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Revision as of 20:49, 22 April 2010 view sourceHipocrite (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers22,615 edits not in citations given, citations are just links.← Previous edit Revision as of 20:51, 22 April 2010 view source Hipocrite (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers22,615 edits actually, rv to me - added text has nothing to do with this bookNext edit →
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==Background== ==Background==


In 2005, Andrew Montford, a Chartered Accountant<ref name="The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)">{{cite web|url=http://www.icas.org.uk/directory/membyname.asp?Alpha=M&PageNo=130|title=The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)|last=ICAS|publisher=ICAS|accessdate=19 April 2010}}</ref> who also works in science publishing, <ref name="Anglosphere Editing Limited">{{cite web|url=http://www.anglosphere.co.uk/people/|title=Anglosphere Editing Limited|last=About Us|first=People|publisher=Anglosphere Editing Limited|language=English|accessdate=19 April 2010|location=Scotland}}</ref><ref name="postscript_2010-03-25_THE" /> and is author of the blog, ] <ref name="Leigh_2010-02-04_Guardian"/>, after following a link from a blog posted by ] to ] changed the blog's focus to ] from a ]. Montford`s layperson's explanations of the Hockey Stick debate have received favorable comment from readers such as ]<ref name="Anthony Watts">{{cite web|url=http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/09/30/a-must-read-the-yamal-hockey-stick-implosion-in-laymans-terms/|title=A must read: The Yamal Hockey Stick Implosion in laymans terms|last=Watts|first=Anthony|date=30 09 2009|publisher=Watts Up With That|language=English|accessdate=19 April 2010}}</ref>, ] <ref name="Roger A. Pielke, Jr.">{{cite web|url=http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2009/09/has-steve-mcintyre-found-something.html|title=Has Steve McIntyre Found Something Really Important? |last=Pielke, Jr.|first=Roger A.|date=30 SEPTEMBER 2009|publisher=Roger A. Pielke, Jr.|language=English|accessdate=19 April 2010}}</ref> and in '']'', specifically his summaries of posts from ] in his entry titled <ref name="Matt Ridley">{{cite news|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/print/politics/all/5749853/the-global-warming-guerrillas.thtml|title=The Global Warming Guerrillas|last=Ridley|first=Matt|date=3 February 2010|publisher=The Spectator|accessdate=9 April 2010}}</ref> In 2005, Andrew Montford, a Chartered Accountant<ref name="The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)">{{cite web|url=http://www.icas.org.uk/directory/membyname.asp?Alpha=M&PageNo=130|title=The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)|last=ICAS|publisher=ICAS|accessdate=19 April 2010}}</ref> who also works in science publishing, <ref name="Anglosphere Editing Limited">{{cite web|url=http://www.anglosphere.co.uk/people/|title=Anglosphere Editing Limited|last=About Us|first=People|publisher=Anglosphere Editing Limited|language=English|accessdate=19 April 2010|location=Scotland}}</ref><ref name="postscript_2010-03-25_THE" /> and is author of the blog, ] <ref name="Leigh_2010-02-04_Guardian"/>, said that after he wrote "a paper charting the hockey stick story" readers of his site went from 300 to 30,000,<ref name="Robbins_2010-04-02_Courier" /> with many of the visitors saying he should write a book on the hockey stick. <ref name="The Hockey Stick Illusion">{{cite web|url=http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2009/11/21/the-hockey-stick-illusion.html|title=The Hockey Stick Illusion|last=Montford|first=Andrew|date=Nov 21, 2009|publisher=Bishop Hill|language=English|accessdate=20 April 2010}}</ref>


==Synopsis== ==Synopsis==

Revision as of 20:51, 22 April 2010

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

The Hockey Stick Illusion (subtitle Climategate and the Corruption of Science) is a book written by Andrew Montford, who is skeptical of man made climate change. Stacey International published the book in 2010. The book covers the history of the "hockey stick graph" from a sceptical perspective.

Background

In 2005, Andrew Montford, a Chartered Accountant who also works in science publishing, and is author of the blog, Bishop Hill , said that after he wrote "a paper charting the hockey stick story" readers of his site went from 300 to 30,000, with many of the visitors saying he should write a book on the hockey stick.

Synopsis

Main articles: Hockey stick controversy and Climatic Research Unit email controversy

In its seventeen chapters, The Hockey Stick Illusion relates the story of Michael E. Mann, Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes's "hockey stick graph" from a skeptical perspective. Starting with a brief summary of the consensus view prior to 1998, and the first incarnation of the hockey stick graph, the book traces the history of what Montford claims is the slow unraveling of that same graph.

The last few chapters of the book deal with the what the book refers to as the "Climategate controversy." Here, the author compares several e-mails to the evidence he presents in The Hockey Stick Illusion. Montford focuses on those e-mails which dealt with the peer review process and how these pertained to McIntyre's efforts to get the data and methodology from Mann's and other paleoclimatologists' published works.

More than a dozen subsequent scientific papers, using various statistical techniques and combinations of proxy records, produced reconstructions broadly similar to the original MBH hockey-stick graph, with variations in how flat the pre-20th century "shaft" appears. Almost all of them supported the IPCC conclusion that the warmest decade in 1000 years was probably that at the end of the 20th century.

Reception

The book has been praised for the quality of its writing and likened to a detective story. Matt Ridley described the book as "one of the best science books in years" and complimented the way it dissected what he called "a great scientific mistake". Christopher Booker also recommends the book as a "full account" of the IPCC's troubles. Writing in Discovery News, Discovery Institute co-founder George Gilder compared the portrayal of Stephen McIntyre's pursuit of the data underlying the "hockey stick" graph with the lead detective character in the Columbo televison series.

An article by Bruce Robbins in The Courier states that the book shows that the science involved in climate change has been corrupted by political and environmental agendas. Robbins concludes, "The evidence against man-made global warming is growing and the Hockey Stick Illusion stands as the definitive account of a pivotal point in climate change science."

See also

References

  1. ^ David Leigh, Charles Arthur and Rob Evans (2010-02-04). "Detectives question climate change scientist over email leaks". Guardian. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  2. ICAS. "The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)". ICAS. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  3. About Us, People. "Anglosphere Editing Limited". Scotland: Anglosphere Editing Limited. Retrieved 19 April 2010. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. "Heated discussions (postscript)". Times Higher Education. 2010-03-25.
  5. ^ Bruce Robbins (2010-04-02). "Climate of Change". The Courier.
  6. Montford, Andrew (Nov 21, 2009). "The Hockey Stick Illusion". Bishop Hill. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  7. Fred Pearce (9 February 2010). "Part four: Climate change debate overheated after sceptics grasped 'hockey stick' | Environment". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  8. Matt Ridley (2010-02-03). "The global warming guerrillas". The Spectator (spectator.co.uk). Retrieved 2010-04-09.
  9. "Spencer: It's time for Joe Sestak to name names". www.delcotimes.com. Retrieved Thursday, April 01, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. Matt Ridley (2010-03-10). "The case against the hockey stick". Prospect (prospectmagazine.co.uk). Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  11. Christopher Booker (7:49PM GMT 27 Feb 2010). "A perfect storm is brewing for the IPCC". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved Saturday, Apr 03 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  12. George Gilder (2010-02-25). "George Gilder Hails "The Hockey Stick Illusion" on the Science Scandal of Global Warming". discoverynews.org. Retrieved 2010-02-25. In this story, the Columbo figure is Steve McIntyre, a Canadian mining consultant, and A.W. Montford's book tells the gripping and suspenseful details of McIntyre's pursuit of the self-denominated "hockey team" led by Michael Mann, who wrote the key chapters on his own work for the IPCC, and Phil Jones, who maintains the temperature record used by the IPCC to document the "Hockey Stick" claiming allegedly unprecedented and anomalous anthropogenic global warming in the Twentieth Century while denying that any comparable or greater warming occurred in the Medieval period.

Further reading

External links

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