Title: Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet (2025)
Author: Professor Kate Marvel
Reviewed by: Mark Rosher. 2026
If you watch the movies, scientists are wild haired old men assisted by young women in tight skirts and big glasses. Outside of the cinema, scientists are presumed to be passionate about science but otherwise emotionally suppressed fact based human computers. Neither is of course true, but it comes home when you read this book.
Mainlining on the evident changes we are now seeing in our climate, and the extreme weather effects that come thicker and faster than ever, Climate Scientist Professor Kate Marvel takes the current story and backfills with an awful lot of history; showing how major historical events we kind of know about were influenced if not caused by the weather.
Returning to the ever changing now, she describes in highly charged and emotional terms how she feels about watching events unfold that were predicted, warned about and mostly ignored. She covers it from the nine perspectives referred to in the subtitle: winder, anger, guilt, fear, grief, surprise, pride, hope and love.
There’s no outward display of any named spirituality, and yet the love of place, the feel of her connection to the land, sea and sky… and perhaps most of all her deep understanding of the linkages that hold it all together… they call to me. It’s not always comfortable reading, although it is clearly readable for a lay person. I think it’s a worthwhile read.
It smarted, a little, even as I recognised the validity of the comment when she pointed out that planting trees was not going to mitigate the carbon we put into the atmosphere – Particularly if we cut them down for wood, or let them fall and rot, or get burned in wildfires… I’m still going to plant trees, though. It’s a Druid thing…
The story of the book ends with quite a personal revelation and this entirely fits in with the emotions that run through the book. After the story is told there is a mine of citations and references that is itself worthy of a dive into. I loved this book, and although it’s not in my nature to let a book go far from my library I’m going to share it around as much as I can.