Pachy's book review

WUWT readers may recall this article and photo from earlier this year:

IPCC now in Bizarroland: Pachauri releases “smutty” romance novel

Click for more photos from his book release.

Well at least one person bought his book Return to Almora, and has, ahem,  given an interesting review of it.  Here’s an excerpt:

Lucky for him, Sanjay never encounters any serious criticism in this book.  No one accuses him of scientific fraud, no one seriously disagrees with his ‘research’, no one takes him to task over the fee structures of his Meditation Huts (or whatever he calls his 400 plus franchised enlightenment outlets).  It seems likely that if controversy ever came Sanjay’s way he would respond badly.  First he’d try lofty, above it all condescension; when that failed to stifle opponents he’d result to angry and unthinking vituperation.  In neither case would he show much talent for detailed, evidence-based argument.  At the end, he would vanish from the scene, looking and sounding hurt, and go off to seek inner peace among the forgiving silence of the Himalayan hills. There, where the Force is strong, he would heal.  The gurus and saddhus would throw themselves at his feet; women would batter down his door; memories of his past incarnations would distract him from unpleasant events; from time to time he would consider ways to help the poor and spread the light.

Read the whole review here at The American Interest

h/t to WUWT reader Ken Smith

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simpleseekeraftertruth
August 23, 2010 1:58 am

Railroading: To force, push forward unduly, as a person into a particular course of action, a bill through parliament etc.

Roger Knights
August 23, 2010 2:02 am

Here’s the link to the Amazon page for the book ($32 new, $14 used):
http://www.amazon.com/Return-Almora-Dr-R-K-Pachauri/dp/8129115743/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282550929&sr=1-1
“Hurry, only 2 in stock”

Stu
August 23, 2010 2:10 am

That review was not peer reviewed.

Ralph
August 23, 2010 2:11 am

Does it include the red silk hanky again???
😉

Chris1958
August 23, 2010 2:13 am

Many a scientist/policy maker has had a seriously eccentric streak. Let’s not get too distracted – but one wonders about the book’s carbon footprint 🙂

Stu
August 23, 2010 2:29 am

I just realised after I clicked post that a dozen or so other people tied up in moderation have probably just made the same joke. So mods- please delete if necessary. I don’t want to see this line repeated all through the thread. 😉
(sure to be a few ‘grey literature’ references as well)…

Ralph
August 23, 2010 2:31 am

[of topic ~ ctm]

wayne Job
August 23, 2010 3:12 am

That was indeed a very good book review. Pachy it would seem has an ego as big as Texas, and a hide as thick as a Pachyderm.

Jeef
August 23, 2010 3:12 am

Comedy gold! Thank you, Walter Russell Mead for your profound intelligence and gift with the English language.

August 23, 2010 3:15 am

Roger Knights says:
August 23, 2010 at 2:02 am

Here’s the link to the Amazon page for the book ($32 new, $14 used)

I hope the ‘used’ copies come with a knife to separate any pages that may be ‘stuck together’ for any reason…..

Garry
August 23, 2010 3:36 am

Seems like Patchy’s opus is as shallow, superficial, and unthinking as the entire AGW enterprise.
I will not read it – life is too short – but I enjoyed Walter Russell Mead’s highly entertaining review.

August 23, 2010 4:05 am

I don’t know what he is up to now, but please next time without a picture of Rasta Rostelli please? Think of the childeren.

RobertvdL
August 23, 2010 4:08 am

Wouldn´t it be better to listen to Dr Tim Ball in his latest interview than talk about this nonsense?
The Complexity of Ocean Exploration
by Kim Greenhouse on August 17, 2010
http://itsrainmakingtime.com/2010/timball/

Leon Brozyna
August 23, 2010 4:41 am

You just had to resurrect that whole sordid story from January, didn’t you?
Oh well, at least that well written review made it worthwhile as Mr. Mead thoroughly shreds Mr. Pachauri’s pompous smut novel — or is it a self-aggrandizing semi-autobiographical tale?

Editor
August 23, 2010 4:55 am

So, what’s up with the “Dr. Pachauri has vanished down a rabbit hole, though he may pop up again on August 30, when the UN assessment of the IPCC report will be released?” I don’t think I’ve heard of it.
Excerpts (there’s not much worth excerpting) from http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iN5ZjOI1WOwOIJNxNldE56stdqTQ
PARIS – A UN-requested review of the world’s top panel of climate scientists, accused of flaws in a key assessment on global warming, will be unveiled on August 30, the investigating committee said on Friday.
The five-month probe into “the processes and procedures” of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is being conducted by the InterAcademy Council (IAC), gathering 15 leading science academies.
Its report will be handed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri in New York on August 30, and will be followed by a press conference, according to a statement for the IAC by Britain’s Royal Society.
“What are the chances this will be another whitewash?” I rhetorically asked no one in particular.

Martin Brumby
August 23, 2010 5:11 am

Meanwhile, the rather spineless Daily Telegraph has printed an “apology” of sorts in the face of demands from the most rapacious of the UK’s rapacious libel lawyers.
But all is not what it seems:-
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/08/non-apology.html
Pachauri isn’t just a clown. He appears to be a seriously nasty piece of work.

Martin Brumby
August 23, 2010 5:14 am

says: August 23, 2010 at 4:05 am
“I don’t know what he is up to now, but please next time without a picture of Rasta Rostelli please? Think of the childeren.”
Actually, I use a picture of him on the mantle shelf to keep the grandkids away from the fire.
Works a treat.

August 23, 2010 5:29 am
Editor
August 23, 2010 5:42 am

JER0ME says:
August 23, 2010 at 3:15 am

I hope the ‘used’ copies come with a knife to separate any pages that may be ‘stuck together’ for any reason…..

It’s not that good of a book.

Peter Miller
August 23, 2010 6:31 am

Let’s not forget Patchy’s greatest work of fiction is still to come – the next IPCC report.

ZT
August 23, 2010 6:59 am

I am sure that Real Climate, Gavin, and Tamino will mount a convincing defense.

Pamela Gray
August 23, 2010 7:00 am

Sorry, but I won’t be reading it, joke or not. Occasionally I want to slip into a woman’s fantasy book and this read would likely spoil the benefits of that endeavor for the rest of my life.

Jean Bosseler
August 23, 2010 7:14 am

If he pays me 5000 Dollars, I agree to read his book!
I’m just reading Franco Selleri!

Nolo Contendere
August 23, 2010 7:14 am

Is it just me, or does that picture look just a wee bit Satanic?

Enneagram
August 23, 2010 7:21 am

Fortunately, it’s the end of the Kali Yuga era!

August 23, 2010 7:29 am

As the reviewer says:
“The intellectual vapidity and narcissistic self satisfaction of the book is unsurpassable. ”
“The lack of any intellectual rigor or evidence of rational thought in this book is remarkable…Criticism and rigorous thinking are just not in his repertoire.”
“Some reviewers have spoken of Sanjay as an idealized version of Pachauri: this is Rajendra Pachauri as he would like to be and Rajendra Pachauri’s Sanjay is his portrait of a hero.
This is a truly chilling thought — that the leadership of the global environmental movement might have accepted someone whose ideas and culture are this vapid and banal into its leadership…Greens should be deeply, deeply grateful that Pachauri’s novel has stayed off the shelves in the US. “

Henry chance
August 23, 2010 7:34 am

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,211,154
He could use some guidance on “brand development”

PaulH
August 23, 2010 8:07 am

Pachauri better not quit his day job. Oh, wait a minute…. Never mind! ;->

Douglas Dc
August 23, 2010 8:38 am

When it hits the remainders I may buy it if cheap enough, there’s a hard winter coming and it looks to be a good choice for fire making…

August 23, 2010 8:41 am

The only question, is this a good story well told? From the reviews apparently not. I gather from the reviews that this fiction is little better then his other non-fiction fiction. Therefore, not worth my time.

Pascvaks
August 23, 2010 9:07 am

Pachy is playing his part in this life as well as he can. He will get his just deserts as a reward in the hereafter and have a harder life next time as an untouchable. His saw that his task was to confuse and discourage the intelligent and prowd into inaction and wasteful greed; and to inspire the weak and fainthearted to get up off their backsides and join the fight to save the world from stupidity and profit and worthless novels. He has done all this and so much more. Those who should know better follow him blindly. Those who would have never lifted a finger to save themselves or anyone else seem to be lighting torches and getting ropes and mumbling something angrily under their breath as they take to the street and the web. Such is life. Even the wicked have their place.

Gary Hladik
August 23, 2010 9:35 am

I enjoyed the review, but probably wouldn’t enjoy the book. Now the MST3K-annotated edition, on the other hand…

Rhoda R
August 23, 2010 9:56 am

That review was hysterical! One wonders what Dr. Patchy will be reincarnated as. One wonders what Dr. Patchy was reincarnated from!

Layne Blanchard
August 23, 2010 10:28 am

My Gawd, isn’t there a (heavily) retouched photo of Pach somewhere? Doesn’t he have PR help?
Here I am, quietly reading and enjoying myself… I scroll down… and GAaaaaauhhg

CRS, Dr.P.H.
August 23, 2010 10:58 am

According to the review:
“At one point, a mysterious holy man with a great deal of funding has graduate students wear special tin hats through which they are put into contact with the ‘divine’. This is all very scientific, the narrator reassures us; the subjects report on a scale of one to ten how close to the deity they feel and the resulting data is averaged and calculated using the best available statistical methods. ”
Heh!! Sounds like a class with Mann or Jones (except for the use of statistics!). In regards to its use of statistics, this novel is an “interesting” upgrade over AR4!

August 23, 2010 11:31 am

Almost forgot about old Pachy. Now what has he been up to recently at the IPCC?
John

RayG
August 23, 2010 12:29 pm

I enjoyed the following comment on Walter Russell Mead’s review that I found on his blog,
“Yet again Walter Russell Mead performs a selfless humanitarian service: reading this clot of codswallop so we don’t have to.
Comment by vanderleun – August 22, 2010 @ 7:05 pm”

Stop Global Dumbing Now
August 23, 2010 12:37 pm

The Friday Funny on a Monday morning! You’re going to spoil us.

simpleseekeraftertruth
August 23, 2010 12:53 pm

@Rick Werme 4:55
From their website; “The IAC has been asked to establish an ad hoc Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of experts from relevant fields to conduct the review and to present recommendations on possible revisions of IPCC practices and procedures. In addition, the IEG is asked to recommend measures and actions to strengthen the IPCC’s capacity to respond to future challenges and ENSURE THE ONGOING QUALITY of its reports.” (My emphasis.)
From the “if you are going to have an enquiry, make sure you write the terms of reference” school.
So no preconceived position then?

Bob Parker
August 23, 2010 1:11 pm

Reading one novel like this could happen to anybody; reading two of them begins to look careless.
The last sentence of the review about sums it up I think.

Z
August 23, 2010 3:53 pm

Douglas Dc says:
August 23, 2010 at 8:38 am
When it hits the remainders I may buy it if cheap enough, there’s a hard winter coming and it looks to be a good choice for fire making…

That would have been funnier if it hadn’t had been true…
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/807821-pensioners-burn-books-for-warmth

johnnythelowery
August 23, 2010 7:31 pm

I think the book would make a movie. You know…..
Telly Savalas is………………….Kojak
Daniel Craig is……………………Bond
Patch Morals is………………….Sick

johnnythelowery
August 24, 2010 11:33 am

Email Gore to Patchy Morals:
Dear Patchy: I’ve purchased your book but want my money back as it doesn’t work….especially around Seattle.