Plano Reads: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

The Brown Bag Book Club will meet in person at Parr Library on Thursday, August 25, at noon, to discuss How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates

Book | e-Book | e-Audiobook

After a series of costly weather disasters, this book feels timely.  Bill Gates has been studying climate change for over a decade.  However, instead of focusing on cries of doom, the book gives a hopeful look at what can be done, with the proper will, to avoid the worst possibilities of climate change.  It is the optimism and his proposed viable solutions that set this book apart.  While Gates admits he was late coming to understand the climate challenge, his passion to catch up and do more comes across.  Gates has tools at his disposal that very few others do.  He and his foundation are researching and investing in ways to assist with different solutions to climate change, including rapid de-carbonization.  Gates’ belief in the power of technology and innovation to invent new carbon-zero technologies and deploy the ones already available gives cause for hope.

“Readers will enjoy Gates’s sometimes breezy tone (“You have to be a pretty big nerd to write a sentence like ‘I’m in awe of physical infrastructure’ ”), and while his scientific solutions are never fringe, not all of his ideas strike as politically feasible. Nonetheless, those looking for an accessible review of how global warming can be countered will find this a handy—and maybe even hope-inspiring—guide.” – Publishers Weekly

“Though Gates doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the daunting challenges ahead, his narrative contains enough confidence–and hard science and economics–to convince many readers that his blueprint is one of the most viable yet. A supremely authoritative and accessible plan for how we can avoid a climate catastrophe.” – Kirkus

Author Bill Gates is one of the world’s richest people. He is a founder of Microsoft and co-chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to tackling inequities in the world. Gates is also an avid reader and pickleball player.