The book begins with a few key scientists who have found unusual results within the murky, ill-defined field of climate and weather studies. They start to work together and through epic twists and turns, the evidence mounts. It seems the world is warming at an unprecedented rate due to human activity, and the results could be catastrophic. By the end, it is an epic tale involving not only a vast collection of scientists, but entire governments and the general public.

It is an easy read, and does an outstanding job of separating the wheat from the chaff - it only discusses research that almost all scientists would agree is the most important and reliable, ignoring the rest. Until his retirement this year, Spencer Weart was the director of the Centre for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics - which speaks to his ability to tackle this formidable task.