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  • Fire Weather

  • The Making of a Beast
  • Written by: John Vaillant
  • Narrated by: Alan Carlson
  • Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

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Fire Weather

Written by: John Vaillant
Narrated by: Alan Carlson
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Publisher's Summary

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • FINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’ TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A stunning account of the colossal wildfire at Fort McMurray, and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind from the award-winning, best-selling author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce.

Named a Best Book of the Year by The GuardianTIMEThe Globe and Mail The New Yorker Financial Times • CBC • Smithsonian Air Mail WeeklySlate • NPR • Toronto Star The Washington Post The Times • Orion Magazine

In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada's petroleum industry and America's biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world.

For hundreds of millennia, fire has been a partner in our evolution, shaping culture, civilization, and, very likely, our brains. Fire has enabled us to cook our food, defend and heat our homes, and power the machines that drive our titanic economy. Yet this volatile energy source has always threatened to elude our control, and in our new age of intensifying climate change, we are seeing its destructive power unleashed in previously unimaginable ways.

With masterly prose and a cinematic eye, Vaillant takes us on a riveting journey through the intertwined histories of North America's oil industry and the birth of climate science, to the unprecedented devastation wrought by modern forest fires, and into lives forever changed by these disasters. John Vaillant's urgent work is a book for—and from—our new century of fire, which has only just begun.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 John Vaillant (P)2023 Knopf Canada

What the critics say

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE BALLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NONFICTION

FINALIST FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION

FINALIST FOR THE 2023 BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK COMPETITION

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES' 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2023

ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023

ONE OF TIME'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023

ONE OF THE CBC'S BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2023

“All-too-timely. . . . The real protagonist here is the fire itself: an unruly and terrifying force with insatiable appetites. This book is both a real-life thriller and a moment-by-moment account of what happened—and why, as the climate changes and humans don’t, it will continue to happen again and again.”The New York Times, ”10 Best Books of 2023”

“A gripping depiction of the blaze’s devastating trajectory. . . . The book’s true protagonist is fire, which Vaillant treats like a living, breathing creature that is destined to grow even more dangerous as the world becomes even more combustible. At a time when wildfires are dominating news cycles, Fire Weather is not just a timely and stunning account of recent history—it’s also a frightening preview of what could become our new normal.—Shannon Carlin, TIME Magazine's ”100 Must-Read Books of 2023”

“This timely and riveting account of the 2016 McMurray wildfire explores not just that Canadian inferno but what it bodes for the future. Vaillant has a chillingly serious message: This is the inevitable result of climate change, and it will happen again and again.”The New York Times, ”100 Notable Books of 2023”

What listeners say about Fire Weather

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Great read, very informative

What a wonderful book. Having survived the fire season of 2023 in my area of the globe (North of Fort McMurray) I was looking for information about forest fires, and the interplay of climate change, and honestly and answer to my question: what the hell is going on?

I had heard the author on the radio last year discussing the fires that were happening in our area and I'd made a mental note to read his book.

It did not disappoint. I highly recommend it for anyone living in a WUI, for anyone who is curious, for anyone else who thinks "what the hell is going on" when they look around and everything's on fire. I understand now a bit better the situation and I feel better prepared to deal with another "record-breaking fire season" as will likely happen again soon enough.

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Great Book

little by little it gets you and the world of fire is coming we like it or not... if you like the relation between fire and humans and how we never seem to learn, this is book for you .

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Wake Up big corporations

Great book and was filled with incredible facts . We , us humans have tipped the scales too far!

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Read this brilliant book!

This is literary non fiction of the highest order and perhaps of the highest priority.

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A must read

This book explores the human side of forest fire tragedies, placing these in context through comprehensive accounts of the history of oil exploration and development, the science of climate change, and the policy challenges that face us now. Most moving for me was the excerpt from an interview with a fellow driving his wife and three children from the flames, stuck in traffic, watching the flames approach, wondering if they would be overtaken and what to do if the flames got close - grab a child and run? which child?

If you are thinking of reading one book to better understand the changes we are seeing in the nature, frequency and destruction of wildfires, or if you are looking for a highly readable resource on climate change, the science behind it and the issues it raises, this is the book for you.

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A Watershed tale

As a former wildland fire fighter, the book was on point with the research and descriptions of the fire itself. Having dealt with interface fires story of Fort Mac resonates to those times when I was on the front line. The last section of the book that describes the future fires in this planet is a section we all should learn and put into practice.

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Excellent

Great listen! Highly recommended. listened to it a few times already. Narration was very good too.

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Excellent and timely

I'm a big fan of John Valliant's non-fiction books. This one is up there with his (very excellent) others. Extremely timely as well.

Today was the first day I ever had an event cancelled due to wildfire smoke. After reading this book I understand why this is the case and worry more about our future.

Consider this one a must-read.

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insightful and gripping

if you like John Vaillant you will love this book. He has a great ability to add context, nuance and humanity to complex topics.

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Gripping and Scary!

Wow! Once I started listening I could not stop.

In usual John Vaillant fashion, the writing is beautiful and vivid. In addition to being well researched and and informative it’s also as fast paced and gripping as a bestselling thriller.

The story focuses on the Fort McMurray fire, told through interviews with firefighters and survivors. Their sorties are moving and scary.

In addition its also about the changing science of forest fires and a warning about the devastating consequences of inaction on climate change.

Scary! At first the stories of the people who survived the Fort Mac fires were frightening and scary. But by the end I felt fear for my children and the generations to come. He paints a stark picture of a warming world and the positive feedback loops created by forest fires as they release vast amounts of carbon, while burning the exact thing the we rely on to remove carbon dioxide: trees. As good a call to action on climate change as anything I have ever read (or listened to). Highly recommended.

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