Sixty Days and Counting is the final book in Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Science in the Capitol” series. A new president brings our scientist heroes inside the Beltway, as rising sea levels and increasingly wild weather make the dangers of global warming clear to the world’s population.

During the day, Robinson’s characters fight the good fight; outside work, they continue to deal with their own personal issues. Frank vanderWaal, now the Assistant National Science Advisor, deals with the consequences of his injury, his love for a mysterious woman involved in troubling events, and his confused living conditions. Charlie Quibbler deals with the changes in his son Joe after the Tibetan ritual in the previous book. Science advances, the world realigns, politics fall to practicality, love blooms.

I find Robinson’s books inspirational — I share many of the characters’ enthusiasms, as well as some of their foibles and confusion about the best way to live our lives. Sixty Days and Counting continues that pattern, and I am both eagerly looking forward to his next book and to the opportunities to get involved in sustainability efforts at home and at work.