Although I’m listed as the author of this book, I hardly deserve the credit, since all the research I describe has been done by others. So my first acknowledgment goes to the many scientists around the world who have dedicated their lives to helping us understand global warming in all its details and implications. I’m also deeply indebted to the many scientists who have put simple and clear information out on the Web, especially those behind the Web sites listed on the “To Learn More” page that follows. These sites were invaluable to me in researching the many details included in this book.

The pedagogical approach of this book is one that I’ve developed with a great deal of help from numerous other people, especially my textbook coauthors Nick Schneider, Megan Donahue, and Mark Voit. Additional thanks to Dr. Schneider for coming up with the four skeptic claims (in slightly different form) that form the backbone of chapter 2.

The book greatly benefited from careful review by many readers. I’ll start with Steve Montzka (NOAA), who did the first expert review of the manuscript and gave me many great suggestions for improvements. Additional expert reviewers who provided great assistance include Scott Mandia, William Becker, David Bailey, David Bookbinder, James McKay, Kirsten Meymaris, Greg Meymaris, Shawn Beckman, Yoram Bauman, John Bergman, Minda Berbeco, Glenn Branch, Piers Forster, William Gail, Dave Cleary, and Roger Briggs. Several nonscientist reviewers gave me great feedback as well, including Mark Levy, Helen Zenter, Susan Nedell, Val Wheeler, and my longtime editor Joan Marsh.

For producing the book, I thank Mark Ong and Susan Riley of Side By Side Studios in San Francisco. Mark and Susan not only did all the design work, but also provided many great suggestions on the approach and content. The book Web site (globalwarmingprimer.com) looks great thanks to Web maestro Courtney Faust of Saffron Design in Boulder, Colorado. Finally, I thank my wife, Lisa, and my children, Grant and Brooke, for their ongoing support, inspiration, and insights.