The Story of More

February 1, 2020
Following a critically and popular debut, the lab girl turns teacher in a course on climate change. As most readers know, a bestseller gives a fledgling author a bigger megaphone. In her follow-up to Lab Girl (2016), Jahren (Geosciences/Univ. of Oslo) uses it to show how issues that are clearly important to her are crucial to all of humanity and the survival of the world as we know it. She doesn't use scare tactics or shrill warnings; unfortunately, "we kind of stopped listening. By now we're quite practiced at not listening to things scientists say over and over again." The author cites warnings about the dangers of fossil fuels dating to the 1950s and the linking of fossil fuels and the threat of global warming "as early as 1856." Few listened then, and now the crisis is urgent. In matter-of-fact detail and conversational prose, Jahren interweaves biographical information about her Midwestern girlhood and takes readers on a journey with her to her current home in Oslo, where she moved in 2016 "because I am worried about the future of science in America." She methodically takes us through discussions of food, especially regarding changes in production and consumption, and energy and the planet as a whole, emphasizing one central point: "What was only a faint drumbeat as I began to research this book now rings in my head like a mantra: Use Less and Share More." Over and over, the author shows how the world divides between those who consume and waste more and those who live on much less. She explores not only food scarcity, but also lack of electricity and sanitary water conditions. She clearly shows how the amount of waste created by the privileged could provide plenty for those less privileged. "The earth is sick," she writes, "and we suspect that it's something bad," and a cure begins with individual action but will require significant shifts in values and practices. A concise and personal yet universally applicable examination of a problem that affects everyone on planet Earth.

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Starred review from March 1, 2020

Geobiologist Jahren (Univ. of Oslo, Norway; Lab Girl) shares material she gathered for a course on climate change in this fascinating, easy-to-understand read. With the earth's population burgeoning to seven billion, advances in agriculture and meat and fish production allow farmers to produce more food. However, these improved crops and animals necessitate the ever-growing use of pesticides, fertilizers, and antibiotics. Using a plethora of facts and figures, Jahren traces the history of fossil fuel formation and usage, carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, evidence of a warming world, and melting ice and rising sea levels, all leading to a possible sixth mass extinction. The pursuit of more, explains the author, especially from the Unites States, the UK, Japan, and Australia, causes residents of these countries to use a disproportionate amount of resources relative to their population size. Jahren concludes by asking readers to define their values and make changes to the way they live to help ameliorate continuing damage to the earth. Citations for statistics are included. VERDICT A well-researched if sobering introduction to the history and causes of climate change that should be read by all.--Sue O'Brien, Downers Grove, IL

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2020
Esteemed scientist Jahren follows her bestselling memoir, Lab Girl (2016), with a brief overview of human habits and inventions that led to the current climate crisis. In concise chapters patterned after a course she designed and taught on climate change, Jahren dips into such topics as population growth, agricultural methods, meat consumption, and humanity's overwhelming dependence (especially in the U.S.) on electricity. Peppering the text with pertinent statistics and pointing out the flaws in potential solutions, Jahren zips along at a devastating pace, making it clear that many bad choices have led us to the current planetary predicament. Occasionally sharing the sort of intimate insights that made her memoir such a hit, Jahren makes the point that climate change is personal for everyone. This is basically a lecture on broad and urgent scientific topics shaped into five-page chapters and addressing the causes of global warming, the rapidly escalating consequences, and what we can do to avert the worst. For readers who want a succinct and lucid primer on climate-change basics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)