Atmosphere, Climate, and Change (Scientific American Library)

Thomas Graedel and Paul Crutzen's Atmosphere, Climate, and Change provides a useful overview of how Earth's weather systems work and how natural events such as the explosion of Mount Pinatubo and human-caused events such as the upsurge in greenhouse gases affect the chemical makeup of the atmosphere. The authors provide interesting asides about weather forecasting, using newly developed models to predict regional climates of the year 2030, when, they say, the Sahel Desert will be wetter, southern Europe much drier, and North America warmer by several degrees.