MANY geologists rather dismiss man-made climate change. On the timescales they work in, they figure nature will absorb anything we throw at it. Not David Archer. The Long Thaw shows how, by digging up and burning our planet's carbon, we are determining climate for millennia hence. It also shows how we may soon unleash changes to the carbon cycle that will cancel the next ice age, and maybe the one after that, not to mention melting enough ice to flood land less than 20 metres above sea level. A beautifully written primer on why climate change matters hugely for our future - on all timescales.
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.