Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming explores the efforts of the Bush administration--or at least its political appointees--to silence scientists studying global warming. The book focuses primarily on the work of Dr. James Hansen, a leading climatologist, but also touches on efforts to silence other scientists as well. The context for the book is the reality of global warming and recent attacks by the Bush administration--through direct means and cutting funding--aimed at reducing scientific discussion of global warming in the public and the media.

The majority of the book examines political appointees at NASA, which oversees James Hansen's work at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, attempted to suppress the work of James Hansen. According to Bowen, this effort began in 2005 when political appointees raised concerns over the posting of routine climate data indicating that 2005 was one of the hottest years on record on the agency's website. While this had been routine procedure for years, administrators--without scientific background and appointed by President George W. Bush--raised concerns that they and the White House were "blindsided" by the information. In the future, these administrators demanded prior knowledge and overview of press releases. The public affairs appointees--who in the past did not have any direct say over scientific matters--began editing press releases, writing policies that limited media access to scientists, and requiring interviews to be taped. This created a climate in which science was "censored" and news was often suppressed or delayed until it was no longer "newsworthy." The book recounts these efforts in considerable detail that often makes for rather dry reading. While the importance and ramifications of their actions are obvious, the description of news releases bouncing between various facets of the NASA bureaucracy was not particularly interesting to this reviewer.

The last third of the book is considerably more interesting than the first two-thirds of the book. In that portion, Bowen provides an overview of Hansen's work beginning with his graduate research into the present. During this discussion, Bowen's writing is clear and the science of global warming is at the forefront. Consequently, readers learn much about the history of climate modeling and the methods that researchers such as Hansen are using to study global warming. There is also some discussion of so-called "global warming skeptics" or "contrarians" that seek to deny that global warming is happening. As would be expected, Bowen explains how there is little room for such claims in serious scientific inquiry and points out how many of the common arguments touted by skeptics are flawed.

Overall, while Censoring Science has compelling sections, it's not essential reading. Dr. James Hansen's contributions to the study of global warming and his advocacy on the issue is admirable, but unfortunately it tends to get lost amid the focus on bureaucratic maneuvering.

Mark Bowen, Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming, (Dutton, 2008).