Non-Fiction

cbabe

(3,934 posts) Sat Aug 31, 2024, 01:20 PM Aug 31

John Vaillant/Fire Weather: on the front lines of a burning world

Vintage books/Random House 2024
Pulitzer finalist, National Book finalist

Alberta oil town burns down.

Side trips to other fire disasters.

Add in all the science of climate change and fire physics. History of geology and science discoveries.

Parallels to first kill all the beavers (Hudson Bay Corp) then kill the land, air, and water (all other multinationals).

The emotional dissonance as the unthinkable happens.

And irony. Oil workers escaping Armageddon in oil driven cars. Oil workers homes full of oil products exploding in five minutes.

Valiant strives to be nonjudgmental but underneath I think he’s screaming: you fools!

4 replies

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John Vaillant/Fire Weather: on the front lines of a burning world (Original Post) cbabe Aug 31 OP

Put this on my wish list Bayard Aug 31 #1

Just finished it - absolutely brilliant. hatrack Aug 31 #2

Yes. We're deep into the petrocene. Can anyone go through a day not touching plastic? cbabe Aug 31 #3

It was such a great book. likesmountains 52 Aug 31 #4

Bayard

(23,541 posts)

1. Put this on my wish list

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Sat Aug 31, 2024, 01:33 PM

Aug 31

Thanks!

hatrack

(60,277 posts)

2. Just finished it - absolutely brilliant.

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Sat Aug 31, 2024, 01:55 PM

Aug 31

That chapter that talked about fire behavior in houses with "legacy" furnishings (wood, cotton, horsehair, metal) vs. "modern" (petroleum in everything you sit on, watch and listen to) was mind-blowing.

cbabe

(3,934 posts)

3. Yes. We're deep into the petrocene. Can anyone go through a day not touching plastic?

Reply to hatrack (Reply #2)

Sat Aug 31, 2024, 02:34 PM

Aug 31

likesmountains 52

(4,161 posts)

4. It was such a great book.

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Sat Aug 31, 2024, 04:15 PM

Aug 31

So much more than a book about a fire. He's an excellent story teller that keeps your interest through the human interest aspect of what occurred and the science, geology and political history. After reading Fire Weather I decided to read another of his books, The Tiger which I also strongly recommend.

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