I loved this book and I have the sequel to it that I am starting tomorrow. I understand global warming a lot better, but Robinson mixes scientifics with charming characters and their personal lives.

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I found this one to be a tough start, but it was worth the effort. He throws a lot of technical detail at you. That's offset by characters that you can really come to care about, and a story that gets more interesting as it unfods.

Definitely worth a read. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one!

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Kim Stanley Robinson covers the science and the people behind the science of climate change. This is the first in the trilogy and does read like Robinson is warming up for the middle. It makes for interesting reading against the back drop of the daily news reports of our crazy weather.

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First book in the riveting trilogy of cutting-edge science, international politics and the real-life ramifications of global warming as they are played out in our nation's capital and daily lives of those at the center of the action. You will become enmeshed in the lives of scientific heros and their families, displaced Tibetans, characters living in communities outdoors and a politician who wants to make a difference in the looming environmental disasters ahead of us. Highly recommended to readers of all genres.

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Considering the depth and scope of the Mars trilogy, this book is much more reader friendly. I was hooked but you have to get through the first 100 pages to get truly into this one. Its a topical subject that is very interesting to think about what could happen with global warming. I liked it very much. The research that went into the book is again, impeccable.

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This was a really good book! I would recommend it to anyone. It is an interesting story with strong characters and a good plot line. It's about a family and one is a scientist and the other works for a politician who is interested in global warming. They also follow the kids and it's really funny!

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I find most of Robinson's work to be very dense - he seems to pack tremendous amounts of detail into every sentence he writes. Plus, the concepts, characters and situations created require close attention and quite a bit of concentration until the reader becomes familiar with what's going on.

This book is no exception. As other readers have mentioned, it can take about 100 pages of reading until this book really grabs you - then I personally find myself having to skip back to the front of the book in order to catch up on the finder details that slipped by me on first reading.

However, as another reviewer has mentioned, these books are worth the effort. I found these books, on the whole, to be more engrossing and personal than the Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy. Ironically, even though I end one of these books hot to read the next one, I find myself intimidated by beginning the next and tend to procrastinate about reading them!

Forty Signs (which is followed by "Fifty . . ." and "Sixty .. ." introduces us to a main cast of characters with a variety of viewpoints about the main issue, which is global warming and the ramifications it has for humanity and the planet. He deftly weaves together scientists, politicians, Buddhist monks, government workers and even infants in this first book. As these people interact, so do their value systems and opinions.

Amazingly, none of these characters fall into stereotypes nor do they seemed "forced" into any idiosyncracies they may have. They question each other and themselves, they scheme, they grow, they doubt and they love in a portrayal which I find masterly.

In fact, it could be the amount of introspection and abstract thought as experienced by these characters which makes Robinsons books so difficult for the reader to follow until s/he becomes familiar with his worlds.

Upshot: NOT light reading, amazingly fulfilling book.

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Long dialogues in the book about issues that had nothing to do with the plot. In one section there are about 3 pages about the character's encounter with Washington DC traffic and road rage. The concept was good and it could have bee a great premise, but it didn't really develop the plot until the end and then it fell flat.

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