When the Mayans dragged great blocks of stone into their cities to build their towering pyramids, drag is exactly what they did. It wasn't that they were ignorant of the wheel ? they used wheels on children's toys ? it was just that they never thought bigger; never translated those tiny carts into something that could have hauled blocks and supplies with less manual effort.
That may not seem to reflect too well on the Mayans, but after reading Al Gore's Our Choice, I think I have more sympathy for their lack of vision. I also have to say that I don't recommend you buy this book. I mean that.
Let me explain. Every kid loves a pop-up book. Spreading the pages to see castles rising from the paper, or pulling a tab to make a pirate wave his sword ? it's something that most people found entertaining at five and many still find charming at fifty. With that in mind, it's no wonder that one of the most popular categories of "apps" on both cell phones and tablets are children's texts augmented to take advantage of the wizardry hidden inside new digital devices.
I don't recommend that you buy the book, because if you have the ability to see it, you're better off buying the app. Available now for Apple's iPad, Our Choice takes those tricks demonstrated by toys and makes something bigger out of them. A vehicle for adults. An Earth mover.
At its heart, Our Choice is still a book. In some ways it's a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth, covering some of the same themes, and returning to points from that book with fresh data and new angles. You can read it straight through, pausing only to look at the images and graphs, and come away with a better understanding of the current thinking about the impact humans are having on the climate, as well as gaining a better grasp on the potential of alternate power sources. The usual suspects are dealt with ? solar, wind, and geothermal ? as well as the possibility of continuing to use fossil fuels in conjunction with carbon capture and the option to go nuclear. On a technical level, the book is highly accessible. As with An Inconvenient Truth it was definitely written with a lay audience in mind.
However, there is a significant difference in focus between the two works. Truth concentrated on getting out the facts about climate change, and explaining this issue to a public that at the time had little information on the topic. Choice revisits some of the climate change issues of the previous work, but (despite all the reviews out there) this isn't really a work about climate change. This is about energy. It's about where we get energy now, both for creating electricity and for transportation, and what options we have in the future. Climate change is a factor in making the right decision about where to source that energy, but it's just one of several factors considered. Our Choice takes the time to explain how a steam turbine works, how we could draw energy from geothermal wells, and why the newest windmills run to gargantuan size. Even if you have considerable experience in the energy area, you'll find things you didn't know, and for anyone it's a terrific reference on the "how do we," the "where do we" and the "what does it really cost" of energy generation.
But if you can get your fingers on the app, you probably won't read this work in the same way you'd tackle a normal volume of text. You could, but that would be like having an illustrated volume on the art of Michelangelo and choosing to listen to the audio book instead. Our Choice the app is layered with slices of media that enhance the reading experience, and I mean that. Really. The images don't just stretch and fold across the page as a gimmick, they do it in a way that reveals more about the associated text. Slivers of audio and clips of video aren't just glued on as a demonstration of technical glitz. They provide genuine expansion of the text. In many cases, both brief videos and images are used to drive home the how of a situation in a way that would be difficult to match with any number of well chosen words.
Oddly enough, the most valuable add-on to the text is not the lavish selection of photographs showing some of the world's most beautiful places, and some of the ugliest things we've done to them. It's not even the videos what walk you through the theory behind solar power or the challenges of nuclear. The best part of the book is the graphs. Sounds unlikely, I know. Sure a graph can help to frame a set of information, but most attempts at expanding graphs beyond the basics turn them into cluttered messes that would have Edward Tufte breaking out the red pencil. Only Choice has the enviable position of being displayed on top of devices that are capable of reacting to touch to allow additional information to be revealed with minimal effort and without wrecking the format.
The technical tricks aren't without their frustrations. The work downloads piecemeal, grabbing new content from the web as you complete chapters. This may be efficient, but it's also a big pain if you're in a spot where connectivity is slow or nonexistent. It also has to be said that Al Gore's poetry is not particularly enhanced by colorful backgrounds or a game attempt at emotional delivery. Still, the book is a real revelation. In its technical prowess, the publishing platform behind this work hints at why makes of paper books really should be getting nervous. Some of the tricks in this augmented book have previously been seen in versions of electronic magazines or in apps like Flipboard, but Our Choice pulls it all together in a way that's coherent, clean, and compelling. In its content, Our Choice lays out exactly what it promises: the decisions we are facing right now that will determine the quality of our lives, our children's lives, and the lives of darn near everything that calls Earth home.
Put the two together, and it's a package definitely worth picking up. If you have an iPad, don't buy the book -- buy the app. If you don't have an iPad, or need to press a volume into the hands of someone else, go ahead. The paper copy is still a valuable reference and challenging work. It's just that Our Choice the book is outclassed by Our Choice the app.
This could be the first time that's happened. It probably won't be the last.
Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/4tFV5Dy1MTQ/-Review:-Our-Choice-by-Al-Gore
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