The Parrot and the Igloo

The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial is the third nonfiction book by National Magazine Award-winning American writer David Lipsky. The book tells the story of two parallel histories: the development of climate science and its dangerous inversion by climate deniers. It was published on July 11, 2023 by Norton. The book is a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2023, an Amazon Best Book of 2023, a New Yorker Best Book of 2023, and a New York Times Editors' Choice.

Theme
The book concentrates on the overall story of the people who discovered and attempted to conceal climate change: "Lipsky succinctly summarizes The Parrot and the Igloo as follows: 'The story this book tells is about the people who made our world; then the people who realized there might be a problem; then the people who lied about that problem.'”

Reception
In their starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book "captivating and disturbing": "An important book that will leave your head shaking." Publishers Weekly, in its own starred review, called the work "revelatory." Zoë Schlanger of The New York Times wrote, "David Lipsky spins top-flight climate literature into cliffhanger entertainment…Lipsky’s book is a project of maximum ambition. He retells the entire climate story, from the dawn of electricity to the dire straits of our present day [and] makes it appropriately infuriating and page turning. He says it up front: He wants this to be like a Netflix series, bingeable." David Shribman of The Boston Globe called it, "An excellent, approachable primer on the science of global warming and a dizzying account of how long we have known so much about an issue that means so much." Jason Mark of Sierra Magazine described the work as "This is not a book lacking in ambition. Lipsky wants to tell the whole, sprawling, messy tale of climate change: how modern technology made it all happen, how scientists figured it out, and how a network of hustlers and hucksters distracted the public from the threat before our eyes. In the end he pulls it off, delivering a propulsive read that has the snap of a screenplay. Lipsky is a major talent…My only quibble with this fantastic book is that it ends too soon." Brian Koppelman on The Moment called it, "One of the best books I’ve read in a decade…I promise you this book is worth it. David Lipsky has delivered on the promise of his brilliance in this book." And historian Douglas Brinkley called the work "incredible," adding "you all have to read it." On C-Span he explained, "One fear that I had, as a historian―I was worried that these climate-deniers weren't going to pay for it in history. And this book nails them."

Honors

 * Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2023
 * Amazon Best Books of 2023
 * The New Yorker Best Books of 2023
 * Chicago Tribune Best Books of 2023
 * Vanity Fair Favorite 2023 Authors
 * Open Letters Best Books of 2023
 * The New York Times Editors' Choice