User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I wish I liked this book a bit more than I did because I'd love to counteract some of the negative comments from people who I suspect never read the book (ten years on Goodreads and this still makes my blood boil). Oddly, the negative reactions seem to fall primarily into two categories: 1) Bill Gates is a rich evil oligarch who only wrote this book to get even more money (muahaha), and 2) Bill Gates is an evil Marxist who only wrote this book to encourage the government to employ socialism (muahaha).
Personally, I see little evidence of either. My primary suspicion is that Bill Gates is an insufferable nerd who, having already offered a technological answer to several ills plaguing the world, has now turned his attentions to solving climate change. I strongly doubt he needed the paycheck from this book. He is almost nauseatingly optimistic and self-congratulatory at times (I guess being a billionaire will do that to you), but I at least hope the celebrity of him will encourage more people to take the issues seriously.
For me, this book wasn't as interesting or as enlightening as I'd hoped for. Most of it is like a beginner's guide to climate change, so I suppose it will be helpful to those who have little to no understanding of the issues. It is very accessible and easy to read, I'll give him that. Gates breaks down the science into simple concepts, explains why and how climate change is happening, and goes into all the clean energy alternatives.
That's the first part of the book-- barely more than a rehash of my high school science lessons. I'm curious: my US friend about the same age as me said she never learned about climate change in school, what are other people's experiences with this?
The later chapters turn to what we can do and, well, the problem is that I felt like 95% of these chapters were not about things
I could do, but things that governments, environmental agencies, and tech companies could do. According to Bill Gates, the major thing the little people like me and you can do is harass our representatives about it. And yes, you should go do that. Making a fuss really can make a difference.
Gates is not really a proponent of less, which is interesting, and will surely invite criticism. He proposes we focus our efforts on turning the energy we use into clean energy, rather than attempting to use less of it. I think this is at least partly because he himself has an enormous carbon footprint, but also because, as he says, the developing countries his foundation has been pouring money into need
more energy to get people out of poverty and end disease, not less.
I saw some people criticise this book as being a case of a ridiculously rich guy telling people poorer than him how they should live their lives and what they should eat. I didn't get that sense at all. In fact, Gates seems to see major changes to our personal lifestyles as a last resort, instead focusing on ways governments can harness clean energy alternatives to still deliver us the same amount of electricity.
The book didn't teach me much - except for the bit about geoengineering, which I found quite fascinating - but I sense it's real purpose might be to grab the attention of people who have been complacent up until this point. Here is a recognizable, much-admired man putting his name on the "climate change is a serious issue" bill. Maybe it will make people take note? Or maybe it will only serve to convince skeptics that climate change is a hoax the rich folks have invented to control the rest of us. Who even knows anymore?
Rating: really liked it
I wasn't going to mention the "controversy" over this book, but the more I think about it, the more I think I should. (If you aren't bothered -as you shouldn't be- by these hypocrisy claims and want to skip to my thoughts on the book, I'll note with a line of dashes where it begins.)
Reading all the one star "reviews" for this book almost kept me from reading it. "But he's a hypocrite!", the 'reviewers' claim. And my brain echoed, "But he's a hypocrite! Why should I listen to what he has to say?".
However, even
if someone is a hypocrite it doesn't mean we can't learn from them. Most of these one and two star reviews are from people who didn't read the book (and I'll explain how I know that). They just assume Bill's a hypocrite
because that's what someone told them, and they repeat it.
How easy to get off the hook. Claim a man who's teaching about climate change is a hypocrite and then you don't have to listen. You can keep doing whatever it is we're all doing to fuck up the climate and no one can blame you because you
think one of the people who wrote a book about it is a hypocrite.
Get over yourselves already. You hate the man because he's a billionaire and you want a reason why you don't have to feel responsible for climate change when
we all are.
The reason I know many of these people didn't read the book (aside from some saying they didn't) is that
in the introduction to this book, Bill addresses the accusations of hypocrisy. Had they bothered to just read the first few pages, they would have seen their allegations are without substance.
Here are some common complaints in these "reviews" that try to convince people not to read a book they themselves haven't read - and the reasons they're full of crap.
1. Claim: He uses private jets and travels internationally.
Fact: Bill Gates has begun using sustainable jet fuel that is made from renewable and alternative raw material in replacement of petroleum based fuels. It is a clean substitute for fossil fuels. Extremely expensive, but the guy's a billionaire and can afford it.
2. Claim: He eats meat.
Fact: Unfortunately, yes, he still does.
Occasionally. Mostly he eats plant-based meats. I don't understand why he has to have an occasional burger when he has admitted that you often can't tell the difference between today's plant-based burgers like Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat and the "real thing" (I wouldn't know, I have no desire to try something that looks and tastes like real meat)..... so it must be some psychological need to eat animal meat occasionally? I don't know. Gross. But that's just me. Is it bad for the environment? Yes, which is why he's mostly cut out meat, which is more than a lot of people have done. Give him a break.
3. Claim: He invests in the fossil fuel industry.
Fact: Bill
had a small fraction of investments in fossil-fuel companies (the majority in renewables). He realized the reasons he shouldn't own stock in fossil fuel companies and in 2019 divested all of his direct holdings in oil and gas companies (he hadn't invested in coal in several years).
These are the top three reasons I've seen trying to convince people not to read this book, both in articles and reviews. Another is people who allege, without any evidence at all, that climate change isn't real or, if it is, it has nothing to do with humans.
This review isn't the place to address those misinformed people who have gullibly slurped up the lies the fossil fuel industry pours out like thick, oily sludge.
Let's move on to the book.
-------------------------------------
Unlike what some have claimed,
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster is not a preachy book. Bill Gates at no time tells people, you have to stop doing this, this, and this! He knows it's unlikely people will ever totally give up meat, or stop driving and flying, or decide we don't like electricity.
Instead of telling us we shouldn't do these things, he tells us
why they lead to climate change and
how technology might be able to help us make these activities carbon neutral.
As he says, it's not bad in itself to use energy. If we were using clean, renewable energy, we could use ten, fifteen, one hundred times as much and it wouldn't be a problem.
The key is getting to a place where we have zero greenhouse gas emissions so that we don't continue to heat up the atmosphere. We are on the road to disaster if we don't change the way we do things. Climate scientists know this but the fossil fuel industry plays the tobacco industry's game of spreading misinformation and doubt among the public.
If we can be convinced that there's uncertainty among scientists, we can easily dismiss them. Oh, look at that! There's a
doctor smoking a cigarette! It must not be bad for us after all!
No matter what we
want to believe, facts are facts. Bill Gates outlines what we can expect to happen by mid-century and by end-of-this-century if we don't get to zero emissions within the near future.
He breaks everything down into easy-to-understand language. Mr. Gates explains how things like electricity and fertilizer work. Why fossil fuels are so cheap. What exactly happens in the atmosphere as we release greenhouse gases into it. What is the Green Premium. What are the limits of solar and wind energy, and also where and how we can get the most from them. Why nuclear energy isn't as bad as many fear it is. And so much more.
After telling some of what we can expect to see from climate change, he goes through the top culprits of greenhouse gases, explaining how they work and how we might be able to make them carbon neutral in the near future.
He acknowledges it's pretty much impossible to expect humans to not only stop using so much energy but also to not increase our demand for it. Energy use itself is not a problem though,
if we can get it to zero emissions.
I enjoyed learning more about how we might employ direct capture and point capture technology to remove greenhouse gases from the environment or even directly from waste before it is released into the atmosphere.
I personally do not share Mr. Gates' optimism that governments of the world will suddenly start working together and corporations will get cleaner and we'll come up with new innovations and technology in time to avert disaster. I
hope we do.... but I'm just not all that optimistic.
There's a lot of clear and interesting information in this book and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the basics of climate change. Whether or not you're a fan of Bill Gates, knowledge is knowledge and you don't have to like the messenger. Or Windows [shudder].
My only complaints, keeping this from receiving 5 stars, are: there is a lot of repetition (the last two chapters were boring - reiterating material that was already discussed), and Mr Gates is constantly informing us of all the admirable things he does. It's good he invests in all these clean energy companies and technologies, and provides vaccines for children in developing countries, etc. I wish more rich people would try to give back to the world and help as many people as the Gates do. But it got tedious hearing about it.
This book is well worth reading in spite of that. Don't let the naysayers keep you from learning.
Rating: really liked it
bill gates is like the richest man in the world, he could probably singlehandedly pay to fix climate change and still be richer than most people, he does not need to write a book telling us that we’re the problem. especially when the real outcome of this book will be him profiting from the sales and getting richer and still not putting his money where is mouth is to fix shit. i’d rather read stuff like this from people who aren’t literal billionaires who could do a lot to save the planet if they just stopped hoarding so much wealth for status reasons. so fuck this book. read the one by extinction rebellion or something instead.
Rating: really liked it
Summary 
Do you think that climate change is a hoax created by billionaires to control developing countries? How can a person with a high carbon footprint like Bill Gates, who took his own private jet ironically for the Paris summit, talk about climate change? Bill Gates tries to answer many controversial questions like these and tries to give us solutions for avoiding a climate disaster through this book.
What I learned from this book 1) Nature’s defense against climate change Nature has its own defense mechanisms against climate change. Human interference is altering this balance of the ecosystem and is causing devastating changes in our climate. The author is giving a good example of mangroves forests. He says that investing in expanding nature's defense mechanism like planting more mangroves is better than expensive, impractical methods, which are complicated to implement.
"Mangroves are short trees that grow on coastlines, having adapted to life in saltwater. They reduce storm surges, prevent coastal flooding and protect fish habitats. All told, mangroves help to reduce the world from 80 billion-dollar losses from floods, and they save billions more in other ways. Planting mangroves is much cheaper than building breakwaters, and the trees also improve the water quality. Very great investment."
2) How quickly should we reach the zero-emissions? The author tells us the importance of net-zero emissions and why we should try harder to attain zero emissions to protect our environment.
“How quickly do we need to get to zero? Science tells us that in order to avoid a climate catastrophe, rich countries should reach net-zero emissions by 2050. You've probably heard people say we can decarbonize deeply even sooner—by 2030."
3) Climate change and pandemic When Coronavirus struck us as a massive pandemic, and when the world came to a standstill, there was a 5% reduction in carbon emission. But this is only a temporary reduction in emission. The author tells us that if we keep ignoring the warning signs of climate change, we all will land up in a more terrible situation than any pandemic.
"We are at the same point today with climate change as we were several years ago with pandemics. Health experts were telling us that a massive outbreak was virtually inevitable. Despite their warnings, the world didn't do enough to prepare and suddenly had to scramble to make up the lost time. We should not make the same mistake with climate change.
In other words, by mid-century, climate change could be just as deadly as COVID-19, and by 2100 it could be five times as deadly."
My favourite three lines from this book “There are two numbers you need to know about climate change. The first is 51 billion. The other is zero. Fifty-one billion is how many tons of greenhouse gases the world typically adds to the atmosphere every year.”
"Remember that we need to find solutions for all five activities that emissions come from: making things, plugging in, growing things, getting around, and keeping cool and warm."
“The countries that build great zero-carbon companies and industries will be the ones that lead the global economy in the coming decades.”
What I didn’t like in this book Bill Gates clearly enlists measures that everyone should do to prevent climate change. The problem with his writing here is that he emphasizes the actions that government can implement instead of individuals.
He tells us the importance of global cooperation like the Paris summit. His nature is to take the big picture first and then to try hard to solve it.
“I try to get the big picture first because that gives me the context to understand the new information. I am also more likely to remember it. ”
I think that there is nothing wrong with Gates's approach of considering the big picture first. In fact, it is one of the best ways to tackle the problem. The problem arises when he gives significantly less importance to the smaller issues, which are also crucial as they have the propensity to become a bigger problem if we ignore them.
I expected some special announcements or plans the author himself will implement to prevent climate change in this book. But sadly, I didn't see any such thing. But let's hope that he believes more in action than words and will talk about it after successfully implementing it.
Rating 3/5 This book indeed gave me some new information about climate change but not to the level I expected. I saw many extremely negative reviews about this book, especially as the author garnered a lot of negative attention after the multiple conspiracy theories involving him. I don't think it is a terrible book like most of them are pointing out. I can't call it an excellent book either. It will be a good read if you haven't read any book about climate change.
Rating: really liked it
This just in: tech billionaire responsible for some of the worst pollution and disaster on this planet shares his wisdom about saving us from pollution and disaster on this planet while flying around in one of his multiple private jets to one of his mansions..
Do you all realize how much money this man has? Don't give him more by promoting and lifting up this garbage book. Spend your time reading and learning about grassroots radical environmental work instead of billionaires telling individuals they can stop climate change by using less tap water or whatever.
I think a great way to avoid FURTHER climate disaster (because we're already in the 6th extinction) is to make it impossible for billionaires to exist.
Rating: really liked it
This...this...creature owns a mansion worth 120,000,000$, FOUR private jets (he boarded one of them to fly to Paris in order to attend the climate change summit in 2015), FIVE helicopters, SIX Porches, TWO BMWs, FOUR Mercedes and probably a big fuck-off yacht the size of a coral atoll.
BUT Bill says we're the ones who're supposed to quit the following:
1. going on international holidays,
2. driving a car equipped with a petrol engine,
3. using AC,
4. living in a house with more than 4 rooms,
5. etc.
Laugh? Come on, Bill. Shut your mouth.
Rating: really liked it
Highly readable, and extremely practical, Gates sorts out the mess of data in concise terms without making the information feel like too much. Initially disconcerting, the first part of the book lays out the problem by merging hard facts with snapshots of possible futures. But then the book turns around and lays out exactly what we can and need to do, and the challenges we face in the process. And to be clear, this isn't individual fixes. The focus is on widespread policy and economics. The end result is a jump start that alerts you, but also kicks you into gear. We all need to read this book, and get fired up before the Earth itself sets fire.
Rating: really liked it
In America, we love our billionaires. We love when they "innovate," we love when they offer "bold solutions" to our greatest challenges. After all, they've beat the game. Their riches are proof of their cunning & genius.
It follows then, that we love when they write books. There's nothing in this you haven't heard before: five dollar buzz words, lots of talk of bringing things to market, grand plans for the entire world only a true monopolist could conjure. The problem with Mr. Gates' book, as is the problem with most of these ghost-written airport shelf-fillers backed by massive PR campaigns, is that unfettered American capitalism is a foregone conclusion. There's no solution provided that doesn't allow the already wealthy to squeeze out even more profit. Fighting climate change is just another business venture, poised to line already stuffed pockets. One of the world's richest men telling us we can avert climate change by preserving the perverted economic system that got us here? Forgive my disbelief.
As with most of our billionaires, Mr. Gates should stick to absorbing other companies and accepting praise. The rest of us will continue fighting against these robber barons, who seem intent on austerity for the rabble while sitting comfortably in ivory towers.
Rating: really liked it
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster is an interesting and well-informed look at the current state of our ever-increasing energy consumption and the way it affects climate change. In light of that information, Gates proposes ideas of how we can change the way we produce and consume energy so that we can get down to zero carbon dioxide emissions while not making ourselves worse off in the process. This is a very industry-focused book as opposed to discussing what people can do on an individual level to combat climate change (as some may expect it to be), however, it is a very enlightening and approachable read.
Check out my review on Booktube. Please note that it's a review of the book and not a dissection of Bill Gates as a human being.
Rating: really liked it
”To stop global warming and avoid the worst effects of climate change, humans need to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
This sounds difficult, because it will be. The world has never done anything quite this big. Every country will need to change its ways, because virtually every activity in modern life--growing things, making things, getting around from place to place--involves releasing greenhouse gases.
If nothing else changes, the world will keep producing greenhouse gases, climate change will keep getting worse, and the impact on humans will in all likelihood be catastrophic.”The moment I became politically cognizant was about the same time I started to think about the ongoing health of the little blue planet I called home. President Jimmy Carter was the first president I actively supported; I was nine years old and soon discovered that nearly every person I knew, family, friends, and nodding acquaintances, were Republicans, so my support for Carter had to be kept a carefully guarded secret. I didn’t need to give people more reason to think I was...weird. They already had plenty of reasons to think there was something odd about me because of how much time I spent reading books. When Carter won the election, shocking the vast numbers of Republicans in my life, I realized that there were a lot of like-minded people out there, beyond the small pond I’d been spawned in.
There was hope. But that is just backstory. When I first realized I was an environmentalist was when President Ronald Reagan had the solar panels, installed by Carter, removed from the White House. I was frankly shocked. It was, in retrospect, a relatively small thing, but it sent a message of disdain to those of us who cared about the future of clean air, clean water, and embracing our responsibility for being good stewards to our planet. Interestingly enough one of those thirty-two solar panels now resides in the Smithsonian and another is in a science museum in Dezhou, China.
The politicalized nature of our society became a much starker reality in recent years when an irresponsible president proceeded to do everything he could to destroy decades of progressive environmental policy. Bill Gates does his level best to keep this book nonpolitical, but he does mention how difficult it is to achieve progress when innovative research is greenlighted by one administration only to be defunded four or eight years later.
One step forward, two steps back.The purpose of this book is to introduce the extent of our environmental problems and present a viable, flexible plan as to how to save our planet from climate disaster.
Gates is a fan of the book
Weather for Dummies, which is actually a fantastic intro to those of us who are not weather experts, and that book may have been a model for the way he wanted to present the facts in this book. So, those people who are well versed with the issues of climate change will probably not find a lot of new information here, (although for me the section on geoengineering was fascinating), because you are not the target audience. You are already on board, or you decided a long time ago that climate change is fake news, and no mountain of evidence to the contrary will change your mind. To me, this book is directed towards our younger generations, millennials and zoomers. They are the generations who will bear the brunt of our evolving environmental disasters, and they are the ones who will ultimately have to flock in large numbers to the polls every two years, not just every four years, to make sure that environmentally progressive representatives are elected at all levels of our government.
That’s not to say that Mr./ Ms. Savvy Environmentalists will not enjoy the book or benefit from reading/listening to the way that Gates formulates his arguments. I’m always working on refining my presentation skills to those who are ambivalent and nonbelievers. I even still try, with bloodied forehead, to convince those who are willfully embracing ignorance because of their right of center political affiliation. Whenever I want to see my brother, who manages our family farm, start frothing at the mouth, I mention any public policy with Green in the title. He isn’t interested in any science that will force him to change his business practices. He wants the past to remain the present and continue into the future, regardless of whether it is irresponsible for the planet. So instead of embracing responsible innovation now, he would rather deny that climate change even exists. He considered wearing a mask during the pandemic an infringement of his riiaaghts, but I have a sneaking suspicion he might have been afraid of missing the pungent smell of cattle flatulence.
He loves the smell of methane in the morning.It’s hard to believe that something like the future of our planet could be a political issue, but then who would have believed that a pandemic could become a political issue. Our country was nearly evenly divided down party lines on whether COVID was a real threat. The inability of our country to unite against a common enemy, a vicious virus, cost thousands of lives. This shows the size of the boulder that has to be moved uphill, and all of us must channel our inner Sisyphus to have any hopes of uniting our country, our world, in the fight for our planet. We have to keep talking. We have to keep convincing people that this threat is already changing our climate, and we ignore the science at our peril. By the time a majority of people start to feel the effects of severe cold (Hey Texas, you got a small taste just a few weeks ago), extreme heat, drought, flooding, and the devastation of superstorms, it will be too late. I say we keep all our post apocalyptic B movies on the SyFy Channel and start to make real changes for getting our emissions down to zero.
I’ve noticed there are a number of negative reviews on GR that seem to focus on Bill Gates the rich a$$hole instead of Bill Gates the climate expert and writer. I guess I’ve always been fairly neutral about Gates. I never was caught up in the whole Gates vs. Jobs rivalries. I am one of those philistines who used PCs and Macs in equal measure. I’ve never been a big fan of rich people in general because I don’t really believe in the concept of billionaires or even millionaires, and I would rather dissolve big corporations and allow small businesses to thrive again, but that is a discussion outside the scope of this review. So, I can dislike the concept of billionaires without despising the man behind the wealth. In the case of this book, any animosity that someone feels about Bill Gates the successful businessman is certainly misplaced against Bill Gates the environmentalist. The sincerity of his concern for climate change and his willingness to do everything he can to move the needle of public understanding regarding this critical issue is readily apparent throughout the book.
This book is about climate change issues, not about Bill Gates. ”As for the ideas you can’t support, you may feel compelled to speak out, and that’s understandable. But I hope you’ll spend more time and energy supporting whatever you’re in favor of than opposing what you’re against.” This quote can be applied to any aspect of your life. I’m not sure when we became a nation of grumbling pessimists, but it’s no way to live. I encounter people all the time who are consumed about what they didn’t like about a book or a movie and give no consideration to what they liked about them. They are equally consumed about what has gone wrong with their lives and completely disregard what is right about their lives. They write one star reviews of books that they haven’t even read to display their caustic wit for the entertainment of the witless. *Sigh* I may have just revealed one of my pet peeves.
As I was writing this review, one of the things that became clear to me was how much climate change is entwined with every challenge we face.
Gates has no illusions about how hard it will be for the world to move from pumping 51 billion tons of global emissions into the atmosphere to pumping zero. We have to shoot for zero because that is the only way to ensure sustainability for human endeavor on this blue planet for eons to come. We have to be leaders on this important issue or we will be the losers. As Europe becomes more focused on green issues and even China with their electric bus fleets shows a willingness to hopefully take reducing future emissions seriously, we could find ourselves left behind. They will be the innovators while we will continue to crumble under the weight of our own irresponsible behavior.
I was sent a free copy of this book by the office of Bill Gates in exchange for an honest review.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
Rating: really liked it
A great informative, optimistic, and ambitious plan and story. Bill Gates does an incredible job of explaining the extent of the climate disaster we are heading to, but where we are, what we can do and what we must do. Everything is well explained and easy to follow.
The other thing I really like is when Bill Gates shows he really knows his that readers are thinking by speaking directly. He will go from giving an explanation then write "I know it easy for a rich man like me to tell everyone what yo do". These personal touches and his sense of humour (especially in the agriculture chapter) make the facts easy to digest and remember.
Nothing us sugar coated in this book, the fight before us is laid out and nothing will be easy or cheap or even quick but everything needs to be done.
This is a great book for people like me who only know (or thought I knew) the basics of Climate change. There so many things side effects of global warming that I did not even think about. On top of that the very simple reason for using fossil fuels and the consequences of using them. The other think I liked about the book is Bill doesn't just say this is what should be done but why it is not done. Be it because of technology or financial limitations.
Rating: really liked it
Audiobook... read by Bill Gates and Will Wheaton
As we moved towards a zero carbon future....
we’re still allowed to eat toast.
There are some things we ( little us) can do to help:
.... conserve water
.... reduce, reuse, recycle
.... choose sustainable
....plant a tree....
....but....
"we have every reason to worry"!!!
With International cooperation and education....
Bill Gates is still hopeful we can save the planet. 🌍
Rating: really liked it
Bill Gates is the biggest charlatan of all. The guy who's been investing in private-jet companies - and owns four private jets himself - tells you to eat synthetic meat and edible insects, instead of real meat, to battle climate change.
Rating: really liked it
Billionaires are the leading cause of climate change.
Rating: really liked it
Fascist. Like ever. Disgusting human being.
