Has a year gone by already? My watch must be slow. In any case, it’s time once again to roll out our annual review of CapitalSpectator.com’s weekly Book Bits column and choose a few of the more intriguing titles from the archives. As usual, we’ll revisit ten books that appeared on these pages during the course of the year that’s rapidly winding down — titles that, for one reason or another, caught your editor’s eye and deserve another look before we put a fork in 2024. We’ll start with five today, followed by the balance in a week. Happy reading
● Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World
Robert Jisung Park
Review via International Monetary Fund
As the world warms, anxiety over the effects continues to rise. A survey conducted by the United Nations found two-thirds of the global population believe that climate change is a global emergency. Fears abound on the risks of triggering tipping points in the climate system, such as the melting of ice sheets or the release of underground methane. But alongside future risks of climate catastrophe, there are also slow-burning effects already being felt around the globe. In Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World, environmental and labor economist R. Jisung Park documents these effects, from the expected, like worsening inequality, to the unexpected, such as declining productivity and economic growth.