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Watermelons: How Environmentalists are Killing the Planet, Destroying the Economy and Stealing your Children's Future Paperback – 11 Sept. 2012

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 344 ratings

If global warming isn t real then how come the ice caps are melting? Why would all the world s top scientists lie to us? What exactly is so wrong with biofuels, wind farms, carbon taxes, sustainability and preserving scarce resources for future generations? And what about Bangladesh, the drowning Maldives and all those endangered polar bears? James Delingpole has all the answers and they re not the ones Al Gore would like you to hear. In Watermelons, Delingpole tells the shocking true story of how a handful of political activists, green campaigners and voodoo scientists engineered the world s biggest, most expensive and destructive outbreak of mass hysteria one that threatens the very fabric of Western Civilisation. As the world stands on the brink of a new Great Depression, Delingpole s message could not be more timely or urgent. In order to save our planet must we really surrender to the green movement s misanthropic tyranny? Or might there be a better way?

Product description

Review

'This is a serious and significant book' - Matt Ridley, The Spectator --h

'It is so many things at once a polemic, an analysis, an enormously valuable, well-researched and referenced resource, inspiring to those of us committed to opposing climate alarmism, convincing for those still in doubt, a horrid shock to the Warmists, and an awful warning of the economic damage we re doing to the West in general and the UK in particular if we go on down the Chris Huhne/Lib-Dem/Coalition s primrose path to perdition. It s more than that. It s also a stonkingly good read. The kind of book you d be glad you took on holiday with you, instead of the usual airport block-buster. It s right up there with Mark Steyn and P.J. O Rourke. In places it s laugh-out-loud funny. Delingpole has a neat way of anticipating reader reaction, and addressing it head-on, so that it feels more like a conversation than a lecture.' - Roger Helmer MEP --/

'Delingpole is a brilliantly funny and entertaining writer. You'll zoom through his book in a day and, at the end, you'll be able to win almost any argument about climate change.' --Daniel Hannan MEP

'It is so many things at once a polemic, an analysis, an enormously valuable, well-researched and referenced resource, inspiring to those of us committed to opposing climate alarmism, convincing for those still in doubt, a horrid shock to the Warmists, and an awful warning of the economic damage we re doing to the West in general and the UK in particular if we go on down the Chris Huhne/Lib-Dem/Coalition s primrose path to perdition. It s more than that. It s also a stonkingly good read. The kind of book you d be glad you took on holiday with you, instead of the usual airport block-buster. It s right up there with Mark Steyn and P.J. O Rourke. In places it s laugh-out-loud funny. Delingpole has a neat way of anticipating reader reaction, and addressing it head-on, so that it feels more like a conversation than a lecture.' - Roger Helmer MEP --http://www.tfa.net/2012/01/30/watermelons-delingpole-on-climate/

'Delingpole is a brilliantly funny and entertaining writer. You'll zoom through his book in a day and, at the end, you'll be able to win almost any argument about climate change.' - Daniel Hannan MEP --http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100150334/what-happened-to-manbearpig/

About the Author

James Delingpole is the notorious author, broadcaster, blogger and polemicist who helped break the Climategate story.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Biteback Publishing; Reprint edition (11 Sept. 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1849544050
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1849544054
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 2.4 x 20 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 344 ratings

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James Delingpole
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
344 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book well-written, easy to read, and informative. They also describe the research as passionate, excellent, and frightening at times. Readers also find the subject addressed in an interesting and funny read.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

45 customers mention ‘Readability’45 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written, concise, and entertaining. They also say it makes a convincing case and presents well-presented counter arguments.

"...James Delingpole certainly isn't and this well-argued, meticulously researched and often funny book is his attempt to counter the kind of non-stop,..." Read more

"...informative, accurate, passionate, often emotional – and above all written in a relaxed, easy to read and amusing style. Highly recommended" Read more

"...But whatever the truth may be, Delingpole has written a trenchant, concise and entertaining critique of the environmentalist lobby that has grown..." Read more

"...The book itself is an easy read, and although somewhat polemical in nature it makes a number - in fact a very great number, of serious points about..." Read more

35 customers mention ‘Entertainment value’32 positive3 negative

Customers find the book interesting, funny, and an ideal bedtime read. They also appreciate the sharp wit, cutting insight, and thorough research.

"...certainly isn't and this well-argued, meticulously researched and often funny book is his attempt to counter the kind of non-stop, 24/7 'man-made-CO2..." Read more

"...emotional – and above all written in a relaxed, easy to read and amusing style. Highly recommended" Read more

"...truth may be, Delingpole has written a trenchant, concise and entertaining critique of the environmentalist lobby that has grown up around the..." Read more

"...achieve a similar aim but Dellingpole crystallises the issues with a sharp wit, cutting insight and thorough research, exposing the AGW machine for..." Read more

32 customers mention ‘Research’32 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's research very informative, convincing, and excellent. They also describe it as a serious challenge to accepted wisdom, polemical, and impassioned. Readers also appreciate the thoughtful expose of the global warming scam.

"...James Delingpole certainly isn't and this well-argued, meticulously researched and often funny book is his attempt to counter the kind of non-stop,..." Read more

"...It is informative, accurate, passionate, often emotional – and above all written in a relaxed, easy to read and amusing style. Highly recommended" Read more

"...But it's a strong and distincive contribution to the debate. And it's highly entertaining too." Read more

"...crystallises the issues with a sharp wit, cutting insight and thorough research, exposing the AGW machine for the mass Socialist experiment it..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 April 2012
If you only read one book this year then this should be it.

On 16 October 2008 to combat something called "climate change", Ed Miliband, the Labour government's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, announced that by 2050 Britain - uniquely in the world - would be required to reduce its CO2 emissions by 80%. He did this because, we are told, there is a 'consensus' among scientists that man-made CO2 emissions are causing global warming and global warming is going to destroy the world. The cost of meeting Miliband's target is estimated to be over £18 billion every year for the next forty years. At a total cost of over £700 billion it is the most costly piece of legislation ever enacted in Britain and it is people like you and me who are going to have to find the money to pay for it. Higher household energy bills, higher petrol taxes, increased vehicle duties, higher holiday taxes and numerous other green taxes are on the way. In fact, as energy costs feed into the price of almost everything we buy, our cost of living is set to soar as firms are forced to pass the multi-billion pound cost of complying with Labour's legislation on to us consumers. It also threatens to drive many industries overseas taking hundreds of thousands of jobs with them. Labour's Climate Change Act 2008 has been described as an economic suicide note.

Before we spend all this money though and destroy our economy in the process, are we absolutely certain that man-made CO2 emissions are what is causing climate change? James Delingpole certainly isn't and this well-argued, meticulously researched and often funny book is his attempt to counter the kind of non-stop, 24/7 'man-made-CO2-emissions-are-destroying-the-world' propaganda being pumped out by Western governments, their friends in the MSM and some of the most powerful, well-funded NGOs in the world such as Greenpeace, WWF and Friends of the Earth.

Delingpole takes as his starting point the so-called "Climategate" scandal when thousands of e-mails which had been sent to and from leading figures in the global warming scam were made public. What these e-mails showed was that for years the 'experts' had been lying, cheating, twisting the evidence, abusing scientific process, altering data and falsifying information to 'prove' that climate change was been caused by man-made CO2 emissions. They also showed how these same people had tried to destroy the careers and reputations of any scientist who dared to disagree with them or challenge the rationale behind their quack theories. As Delingpole points out, this kind of irrational behaviour is not science at all but something more akin to political activism. That's because the people pushing this scam are what he describes as "Watermelons", political ideologues who are green on the outside and red on the inside. People determined to force their neo-Marxist worldview on the rest of us at any cost. Backed by hundreds of billions of pounds, dollars and euros, these people are using the excuse of climate change to impose the kind of misanthropic, anti-growth policies which will make us all much poorer and a lot less free. Their long-term aim is to deindustrialise and depopulate the world. Politicians of left and right are only too happy to go along with this because it is yet another excuse to put up our taxes and control our behaviour under the guise of saving the world - and who could possibly argue with having their household budgets dipped for a couple of extra thousand pounds a year to save the world? Big corporations like the scam because their smaller competitors won't be able to afford to comply with all the extra environmental legislation and so will be driven out of business leaving the market to the big boys.

Unfortunately for the Watermelons though there hasn't actually been any global warming since 1997 and more and more people and increasing numbers of scientists are beginning top question the idea of man-made global warming. Yes we know that temperatures could start rising again tomorrow. Yes there may be a connection between the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect. Yes human activity could be impacting on climate. Delingpole doesn't discount any of these possibilities but asks only that we consider there may be alternative explanations for climate change [some of which, such as increased/decreased sun spot activity, we can do absolutely nothing about anyway] and we should openly consider and debate them before we set about returning our economy to the Stone Age and impoverish ourselves while simultaneously enriching the Watermelon elite.
11 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 July 2018
A serious look at the hypocrisies of the left and environmental activists, demonstrating throughout the book their lack of real knowledge and willingness to distort or ignore the true science in order to further their extreme and alarmist views. James describes time and again their outrageous, intolerant and rude behaviour in the face of rational scientific evidence, even examples of so-called “climate scientists” repeating the same lies and distortions years after they have been totally discredited. And he warns us all that behind the green faces are Red Facists (hence the title Watermelons) who use so-called Anthropogenic Global Warming as a means to global control.

All this is written is a feisty and often very amusing style. He recounts numerous examples of ignorance, lies and corruption throughout the Climate Change Industry – leading one to wonder how he hasn’t been sued, but of course the reason is that he is right and has the evidence to prove it. And to counter the accusations of “Big Oil” funding the sceptics, he must have relished demonstrating with stark evidence how the green activists have received over 3,000 times more funding than all the climate change sceptics put together.

This is a thoroughly researched book with hundreds of references. It is informative, accurate, passionate, often emotional – and above all written in a relaxed, easy to read and amusing style. Highly recommended
6 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2012
As a layman who is interested in the subject, I cannot be sure whether James Delingpole is right in his rebuttal of the theory of man-made global warming. But whatever the truth may be, Delingpole has written a trenchant, concise and entertaining critique of the environmentalist lobby that has grown up around the climate change agenda.

On climate change itself, Delingpole's two key points are (a) that global temperatures stopped rising in 1998, and (b) that the case for man-made climate change rests to a large extent on dubious and selective use of research evidence. Those are potentially explosive claims. I asked a climate scinece expert I know who told me (a) is true (adding that the science depends on trends over the longer term - so this is not a conclusive piece of evidence either way), but said that (b) is arguable. But Delingpole does enough in this book to make the case to rebut the environmentalists' claim that "the science is settled".

More tellingly, Delingpole exposes the left-wing/socialist bias that underpins the environmentalist movement - hence the title: watermelons are green on the outside, red on the inside. He also exposes the power, resources and tactics (including censorship and character assassination) of parts of the green movement, which belie its squeaky-clean image. And this, for me was the most telling part of the book. Even if one accepts man-made climate change as plausible, the remedies called for by the green lobby are socialistic, utopian, and of dubious utility. Authors who accept the climate change hypothesis - for example Mark Lynas - have come up with more practical and sensible approaches to dealing with it, whilst Bjorn Lomborg and others have exposed the inadequacies of the current Kyoto consensus.

Delingpole's book is best read alongside these other works, to put it in a proper context. But it's a strong and distincive contribution to the debate. And it's highly entertaining too.
57 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars I just love the easy way he can dismantle the looniness of ...
Reviewed in the United States on 10 February 2018
When you start reading anything by Delingpole, you are destined to become a fan of his writing. I just love the easy way he can dismantle the looniness of these eco-fascists and their totally wacky statements about "the human assault on the planet." His characterization of them as watermelons (green on the outside, red (Marxist) on the inside)) is spot on. It often surprises me that Delingpole is a Brit, yet his writing style is so American. This book will stay in my personal library of climate/environment books. You will learn a lot of facts after reading this book, as well as a lot of the lies and distortions of the watermelon propaganda. Whatever your politics, challenge yourself to read this.
4 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Watermelons suck
Reviewed in Australia on 2 November 2016
Very entertaining and informative.
nicholas moat
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book highly recommended
Reviewed in Canada on 23 September 2015
This book is a brilliantly witty expose of environmental malfeasance. Delingpole's language is certainly not academic; it struck me as an extended monologue, with a common man as narrator. However, it is well researched, well argued and utterly sincere, with some surprising revelations, at least for this reader. While I was well aware previously of the corruption of science practised by the IPPC and the UN, I had not understood the significance of the Club of Rome, nor heard of the UN's Agenda 21, until reading this.
Naturalist
4.0 out of 5 stars Watermelons - Environmentalists are Killing the Planet!
Reviewed in Germany on 27 December 2013
Es ist eine wohltuende Darstellung von Sachverhalten über die Entwicklung der Klimahysterie, die immer mehr um sich greift und in oberflächlicher Weise unlogische Schlüsse aus verdrehten Sachverhalten zieht. Auch halbe tendenziöse Darstellungen stellen sich als ganze Unwahrheiten dar. Man muss kein über den Dingen stehender Klimatologe sein, sondern nur sein kritisch-logisches Denkvermögen behalten haben, um die klare Sichtweise der Dinge um das Klima zu bekommen. Diese Darstellung ist durchaus zu empfehlen!

von `'Naturalist'
2 people found this helpful
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Elisabeth Hall
5.0 out of 5 stars It’s not about fruit
Reviewed in the United States on 11 February 2020
I loved this book. Tells the background for people pushing global warming catastrophe. People who want less humans on the planet for example. They want the earth to be natural, not human useful. Very interesting. Watermelons are green on the outside and red on the inside. Like many of the global warming folk who are red, communist. Interesting.
2 people found this helpful
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