| The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial | |
| Author: | David Lipsky |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Climate Change |
| Genre: | Nonfiction |
| Publisher: | W. W. Norton |
| Pub Date: | July 11, 2023 |
| Media Type: | Print, e-book |
| Pages: | 496 pp. (hardcover) |
| Isbn: | 978-0393866704 |
| Isbn Note: | (Hardcover) |
| Preceded By: | Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself |
The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial is the third nonfiction book by National Magazine Award-winning American writer David Lipsky.[1] The book tells the story of two parallel histories: the development of climate science and its dangerous inversion by climate deniers. It was published on July 11, 2023, by Norton.[2] The book is a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2023,[3] an Amazon Best Book of 2023,[4] a New Yorker Best Book of 2023,[5] and a New York Times Editors' Choice.[6]
The book concentrates on the overall story of the people who discovered and attempted to conceal climate change: "Lipsky succinctly summarizes The Parrot and the Igloo as follows: 'The story this book tells is about the people who made our world; then the people who realized there might be a problem; then the people who lied about that problem.'”[7]
In their starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book "captivating and disturbing": "An important book that will leave your head shaking."[8] Publishers Weekly, in its own starred review, called the work "revelatory."[9] Zoë Schlanger of The New York Times wrote, "David Lipsky spins top-flight climate literature into cliffhanger entertainment…Lipsky’s book is a project of maximum ambition. He retells the entire climate story, from the dawn of electricity to the dire straits of our present day [and] makes it appropriately infuriating and page turning. He says it up front: He wants this to be like a Netflix series, bingeable."[10] David Shribman of The Boston Globe called it, "An excellent, approachable primer on the science of global warming and a dizzying account of how long we have known so much about an issue that means so much."[11] Jason Mark of Sierra Magazine described the work as "This is not a book lacking in ambition. Lipsky wants to tell the whole, sprawling, messy tale of climate change: how modern technology made it all happen, how scientists figured it out, and how a network of hustlers and hucksters distracted the public from the threat before our eyes. In the end he pulls it off, delivering a propulsive read that has the snap of a screenplay. Lipsky is a major talent…My only quibble with this fantastic book is that it ends too soon."[12] Brian Koppelman on The Moment called it, "One of the best books I’ve read in a decade…I promise you this book is worth it. David Lipsky has delivered on the promise of his brilliance in this book."[13] And historian Douglas Brinkley called the work "incredible," adding "you all have to read it." On C-Span he explained, "One fear that I had, as a historian―I was worried that these climate-deniers weren't going to pay for it in history. And this book nails them."[14]