Bishop Hill Some MSM attention
Jan 28, 2010 Books Climate: HSI Yesterday's Daily Express (a mid-market tabloid for those of you who don't know it) had a two page feature on the climate scandals, and gave The Hockey Stick Illusion a passing name check.
WHAT'S THE FUSS ABOUT THE HOCKEY STICK GRAPH?
Much of the current panic began in 1998 when Dr Michael Mann and
his co-authors published their now-discredited 'hockey stick' temperature plot. named for its shape that showed a long trend of steady temperature drop over a 1,000 year period and a sudden rise since the early nineties, it became the foundation stone for the global warming brigade.New book, The Hockey Stick Illusion, by scientist Andrew Montford, tells how the figures don't stack up and how lone researcher Steve McIntyre exposed the myth. In fact the hockey stick, based on a computer generated model ignores natural climate fluctuations in the past. Christopher Booker, an author who believes the theory of man-made global warming has been disproved describes the original work as "one of the most comprehensively discredited artefacts in the history,of science' and adds: "Temperatures have always gone up and down over the years. The trend since 2001 is down. Noone knows what is going to happen but almost all the computer models on which man-made climate
change claims are based have been shown to be wrong.
There are a few nuances that I'd take issue with, and I'd not normally be described as a scientist, working in scientific publishing rather than research, but all in all I can't complain (apart from the fact that they recommend Booker's book at the end rather than mine!)
Reader Comments (14)
I'm helfway through your book. It is excellent and should be necessary reading for all politicians (not that any but a tiny fraction would understand it). The trouble is that your book is stopping me doing all the other things I should be getting on with.
".... they recommend Booker's book at the end rather than mine!". Oh, come on Bishop, the revenue from books is nothing compared to the checks you get from the petrol industry.
I'm still waiting for the delivery of the book I ordered way back here in Europe, but they announced that it will soon be available.
Cogito
The cheque must be delayed in the post. Is there a strike on?
I'm reading your book and I'll give it a 5-star review on Amazon as soon as I finish it. I think it's an invaluable historical document and it will probably be quoted in decades to come as a standard book on what will go down in history as a bizarre episode similar to Lysenkoism. In a rational world - or, as far as rational people are concerned - no further information should be necessary beyond what Rosanne D'Arrigo (page 236) revealed about the cherrypicking that is taken for granted in dendrochronology, and the description of Mann's PCA method. Nothing more than that should be necessary to dismiss the hockey stick (and, arguably, the whole attempt to use tree rings to recreate temperature profiles of past centuries) as nonsense. That so many apparently smart individuals have gone to so much trouble to defend them, and going into so much detail that obscures the key issues, is a sign of something very wrong going on. At a psychological level, the contrast between Steve McIntyre's competence, honesty and integrity and Michael Mann's incompetence, dishonesty and lack of integrity are made so glaringly obvious, I can only wonder what goes through the heads of those who are Mann apologists while demonizing McIntyre.
Antony, your book is excellent.
Today, in the council meeting, I presented my fellow councillor and Leader of Edinburgh Council with a copy.
I can't believe it. Climategate ad the FOI illegalities at CRU were on the BBC 6 o'clock news. Mind you Shukman assured us the basic science of AGW was still sound!
Cameron
Thanks - I hope he enjoys it. (It's Andrew, by the way!)
Apologies Andrew.
She is Jenny Dawe. Though she later said it looked quite interesting, in receiving it, she wondered if the Flat Earth Society still existed and if I was a member of it! Which underlines that there is a huge mountain to climb in getting a fair hearing for the information you have brought together.
Best wishes
I don't suppose she will be able to carry off a performance like that for much longer.
Excellent to see the MSM being forced to remove the blinkers and ear plugs. They dont quite have the story straight yet, but at least they're discussing it.
Any article by the Daily Express on almost any subject could be interpreted as counter-productive, since the Express regularly comes out with the most ludicrous headlines (such as "house prices booming" immediately before they crashed last year). It's good to see the book getting exposure, but it needs a more respected newspaper on its side. Reviews from the Guardian, Independent and FT might be more useful.
Is there any chance that we can refer to this as an "ice-hockey stick" (for that is what it is) as most British people would assume a (field) hockey stick to have a curly end and this is clearly not the case here?
Anyone else agree?
Gary
I make that point in the book