A distinguished popular scientist provides the first major overview of our planetary weather system in the light of new developments such as global warming and El Ni-o.

Our weather is changing, almost everyone agrees. But what really lies behind this? Very few of us understand that we live on a planet, and that the way our planet operates largely dictates our weather. Only when we know some surprising global fundamentals can we discover what is genuinely new and what is cyclical about today's weather - and what we can do about it. In a magnificent mixture of scientific fact, personal apprehension, global experience and intriguing revelation, the distinguished science writer, Anthony Smith, takes us on a tour of our world, showing in a new light what we often take for granted. Within this framework all the disturbing contemporary manifestations of our weather - global warming, ozone depletion, glacial retreat, drought, rising sea levels, the disruption of currents such as el Ni-o - and even catastrophes such as major volcanic eruptions and meteor impact - make more sense. And through it he tackles today's most urgent question- are we truly altering basic weather patterns to the detriment of life on Earth?