STATE OF FEAR is an eye-opener. Although it is a work of fiction, the supporting data are real. The appendices are especially informative. In appendix II, sources of data for graphs, Crichton says: "Note: Shortly after the publication of the hardcover publication of this book, GISS changed its website to show less data. the station data no longer goes back before 1880, and thus heightens the appearance of a steady rise in temperature."

The author who shows up most often in the footnotes of STATE OF FEAR is Bjorn Lomborg, who wrote THE SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST.

Quoting from Chricton's bibliography: "... The author, a Danish statistician and Greenpeace activist, set out to disprove the views of the late Julian Simon, an economist who claimed that dire environmental fears were wrong and that the world was actually improving. To Lomborg's surprise, he found that Simon was mostly right. ..."

I think we need to be wary of politicians (Gore, Kulongoski) who try to influence the legitimate work of real scientists. In the end, real data will tell the truth. Political posturing and pressure is only so much hot air... which is exhaled in the form of COČ, a greenhouse gas.