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This post violates one of the most basic of all rules for bibliophiles: don’t judge a book by its cover.

Readers of these pages wouldn’t be surprised that I reached out with interest for a review copy of “How to Change Minds About Our Changing Climate”

On opening the package, the first thing to come to mind on seeing the cover was “The Debunking Handbook“. That handbook focuses on the basic logic (based on scientific research) about how one should address myth busting effectively without reinforcing them.   As the authors explain

Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, there’s no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of myths. The Debunking Handbook boils the research down into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation.

The cardinal law of debunking myths:  Don’t lead with and (certainly) don’t bold the myth because, as per The Familiarity Backfire Effect, this just reinforces the myth.  When done wrong,

debunking reinforces the myths. … emphasis of debunking should be on the facts not the myth. You goal is to increase people’s familiarity with the facts.

Look again at the cover page … on the cover page are a series of myths to be debunked.   E.g., the cover page itself “reinforces the myths” with bolding.  And the chapter titles are all myths.  Thus, readers see in bold type the myths on the top of every single page.

The Debunking Handbook covers a number of key “effects”.  Relevant to this is “The Familiarity Backfire Event” which emphasizes that if you have to mention a myth, make sure to do so within a context. “Your debunking should begin with the facts”, not emphasize (e.g., no bolding people) the myth, and provide a context (an alternative explanation) of how the myth misleads.  E.g., sandwich the myth with facts and a factual explanation of why it is a myth, subordinating the ‘myth’ itself into a minor role in the conversation.

This book is undoubtably filled with much substantive, well-written material.

Sadly, sometimes, it is just hard to get past a cover.

NOTE:  For a reviewer who was able to get past that cover, see Greg Laden’s “How to talk to your uncle who think’s global warming is a hoax.”

As an example, the following are proposed chapter titles (and the actual chapter titles).

1. Scientists agree: humanity is influencing climate (There is no consensus)
2. The scientific process works to improve understanding (It’s a conspiracy)
3. Climate Change is causing damage and has serious risks (Who says climate change is a bad thing?)
4. Humanity’s thumb is changing climate faster than natural processes (We’re heading toward an Ice Age, so why worry about warming?)
5. More heat, more evaporation, more rain … (There’s no link between warming and extreme weather)
6. Winter still exists … we will still have cold days (Feels pretty cold … where’s your global warming)
7. The atmosphere, the oceans, the planetary system are all warming (The planet isn’t getting warmer)
8. Ice is melting (Glaciers are growing, Antarctica is gaining ice)
9. Models provide tools for understanding (Climate is too complex to model or predict)
10. Basic science: carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (There is no link between carbon dioxide and global temperature)
11. Humanity is putting a thumb on nature’s scales (It’s just a natural cycle)
12. Adding more pollution doesn’t help (More carbon dioxide won’t make a difference)
13. What About … (What about …)
14. Pricing pollution will make the economy work better for all of us while lowering climate change costs and risks (Carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems will destroy the economy, kill jobs, and hurt the poor)
15. Clean energy is proving its value (Renewable energy is too expensive or too variable)

Consider the above and The Debunking Handbook. Which set of messages are those that merit reinforcement? The ones bolded above or the ones bolded on the top of every page of How to Change Minds?