With the current furore of interest in our global climate change problem, it was time for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to publish their knowledge for all to see. This takes the form of a four-piece report Climate Change 2007 - The Physical Science Basis set to be complete by December of the same year. The first of the texts was released in early October with promise of "representing the first major global assessment of climate change science in six years"; policymakers and the general public alike were keen to get a glimpse. This sought-after report has received much interest with so much media coverage focused on climate change and last year's Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC for their ongoing efforts to raise awareness in the area.

So does it deliver? The first work reads like an academic textbook with over 1000 pages and several appendices with supplementary information. This may well put off some potential readers but if you are interested in the worldwide debate on whether or not the climate change problems are founded in science then this report is the only text worth reading. Written by 152 coordinating lead authors from over 30 countries and reviewed by over 600 experts, it will not fail to give you a better appreciation of where we are in terms of our scientific understanding.

The report is structured into ten chapters, each one covering a different aspect of the assessment. Chapter one is an introductory chapter with an aim of covering the ways in which climate change science has progressed over the years, including an overview of the science that has been developed in the last six years. Chapters two to seven detail the changes in the atmospheric constituents that affect the Earth's climate, including carbon dioxide, methane and the other Kyoto Protocol gases. The final chapters investigate the use of current climate models to project future patterns of climate change together with their inevitable uncertainties.

Note that this book is not for the faint-hearted but it does offer a vast and deep analysis into the current state of art in this field, on a global scale. Anyone wishing to learn more about the science behind climate change and to critically analyse the endless information they are bombarded with in the media, will certainly gain from buying this book. The images and layout are easy to manage and, as with any academic report, all references are listed for further reading.

For a complete appreciation of the complex climate change issues and where we stand, globally, on the science of the Earth's fragile climate, this is the most extensive assessment to date, with contributions from the greatest minds working in this field.

Beth Ashbridge is PhD student in the Department of Chemistry