7.1.c (red) based on Lamb 1965 showing central England temperatures; central England temperatures to 2007 shown from Jones et al. 2009 (green dashed line). The high medieval temperatures contrast with the "hockey stick" MBH99 40 year average (blue, uncertainties omitted) and Moberg et al. 2005 low frequency signal (black).
The original northern hemisphere hockey stick graph of MBH99, smoothed curve shown in blue with its uncertainty range in light blue, overlaid with green dots showing the 30-year global average of the 2013 reconstruction by the PAGES 2k Consortium 2017. The red curve shows measured global mean temperature, according to HadCRUT4 data from 1850 to 2013.

The Hockey Stick Illusion first outlines a brief history of climate change science with particular emphasis on the description of the Medieval Warm Period in the first IPCC report in 1990, with its inclusion of a schematic based on central England temperatures which Montford describes as a representation of common knowledge at that time. He then argues that a need to overturn this "well-embedded paradigm" was met by the 1998 publication by Michael E. Mann, Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes' of their "hockey stick graph" in Nature. The book describes how Steve McIntyre first became interested in the graph in 2002 and the difficulties he found in replicating the results of "MBH98" (the original 1998 study) using available datasets, and further data which Mann gave him on request. It details the publication of a paper by McIntyre and Ross McKitrick in 2003 which criticized MBH98, and follows with Mann and his associates' rebuttals. The book recounts reactions to the dispute over the graph, including investigations by the National Academy of Sciences and Edward Wegman and hearings held on the graph before the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Efforts taken by other scientists to verify Mann's work and McIntyre's and others' responses to those efforts are described.

The last chapter of the book deals with what the book calls "Climategate". Here, the author compares several e-mails to the evidence he presents in The Hockey Stick Illusion. Montford focuses on those e-mails dealing with the peer review process and how these pertained to Stephen McIntyre's efforts to obtain the data and methodology from Mann's and other paleoclimatologists' published works.

Reception

Montford had set out to provide a more detailed explanation than the primers Ross McKitrick had written describing the case he and McIntyre had produced against the MBH climate reconstructions, and when McKitrick contributed to a 2014 compilation published by the Institute of Public Affairs think-tank, he opened with a sentence saying the "best place to start when learning about the hockey stick is Andrew Montford's superb book". Matt Ridley discussed it in The Spectator, and in Prospect magazine said the book was "written with grace and flair" and deserved to win prizes, while conceding that he had financial interests in coal mining.

Other reviewers criticized the book as providing cover for individuals opposing action on climate change. Bob Ward in The Guardian described how "Montford's entertaining conspiracy yarn" presented arguments based on "glaring inaccuracies". In Geoscientist, Ward said Montford's "incredible yarn is based on a misleading and one-sided version of events, littered with inaccuracies". Nick Hewitt in Chemistry World outlined the basic physics of climate change, and said that, unable to dispute this, climate deniers, "(or sceptics as they are disingenuously described in this book) have made sustained attempts to discredit climate scientists and the way they work", concluding that "Readers of Chemistry World will have far better things to do than read this pedantic book." Richard Joyner, writing in Prospect, described it as "a McCarthyite book that uses the full range of smear tactics to peddle climate change denial."

See also

References

  1. ^ Hewitt, Nick (2010), "The hockey stick illusion: climategate and the corruption of science", Chemistry World, 7 (9)
  2. ^ Joyner, Richard (2010-08-23). "Mean-spirited scepticism".
  3. ^ Matt Ridley (2010-02-03). "The global warming guerrillas". The Spectator (spectator.co.uk). Retrieved 2017-01-08.
  4. "House of Commons Science and Technology Committee - Memorandum submitted by Andrew Montford (CRU 36) - The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, Session 2009-2010 - Science and Technology Committee". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  5. ^ Montford 2010, p. 13
  6. Montford 2008
  7. P. D. Jones et al., The Holocene 19,1 (2009) pp. 3–49, High-resolution palaeoclimatology of the last millennium: a review of current status and future prospects Appendix A
  8. Montford 2010, pp. 19–30
  9. Montford 2010, pp. 57–87
  10. Montford 2010, pp. 151–401
  11. Montford 2010, pp. 402–49
  12. Montford 2010, p. 13.
  13. preprint from Climate Change: The Facts 2014, Institute for Policy Analysis, Australia.
  14. John Roskam; Alan J. Moran (2014). Climate Change: The Facts 2014. Institute of Public Affairs. ISBN 978-0-986398-30-8.
  15. Matt Ridley (2010-03-10). "The case against the hockey stick". Prospect (prospectmagazine.co.uk). Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  16. Bob Ward (2010-08-19). "Did climate sceptics mislead the public over the significance of the hacked emails?". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-08-19. This article was amended on 20 August 2010 following a complaint from Andrew Montford to make it clear that we did not mean to imply that Andrew Montford deliberately published false information in order to support the arguments made in his book. We apologise if such a false impression was given.
  17. Ward, Bob (October 2010). "Not so jolly hockey stick". Geoscientist. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 8 April 2011.

Bibliography and further reading

External links

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