Poems of a Survivor By Scott Murphy

Recently I had the opportunity to edit and publish a Kindle book, Poems of a Survivor by Scott Murphy.  His collection of short poems follows a path from a dark past into a place of hope.  I took the cover photo early one fall morning at a rest stop on 35W near Goose Creek rest stop in  Minnesota.  The image captures the emotional range of the poetry.

The book, Poems of a survivor is now also available in paperback.

Undeniable by Bill Nye

The book, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation by Bill Nye describes the evidence for evolution.  He relays a debate he has with a creationist and proceeds to poke holes in the theories laid out by the gentleman.

It is interesting to see the emotional frustration of a scientists attempting to respond to critics who are not open to their own critical self assessment.  It is a lesson for all of us holding on to specific beliefs that may need to be adjusted to accommodate new information.  The new information does need to be held up to critical assessment. We've had many studies where the belief of scientists caused them to cherry pick data with negative consequences for society (vaccine scares, early studies on health effects of cholesterol). 

Bill Nye suggests that the Theory of Evolution is useful because of its utility.  We can predict outcomes.  We can see evolution in real time as bacterial colonies mutate to become resistant to antibiotics. The book is an excellent text on helping all of us become critical thinkers, helping us make decisions based on the best evidence available, and adjusting our beliefs so they are built on solid rocks of evidence and not the random sands of chance.

The earth is not really 6,000 years old - 7 min. 

Misqouting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman

Bart D. Ehrman's book, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why provides a history of the development of the New Testament and the transition from volunteer scribes to professional scribes who copied and occasionally altered the text either by accident or intentionally.

The author was originally a born again Christian who believed that the Bible was the inerrant word of God.  His studies of the histories of the Greek text in the New Testament found numerous variations in the copied manuscripts.  The errors were either through carelessness as a person skipped a line in writing the text or willful as a scribe may try to make one account square with another gospel or if there was a current heretical discussion that needed to be addressed.

The original Greek text suffers from lack of punctuation and sometimes sloppy handwriting.  Some of the more ancient texts were not copied by professional scribes but by amateurs who were doing their best but were more likely to commit errors.

Trying to figure out which version of the text is correct can be problematic and in some cases not resolvable.  As the authors of the gospels were working from other source documents some editorial control was used in the creation of these documents.

The author concludes that the New Testament is a very human document where individuals did their best to describe the life of Christ and the early formation of the the Christian church.

Misquoting Jesus in the Gospel of John - 4 min.  (warning strong opinions)

Rules of the Game: How Government Works and Why it Sometimes Doesn't by Phillip W. Magnus and Paul Weissburg

Authors Phillip W. Magnus and Paul Weissburg's series of lectures titled, The Modern Scholar: Rules of the Game: How Government Works and Why It Sometimes Doesn't, covers the function and disfunction of government from the progressive and neo-liberal (more conservative) perspective.

The authors provide a perspective on different aspects of the U.S. government from the founding to the present day.  I was fascinated by the discussion on the problems and merits of the patronage system in New York.  The current merit based civil service system assumes some level of academic competency for the position.  The patronage system rewarded people based on relationships and allowed individuals from all ranks of society to work in government with respect to affiliation and not competency. This last method allowed for a bit more mobility through different classes of society.  The first method was based on a meritocracy.

The back and forth between the two speakers was respectful and enlightening.  I would highly recommend the lecture series to someone trying to get a better perspective on how our government is actually run and to understand the two major ideologies on US government operations.

Private Sector vs. Public Sector 2 min. 

The Game of Work by Charles A. Coonradt

Charles A Coonradt's book, The Game of Work, puts work and work rules in the context of sports. According to the author work should provide the challenge, fun and specific rules set out in sports.  The same people that will put in extra time to excel at a sport in less than desirable conditions will complain about doing work under the same conditions (eg.: skiing vs. working in a snow storm).

One of the interesting comments involved reward for performance.  During a football game a touchdown is still 6 points no matter how easy or hard it was to achieve it.  Companies often change the rules of incentives if employees appear to reach the goal too easily.  This reduces the incentive for employees to strive for success. In a  more devious scenario the markers for success are hidden from employees and rewards are given out based on changing criteria known only to those with the purse strings.

The author advocates allowing employees some flexibility in adjusting their time schedules to accomplish production targets.  Before hunting season, one company allowed workers to shift their schedules to work more hours earlier in the week and for the employees to leave on Thursday to allow them to hunt if the production target was met.  The motivated workers completed the task by Wednesday at noon.

The boundaries of the field of play also reflect the boundaries at work.  These behaviors or activities are listed as not acceptable with specific penalties listed for infractions similar to those penalties in a football game.

This book provided a fresh perspective on work and offers managers guidance for keeping employees motivated and treated fairly.

The Game of Work - Autobody repair shops - 2 min. 2014

Using the rules of sports for the game of work - 18 min. 2013

Reflections on Pareidolia

Weisman gates -  N. Carlson

The book, Reflections on Pareidolia: Mirrored images at the University of Minnesota  takes the reader on a reflected visual tour of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus.  At each location a photo of the location is included with information about the building's architect and its current use.  Mirror images similar to those above and below follow.   Most of the images were taken in 2015 and 2016. Please visit, Mirror image photography for more examples.  An Amazon Kindle version of Reflections on Pareidolia is also now available.

Weisman Robot - N. Carlson

The Art of Public Speaking by John R. Hale

John R. Hale's series of lectures on The Great Courses: Art of Public Speaking - Lessons from the Greatest Speeches in History offers sound advice for constructing and delivering a speech to a wide variety of audiences.

He suggests that you do not use words but only images in power point presentations.  The words displayed on the screen interfere with the audiences' ability to understand what you are saying.

You don't have to start out your speech with a powerful beginning, instead use it to get a sense of the audience and create some room to maneuver.  Keep the attention of your audience by avoiding being too predictable. Finish strong with a memorized conclusion and avoid immediately asking for questions upon completion of the speech.

Use triads to deliver messages.  Churchill said I only have to "offer you blood, sweat, toil, and tears."  Audiences have chosen to forget the word toil to make the phrase more memorable.

Professors Hale 's background as an anthropologist gives more depth to his suggestions as he is not only an expert in giving speeches, he also conducts field research and lectures on the results.

John R. Hale - Why do civilizations fall and flourish? - 12 min.

Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss

In Lynne Truss's book, Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door, the author describes the current state of rudeness in society.  In Lynne's previous book, Eats Shoots and Leaves, she suggests that proper punctuation helps make clear the intentions of a writer. 

In my experience people generally respond favorably to having a door opened for them, but Lynne has often encountered indifference which is troubling.  People do need to exchange phatic phrases ("Thank you. Hello. How are you? Nice to meet you.") that acknowledge that we are not in our own bubble but are interacting with the rest of the world.  

How do we confront bad behavior in social situations.  We have to weigh the risks.  Is this person likely to do me physical harm or will my failure to correct the bad behavior cause harm to myself or others? Enforcing the no smoking rule on campus can be dependent on the situation with safety taking priority. While I was on an emergency response, a man walked up to me, took a drag from his cigarette, and asked, "So where's the natural gas leak?" I firmly but politely told him to extinguish his cigarette.  I then pointed them towards the gas leak and told him that's why my meters was beeping.

High end table manners with some arbitrary rules about which way to eat peas with which utensil are used as methods of class distinction rather than assessing if some one has good overall manners. Reducing the tendency to tell people to "eff off" as Lynne puts it would go a long way to increasing civility, as would decreasing those behaviors which elicit that response.   

Punctuation at English School with Lynne Truss - 19 minutes

Mother Nature is Trying to Kill You by Dan Riskin, Ph.D.

Dan Riskin's book, Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You: A Lively Tour Through the Dark Side of the Natural World is not a happy feel good stroll through the beauty of the natural world. The desire of DNA to reproduce and the fierce competition for energy create an amoral world where the survival of the next generation is paramount. The book's chapters are organized according to the seven deadly sins in the bible. 

The extremely narrow variety of edible plants in this world provide evidence that they were not put here for us to consume.  Less than 20 plant species provide 90% of the diet for humans. Many plant were made edible/tasty through careful breeding of humans.  The tasty  apples of today have a much wider variety of flavors then the original ones found in nature. This is a shout out to the U of Minnesota for Honeycrisp and SweeTango.  The author views genetically modified crops as a natural extension of this breeding process.  It moves the process along faster with more precision.

The author gets very close to nature as he slides on his back through bat guano in South America as he attempts to find vampire bats roosting in a cave. He and his future wife lie on their backs in the scratching sand attracting bats who associate the sound with their primary food source.

In summary, the colorful examples in the book are not for those who have a weak constitution. As human beings we can rise up above our primitive survival instincts and treat others with kindness.  We can also appreciate nature for all its beauty, violence, and raw creativity as each species attempts to successfully live to reproduce another generation.

Radio interview with Dan Riskin - 12 minutes

Book summary by Dan Riskin, Ph.D. - 3 min.

All Things Dull and Ugly - from MontyPython with Portuguese subtitles - 2 min.

The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku

In Michio Kaku's book, The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind, he describes the current state of research on brain function, and explores the outer limits of this research that comply with the laws of physics as we currently know them.

Researchers currently have the ability to create a very low resolution video of a person's dream.  Blurry images of people's faces and other images are now visible.  This will improve in the future.

Treatment of brain disorders such as Parkinson's and some forms of depression can now be addressed by externally regulating the activity of certain parts of the brain. All of the talk therapy is useless if parts of the brain are not working right.  It is like trying to make an air conditioner work without the proper level of coolant in the system. 

If a certain section of the brain is stimulated a person can be made to have an out of body experience.  This experience can be turned on and off at the flip of a switch. The tunnel of light noted by many people having near death experiences can be duplicated by regulating blood flow to visual nerves.

He compares a dog's brain to a human's and notes that the dog's brain has much more space devoted to processing olfactory stimuli than humans.  An alien's brain is also likely to be much more differently arranged than ours.  An alien may view the world in a different light spectrum, detect different chemical odors, and communicate at different audio frequencies.

I appreciated the breadth and depth of the book's exploration.  It allows me to at least know enough to ask questions of researchers in the field when I interact with them at the University. 

Physics of the Mind summary - 3 min. 

Michio Kaku - speech - 67 min.

Life Lessons from the Great Books by professor J. Rufus Fears

The Great Course, The Great Courses: Life Lessons from the Great Books,  provides historical background from some of the Greatest literature ever written.  I appreciate getting to know the background of the authors and the historical context for the literature.  The lecturer, J. Rufus Fears is a master story teller often putting these historical novels into a modern context to improve comprehension.

Professor Fears skillfully links Seneca's philosophical text with the Gospel of John.  He provides some background behind why the Gospel of John is so different than the synoptic gospels of Mathew, Mark and Luke.  This gospel is written from the perspective of a Greek philosopher.  

The lessons learned from the Great Books surprised me.  Life is often tragic with people of mediocre talent and abilities often working hard to destroy others showing any unique talents or abilities.  The uplifting and destructive power of love has created beauty and havoc throughout recorded history.  History is also filled with countries and individuals balancing freedom with the need for order ( Russia vs. Western democracies).  

J. Rufus Fears - Fall of Rome - 6 min.

The Rational Animal by Douglas T, Kenrick and Vladas Griskevicius

The Rational Animal: How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think by Douglas T. Kenrick and Vladas Griskevicius (U of MN professor)  attempts to describe the underlying evolutionary behaviors that explain why behaviors that first appear irrational have solid reasons for being part of the human and animal responses to environmental stimuli. They authors refer to a wide range of studies and offer these up with tasteful goblet of dry wit served slightly chilled.

The authors suggest that humans do not possess a single character but consist of seven fragmented sub-selves that respond to priming.  The classic marshmallow experiment that predicts future success in life can be be altered easily.  If the person offering up the marshmallows demonstrates unreliable and untrustworthy behavior, the kids will choose to not wait for the next marshmallow.

People who grow up in stable environments will often adopt long term conservative delayed gratification strategies for accumulating and retaining wealth.  See rock star Gene Simmons' book Me INC .  Individuals growing up in unstable environments live fast and burnout quickly.  Many other rock stars, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and others don't even make it to age 30. M.C Hammer went quickly from rags to riches to back again in a very short period of time.

Mating behavior can be deadly and expensive if the male to female ratio is out of balance.  The authors point to a study of credit card balances in two Georgia counties.  In the county with many more males than females, men's credit card balances were significantly higher as they spent money attempting to woo females.  The risky showing off behavior results in male death rates at 5 times those of females in Spain for those in their 20's.

In a section on parasites, the authors explain how the advertising slogan, "A diamond is forever", now successfully extracts approximately 2 month's salary from the proposing fiance.  Prior to the early 30's there was no strong tradition of exchanging diamonds. The diamond company has also penetrated the Japanese market where the exchange of diamonds had previously not been part of the wedding ritual.  

Rational Animal - 3.5 minutes

Why Do We Put Diamonds on Engagement Rings -Brain Stuff -  2.5 min.

Platform Revolution by G.G. Parker, M.W. Van Alstyne and S.P. Choudary

The Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy--And How to Make Them Work for You describes how network markets differ from traditional pipeline markets.   Markets that rely on the ability to connect customers with products often don't need heavy investment in brick and mortar infrastructure.  The Uber transportation service relies on cars provided by other individuals.  Airbnb relies on other people's homes instead of large hotels for lodging.

The authors predict that platform revolution will have a disruptive effect on higher education.  Once the certificates from Coursera or other platforms become accepted by employers as evidence of competency, the monopoly of access to higher education by gatekeepers and economic condition will be broken.  Some higher education institutions are moving into this area.  Language acquisition, traditional social science, mathematics and liberal arts degrees will be the first to transition.  I predict that research areas that require extensive laboratory work will not translate well into the platform environment.

Energy, transportation and labor markets will also be disrupted.  A society of freelancers will be built up and displace the centralized industries that are unionized.  Decentralized power generation for home owners and small businesses will increase as battery storage (Tesla and Panasonic) is centrally integrated into intermittent power generation.

I've read that Walmart will be cooperating with Uber and Lift to set up home delivery networks for groceries and other items.  Walmart will taken advantage of an existing platform system and not have to invest in the cost of transport vehicles or the cost of employees with benefit packages.  Both Target and Walmart have been laying off people as computer algorithms are replacing the knowledge base of back office workers.

The platform revolution has the potential to transform consumers into producers.  Readers of Amazon Kindles can now be authors without having to go through the publishing world where gatekeepers make bets on which books will be popular.  J.K Rowling has a long list of rejection letters as proof that the current crop of publishing gatekeepers is far from infallible.

Platform Revolution - Geoffrey Parker - 52 min.

Data Driven Business - Sangeet Paul Choudary - 61 min.

Nutrition Made Clear by Roberta H. Blanding

The 36 half hour lecture series Nutrition Made Clear by Professor Roberta H. Anding provides a comprehensive understanding of the current state of knowledge on nutrition for a lay person.  Professor Anding is a registered clinical dietician focusing on pediatric and sports nutrition in the state of Texas.

She emphasizes eating whole foods over specific nutritional supplements.  There is more nutrition in foods than simply the vitamins and minerals listed. Supplements are not well regulated with respect to purity.  There may be an ingredient that is not on the label or the concentration of the supplement may not be accurate.  She recommends eating foods with a wide variety of colors.  They do not need to be exotic or expensive fruits.  She does urge caution about the consumption of grapefruit as a chemical in the fruit alters the effectiveness of a significant percentage of prescription drugs.

Her guidance on weight loss was very helpful.  You can increase the total daily requirement for calories by increasing you bodies lean muscle mass.  She recommends a combination of 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity per day with twice a week strength training to optimize health benefits.
 

School lunch safety - 3 min.

What are supplements - 1 min.

ME, Inc. by Gene Simmons

The book, Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business by Gene Simmons offers a brief biography of his early life.  It describes how his early life circumstances contributed to his growth as an entrepreneur.

Through out his life he has made specific decisions to change who he is to be successful in business.  When he arrived in America from Israel he spoke no English.  Because of his poor grasp of English he was asked, "What are you stupid?" He used this information as motivation to become fluent in English learning perfect diction from television newscasters.  He was a voracious reader and spent as much time as he could in the local library nearly completing the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

He learned how to type and used this to pay for part of his education in college as he typed papers for other students.  He worked for Vogue magazine and as a teacher.  For most of the jobs and businesses he has worked in his experience level when he started was zero. 

He suggest it is fine to celebrate your culture at home but to be successful in business you need to dress, speak and act in ways that model other successful people.  He changed his Jewish name to Gene Simmons for that reason.  He did not want his name to be an impediment to his success.

He recommends seting up many different businesses.  He describes this as many different boats (busineses) loosely attached to one another.  If one of the boats sinks it is not a problem as the others are not affected.

He advocates conservative money management keeping costs low when starting out a business keeping spending well within your means.  He does not advocate drinking, smoking or drug abuse.

The book contains practical information for someone wanting to create their own persona and embrace the spirit of an entrepreneur.

 

Me Inc with Wendy Williams - 12 minutes

  

Me Inc - summary -  1 minutes

Gulp by Mary Roach

The book,Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, by Mary Roach focuses what we eat and why we eat it. She takes us to a pet food taste testing lab where the pet's social interactions are factored into their ability to select pet food.  Chemicals such as putrescine and cadaverine in the right proportion attract dogs to food manufactured to be palatable and nutritious.

She explores the question: "Why do people in America not like organ meats?"  The organ meats have much more nutritional value than the commonly ingested muscle meats.  As a teenager, I gave a demonstration on the nutritional benefits of liver.  Aside from the elevated cholesterol and the toxic levels of vitamin A - if you eat polar bear liver - it is very healthy.

The final chapter of her book is devoted to the terminal end of the digestive tract including a long section devoted to the death of Elvis Presley.  Mary also highlights the fecal transplant research conducted at the University of Minnesota to effectively treat Clostridium difficile infections.  Patients who have lost their normal intestinal microflora usually due to heavy antibiotic treatment are often colonized by Clostridium difficile.  They suffer from chronic diarrhea with thousands of fatalities annually.   The research is now expanding to treat metabolic syndrome and improve tolerance to insulin in diabetics.
 

Saliva collection and other topics - 5 min. 

Brief summary of Gulp - 2 min.

Mayo Clinic C.difficile treatment - 5 min.

A Bridge to the Future - Understanding Nanotechnology - Deborah Gibbs Sauder

The lecture, Understanding nanotechnology a bridge to the future by Professor Deborah G. Sauder provides an introduction to the broad field of nanotechnology.  The content is geared toward non scientists and she explains many of the concepts by anchoring the description to common everyday objects.

Nanotechnology is currently being used to for packaging material keep food fresh longer allowing ethylene and other food spoilage gases to leak out and increase the shelf life of food.  Medical researchers are using it for the delivery of medicines and possibly in the design of nano machines to do nano surgery. 

Liquid armor - 10 minutes

Mixing polyethylene glycol with silica nano particles produces an non-Newtonian fluid that is flexible when moving slowly but firm like a ceramic solid when force is applied.  Combining this with Kevlar produces a flexible relatively lightweight material that is resistant penetration by sharp objects.  Applications include protective vests for law enforcement and protective gloves for hospital and sanitation workers. Commercially a product known as D-30 is also being used for this purpose and to protect cell phones.

Red dye corn starch plus water produces a non-Newtonian fluid.  4 min. Slow Mo Guys

Tesla - A man out of time by Margaret Cheney

The book,Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney offers an intimate biography of the complex man who helped design and promote the world of alternating current.  He combined the qualities of a driven focused scientist with the theatricality of a magician.

His early partnership with Thomas Edison soured as Tesla and Westinghouse battled Edison over the benefits of DC vs AC current.  AC eventually won out as it allowed for more efficient transmission of electricity over long distances.

Tesla was not a traditional scientist and more of an engineer.  He did not publish papers in scientific journals but worked to gain support from companies and wealthy patrons to support his research and to patent his ideas.  He was definitely a celebrity during his time.

Tesla's friend, Mark Twain, would visit his lab to keep up to date on Tesla's latest research.  Tesla claimed that Mark Twain's writing cured his illness.  Twain claimed that one of Tesla's inventions cured one of his maladies.  Rumors persist that Twain based the main character of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court on Tesla. 

Mark Twain and Tesla - It's OK to Be Smart Blog

 

Top 10 Tesla inventions - 10 min. 

A Force for Good - The Dali Lama's Vision for Our World by Daniel Goleman

Daniel Goleman's book, A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World, provides insight into the Dalai Lama's perspective on how to improve the world. He is in a somewhat frustrating position of advocating for people to accomplish good but because of his transient lifestyle able to do less good. 

I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a Mother's Day event at the University of Minnesota's Mariucci Arena.  The acoustics were poor but he was an engaging and lively speaker.  I was impressed at his quest for knowledge.  He pointed to research that animals show compassion for each other.  For him this proved that goodness was not the special province for humans or individuals in a specific religion. 

Daniel Goleman wrote the book pro bono with the proceeds going to charity.  At the Dalai Lama's speaking events he will also donate the proceeds after expenses to charity. 

Dalai Lama and Constructive Anger - Daniel Goleman - 3 min.

The Dalai Lama advocates channeling anger into action to modify behavior but not directed towards the individual.   

Cultivating Compassion in Children - 2 min. 

Children under the age of five are naturally compassionate and can be taught to be kind to others.

Time Power by Brian Tracy

The book, Time Power: A Proven System for Getting More Done in Less Time Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy provides a comprehensive capstone to his thoughts on managing time to improve your life and earning power.

According to Brian, successful people take a long view of life planning decades into the future.  These people view time as their most precious resource.  They do not waste it.

Time spent planning and prioritizing at the beginning of the day will improve productivity.  During an 8 hour work day studies have found that workers only work a total of less than 2 hours. The rest of the time is spent socializing, in transit, at lunch and other non work related activities.  He also provides hints on reducing distractions at work.  When a long winded talker invades your office, stand up to greet them and walk with them on your way to do something important.  An uncomfortable side chair is one of my favorites.  

Brian recommends listening to audiobooks and lectures during transit. I've used this to get through some very large books and Great Courses lectures.  The activity according to the Minnesota Safety council is only slightly more distracting than listening to a radio while driving.

Daily Habits of Successful people - 5 minutes

Foundations of Economic Prosperity by Daniel W. Drezner

 Foundations of Economic Prosperity by Daniel W. Drezner describes how to do well economically on both a personal and professional level.  According to the speaker the path to prosperity differs from the developing world and the developed world.  In the developed world it is education and entrepreneurship.   In the developing world one path is to earn money in another country and send it back.  

I found the book to be very informative.  It is helpful in predicting the likelihood of specific  organizational structures prone to corruption.  This information applies to schools, politics and countries.  Autocratic governments representing a minority group are more likely to go to war when domestic problems occur at home because they do not owe their power to the people but a much smaller group - examples: Saddam Hussein's Iraq or Assad's Syria.

Daniel Drezner -  Zombies as metaphor - TED talk -15 min.

Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed

The book, Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed offers her post-it note wisdom on navigating through life.  The messages are pithy, pointed and sometimes profane. I found her quotes to be thought provoking and grounded in reality.

Many of her notes combine reality with humor

Cheryl's book, Wild, was recently made into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon. This University of Minnesota graduate is a co-host of the WBUR podcast of Dear Sugar Radio.

Writing when the time is right - 7 minutes

Radical Sincerity, TED talk - 17 minutes

Earth's Changing Climate by Richard Wolfson, Ph.D.

I recently finished listening to 12 lectures on Earth's Changing Climate by Richard Wolfson, Ph. D.   It is part of the Great Courses series.

The information on the global science of climate change was very useful.  I use a non-dispersive infrared meter to measure levels of carbon dioxide.  Carbon dioxide absorbes infrared energy at specific wave lengths.  This allows levels of the gas to be measured and it is also why it traps heat in the earth's atmosphere.  The primary method for heat energy to leave the planet is through loss of  infrared heat through the atmosphere.   On the chart below, 100% transmittance means that the gas does not absorb infra red light at that frequency.  At about 2375-2389 wave number, carbon dioxide absorbs the infrared energy.  

I began measuring outdoor carbon dioxide levels in 1989 in Minnesota.  Levels averaged around 340 ppm.  The recent levels (2016) are around 390 to 400 ppm depending on the time of the year.

 

Earth's climate change patterns from NOAA

http://carlsaganshungovermusings.blogspot.com/ -

Click on any of these images to enlarge.

The lecture and attached book covered the basic science of climate change.  I appreciated that information did not advocate specific policy solutions but focused how climate scientists attempt to measure and predict changes in climate.

 

Modern Physics with Richard Wolfson, Ph.D.