Clearing the Air - Hannah Ritchie *****

As deputy editor of Our World in Data and senior researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford, Hannah Ritchie is ideally placed to get a balanced view of the state of the climate, what we're doing to and how we can try to fix it. And, perhaps surprisingly after reading the doom-laden The Fate of the World by Bill McGuire, it's a reasonably positive read.

Ritchie does not set out to sugar coat things, and is no kind of climate change denier. But in answering 50 key questions about our climate and its future she is often able to provide a nuanced response. She assures us that it really isn't too late to take action and that all contributions are helpful (even if, admittedly, we need the big players to do more). So, for instance, in answering 'My country only emits 1% of the world's emissions; surely it's too small to make a difference', she points out that 36% of emissions come from countries whose emissions are 'too small'. 

Each question is responded to by a one sentence summary answer, a detailed breakdown (often involving appropriate statistics), a 'What we need to do' section and finishes with 'Things to bear in mind.' In reality, I doubt if a book like this will ever convince a climate change sceptic, but as long as you have the frame of mind that we can make a difference, and it's worth doing something about it, this is a great guide to support you - and perhaps to persuade friends and relations who aren't quite there yet.

There were a few points where I wasn't totally convinced by Ritchie's arguments. For example, in answering 'Aren't electric cars only good for shorter journeys' she points out that 'the average electric car can now travel more than 220 miles'. But in reality that's just the best possible case and doesn't take into account, for example, that range is not for high speed driving, can drop by up to 40% in winter and doesn't reflect that we are told to only charge to 80% capacity most of the time. She also notes we need to 'make sure there is good public charging infrastructure' - but the reality is in many places it isn't good yet and could take many years before it is.

Another example is that biofuels get a relatively positive write up, which is concerning when you consider the reality of indirect land use change, where extra land, currently a carbon sink, has to be taken into growing use to accommodate the food crops displaced by growing material to burn. 

These are relatively small moans, though. This is one of the best climate change books I've read that gives hope rather than despair as long as we keep moving in the right direction. Where the doom mongers incline us to think there's no point doing anything, Ritchie gives us a positive blueprint for making the best of where we are and where we're going.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all our online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here