Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I thought I'd reviewed this one already but I suppose not! It's about what I expected, but having read it so long ago now I don't have too much to say. I'm a climate activist (I guess) and an environmentalist, and the thought of climate change really scares me, so this book was actually mildly terrifying.
I "enjoyed" reading this one for the most part, and I "liked" getting a glimpse into how climate change will affect various different cities and countries. I do think that, by the end, I was starting to get a bit worn out by it all. A lot of places were affected similarly, and I started to get both burnt out and mixed up. I think this would have been a good one to read a chapter of a day or something to break things up a bit and really let things sink in before moving onto the next bit.
Overall, though, I'd still recommend it.

The 2084 Report Review

“We can save some people and some areas, but we cannot save everyone, everywhere, everytime.”

I probably enjoyed the first half of this book - it initially felt speculative, an alternative history of the 21st century, written from the perspective of 2084, and the decline of the climate, and with it world civilisation. It takes the form of interviews with various representatives of different countries as to how the multiple changes impacted their circumstances and society. However, from the second half, it seemed to shift into a darker area, of a truly dystopian future, and it was there that I found my attention starting to waver.

The author illustrates the progressive decline of the climate in rather striking accounts - water failures in Spain and Arizona; the collapse of the French wine industry; water rationing; Australia becoming an isolationist nation to survive the heat and droughts; sea level rises to make the coast uninhabitable; mass migration across the world.

Perhaps the most disturbing element of the book is the continual mention of the psychological collapse of humanity - the elderly just giving up, with mass increased suicide rates, and ‘assisted deaths’ in the sight of the decline of the environment and the incremental failure of civilisation.

There is a repeated refrain throughout the text - that humanity could no longer depend on historical assumption as to the weather and the climate. “By burning fossil fuels, we did away with the past as a guide to the future, to humanity’s peril.”

I did not feel that I was the intended audience of the text. The author is American, and concentrates on the United States, with repeated mentions of their institutional negligence as regards the climate. Thankfully, the author has already been proved wrong. Trump will not now be elected to three terms, as this alternative history presents.

I grew weary with reading this text, as interesting as it was, mainly because it felt like I was reading a religious apologetic text - I was essentially being preached at. Another repetitive refrain was that our grandchildren would not forgive our negligence, for to the author, the writing on the wall is quite clear. The text concludes that 2020 is/was the point of no return, and it concludes offers the call to rise up, demand at action, and take to the streets if need be. I found the last chapter the least convincing, as it was here the construct of the ‘interview’ just didn’t seem to ring true, and it felt like the author was really just speaking directly to the reader.

The author is a lauded and experienced scientist and academic. He is passionate about his cause and believes that real change is needed to avert not only disaster but very real the collapse of civilisation as we know it. The images and topics of this book stayed with me for days and left me discontented.

But…I cannot really commend it, or imagine the market for this book. It’s not the sort of thing you would buy for someone else, and I can’t imagine who would wish to pay £13 to read a climate change jeremiad.

This novel takes the form of a series of interviews with various people from scientists and politicians, to ordinary people, living all over the world, with one thing in common - despair at what went wrong in dealing with climate change.
I was hoping for something a little more inspiring - something that would encourage me to do more, make changes to my lifestyle which could really help combat climate change. But no. Instead, I found it all quite dull. When covering up to the present day, most of the interviewees were regurgitating facts I was already aware of. Then, as they moved onto what happened post-2020, I found myself arguing with them, querying why options that everyone has surely heard of, such as solar or wind power, weren't utilised to their fullest.

The answer comes at the end of the book - the author basically wants to champion nuclear power; in fact it's seen as the answer to all our problems. There's no way I'm a fan of that, I think it's just shelving the issue for a while and a price will have to be paid somewhere down the line.

Would I recommend this title? Only to an absolute climate change denier. It might stop them in their tracks and make them think. Anyone who is already concerned about the way things are going will probably, like me, just be irritated.

This was an interesting read. It's shocking, disturbing, frightening - and all the other things the author clearly intended it to be... right up until the last part, where it felt like a pamphlet on the pros of nuclear power (which really seemed to jar with the rest of the book). "The 2084 Report" should probably be required reading as there is a lot to think about here. And we need to start thinking, and acting, as soon as possible. Over-all, a very good fictionalised non-fiction book.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.