This seems like a good opportunity to give a shout-out to Richard Alley’s book Earth: The Operator’s Manual.  This book is written in a very accessible style – it was designed to accompany the PBS series of the same name.   It explains the basic physics of climate change, how we know about the climate of the past, and some of the things we can do to reduce the risks that climate change may pose in the future.

Bibliographic information:  Alley, Richard B. 2011. Earth: The Operators’ Manual. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.