{"product_id":"fire-weather-9781399720199","title":"Fire Weather","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e*WINNER of the BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e***AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER***\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e* A Pulitzer Prize Finalist * A National Book Award Finalist * A Writers'' Trust Award Finalist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''\u003cb\u003eNo book feels timelier than John Vaillant''s \u003ci\u003eFire Weather\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003cb\u003ean adrenaline-soaked nightmare that is impossible to put down'' Cal Flyn, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e''\u003c\/i\u003eSuperb and terrifying . . . it reads with pace and flair and a rich, furious clarity'' Katherine Rundell, author of \u003ci\u003eSuper-Infinite\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gripping account of this century''s most intense urban fire, and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between humanity and fire''s fierce energy.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn May 2016, Fort McMurray, Alberta, the hub of Canada''s oil industry, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster turned entire neighbourhoods into firebombs and drove 90,000 people from their homes in a single af\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNo book feels timelier than John Vaillant's \u003ci\u003eFire Weather\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, a deeply reported narrative of one of Canada's most destructive recent wildfires . . . \u003cb\u003ean adrenaline-soaked nightmare that is impossible to put down \u003c\/b\u003e. . . The drama of the unfolding action and the righteous anger of the polemic concealed within are engrossing -- Cal Flyn * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e'\u003cb\u003eAll-consuming\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Vaillant's \u003cb\u003eurgent \u003c\/b\u003edisaster story [is] \u003cb\u003emeticulous \u003c\/b\u003ein its detail, both human and geological in its scale, and often \u003cb\u003eshocking \u003c\/b\u003ein its conclusions -- Tim Adams * Observer *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuperb and terrifying\u003c\/b\u003e . . . it reads with pace and flair and a rich, furious clarity -- Katherine Rundell * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt reads like a thriller\u003c\/b\u003e. It's a page turner. I could not put it down . . . This is an important book, serious in its focus but \u003cb\u003eutterly compelling\u003c\/b\u003e in its narrative pace, and it's\u003cb\u003e beautifully written\u003c\/b\u003e -- Andrea Wulf, author \u003ci\u003eThe Invention of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRiveting, spellbinding, astounding on every page\u003c\/b\u003e. John Vaillant is one of the great poetic chroniclers of the natural world, and here he captures the majesty and horror of one of its great disasters - and what made it tragically possible -- David Wallace-Wells\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePage-turning and pacy\u003c\/b\u003e -- Paul Nuki * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAll-too-timely\u003c\/b\u003e . . . This book is both\u003cb\u003e a real-life thriller \u003c\/b\u003eand a moment-by-moment account of what happened [in the Fort McMurray fire] - and why, as the climate changes and humans don't, it will continue to happen again and again -- *The 10 Best Books of 2023* * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCould not be a more timely work\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Eloquent . . . his powerful book is \u003cb\u003ea must read \u003c\/b\u003efor anyone  interested in our collective future -- Nick Rennison * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eWhat makes \u003ci\u003eFire Weather \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eso good\u003c\/b\u003e is its in-depth analysis of the moral, political, environmental and even anthropological background to both the climate crisis and our relationship with fire in all its forms . . . \u003cb\u003eWe all need to heed this powerful book\u003c\/b\u003e -- Mark Cocker * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eMesmerizing . . . meticulous and meditative -- David Wallace-Wells * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eProvides a \u003cb\u003erefreshingly clear \u003c\/b\u003eexplanation of this hazy, uncanny moment in the earth's history . . . Vaillant is the type of journalist who picks a single narrative and monomaniacally researches it, plunging himself deeper and deeper into the murky details, and then emerges, many years later, with a small universe cupped in his hands . . . by turns\u003cb\u003e heart-racing and horrifying\u003c\/b\u003e -- Robert Moor * New York Magazine *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRiveting \u003c\/b\u003e. . . \u003ci\u003eFire Weather \u003c\/i\u003eis notable for its vivid descriptions of the destructive power of a wildfire so big it creates its own weather . . . Using the drama of the wildfire as a way in, Vaillant gives\u003cb\u003e a damning history\u003c\/b\u003e of the Canadian oil sands industry and the environmental damage it has wrought on Alberta's forests and waters . . . The book's descriptions of the scale of the industry required to distil something usable from such a material are nearly as \u003cb\u003eastonishing \u003c\/b\u003eas its renderings of the fire -- James Dinneen * New Scientist *\u003cbr\u003eIn John Vaillant's vivid anatomy of the apocalyptic Fort McMurray inferno, the histories of humankind's ever-accelerating consumption of fossil fuel, and of our ever-increasing vulnerability to extreme wildfire, converge with the relentlessness of fate - and the urgency of prophecy -- Philip Gourevitch\u003cbr\u003eA forensic account of the contradictions and costs of Canada's ill-fated tar sands adventure. \u003cb\u003eExplosive reportage at its best\u003c\/b\u003e -- Ben Rawlence, author of The Treeline\u003cbr\u003eThis book is fuelled by Vaillant's genius for storytelling, ignited by intelligence both virtuosic and profound, and burns with the hell of a world on fire -- Jay Griffiths, author of \u003ci\u003eWild: An Elemental Journey\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFire Weather \u003c\/i\u003eis a compulsively readable journey into our fiery times - by turns a propulsive account of the Fort McMurray Fire burning an oil town to ash; an investigation into the gas-guzzling economic systems that make wildfires so hot they melt steel (and so large they form their own weather); and a meditation on the human relationship with combustion.  At the centre, Vaillant gives us fire itself as a character - fast, hungry, and evolving to shape the warming decades to come -- Bathsheba Demuth, author of Floating Coast\u003cbr\u003eThe Fort McMurray fire was a vortex of people, ideas, institutions, forest, oil, city, and wind, the quirky and the existential, all mutating under the wanton impress of the Anthropocene Age. \u003ci\u003eFire Weather \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a compelling account of that tragedy, and a reimagining of a pyric infection that threatens to remake the planet -- Stephen Pyne, author of The Pyrocene\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003eriveting \u003c\/b\u003eexploration of fire and humankind. While for millennia, fire has been a partner in our evolution, Vaillant shows to \u003cb\u003edevastating \u003c\/b\u003eeffect that in our age of climate change, we are seeing its destructive power unleashed in ways never before witnessed * The Bookseller *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStunning and powerful\u003c\/b\u003e ... Scrupulously and thoroughly researched ... \u003cb\u003eone of the finest books of the year\u003c\/b\u003e. Despite its density and the disturbing nature of many of its scenes, \u003ci\u003eFire Weather \u003c\/i\u003eis an \u003cb\u003eabsolutely compelling read\u003c\/b\u003e -- Robert J. Wiersema * Toronto Star *\u003cbr\u003eSearing . . . Vaillant's exploration of fire draws on physics and chemistry, philosophy and symbolism . . . His robust and vivid writing, detailed reporting, and urgent concern for the environment make for sizzling reading * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003eGripping . . . Vaillant's exploration of this material is rich and illuminating, and his prose punchy and cinematic . . . The result is an engrossing disaster tale with a potent message * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eThere's a lot of good Elizabeth Kolbert-level popular science writing here along with grittier portraits of the lives of the people who make their living among the tar sands and scrub . . . A timely, well-written work of climate change reportage * Kirkus *\u003cbr\u003eDramatic . . . Captivating . . . a fascinating history of regional exploitation and illustrative absurdities * Scientific American *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA tale of terror from a climate change frontline\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003ci\u003eFire Weather\u003c\/i\u003e includes a lot about the science of fire and weather. But it is also a book about the cognitive dissonance in climate change discourse . . . \u003cb\u003eEpic\u003c\/b\u003e -- Derek Brower * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eImpressive . . . a great piece of storytelling, well paced and \u003cb\u003erelentlessly gripping \u003c\/b\u003e. . . a \u003cb\u003eremarkable, often thrilling book\u003c\/b\u003e -- Nigel Andrew * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRiveting\u003c\/b\u003e . . . A deserved winner of this year's Baillie Gifford nonfiction prize -- Steven Poole, Books of the Year * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eJohn Vaillant's \u003ci\u003eFire Weather\u003c\/i\u003e reveals to readers a character as ruthless, creative, and destructive as any in modern literature: fire itself. Through \u003cb\u003edynamic prose, deep research, and a profound sense of the stakes on a planet beset by climate change\u003c\/b\u003e, Vaillant traces how Canada's geological and economic history have converged to transform fire from a useful tool into an existential threat to our way of life.  In the process, he crafts\u003cb\u003e a narrative pulsing with beauty and annihilation\u003c\/b\u003e, hubris and desire, and the unsettling revelation that what humanity has long considered its most important tool is no longer under our control. -- Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction jury\u003cbr\u003eA towering achievement; an immense work of research, reflection and imagination . . .  \u003ci\u003eFire Weather \u003c\/i\u003eis extraordinary in terms of its scope and range; it also sings and surprises at the level of the sentence. It grips like a philosophical thriller, warns like a beacon, and shocks to the core -- Robert Macfarlane\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48738919711063,"sku":"9781399720199","price":21.25,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781399720199.jpg?v=1720050583","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/fire-weather-9781399720199","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}