Title: The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
Author: Jeff Goodell
Genre: Nonfiction, Science
Published: 2023
Pages: 299 (Kindle Edition)
Goodreads Rating: 4.46
Rating: 8/10
“…extreme heat is an entirely human artifact, a legacy of human civilization as real as the Great Wall of China.”
“Before there was light, there was heat. It is the origin of all things and the end of all things.”
In The Heat Will Kill You First, Goodell immediately captures your attention with a shocking prologue and holds your attention to the very last word. This book is not just education… it is critically important. Comprehension of heat’s impact varies from person to person… and we don’t have the luxury of time to fix that. The severity of our situation requires immediate action because there is a path forward to save our planet if we can only accomplish it before time’s up. What can you do to help? Read this book.
Pros:
Full of fascinating facts
Are you a person who is curious about a variety of topics? If so, this book is for you. The Heat Will Kill You First is extremely educational in the best way possible. Want to learn about how heat waves are created? Where camels evolved? How trees rupture? What’s in the Arctic permafrost? What happens if Antarctica melts? What could cause the next pandemic? If you answered yes to any of these questions, read this book.
Thought-provoking
At times, this book will shock you and it makes you think hard about issues where humans are failing our planet. But I hope that the awareness this author brings to tough topics and all of the deep thought generated by this book leads to positive change. It may be the eleventh hour… but it’s not too late to save our planet.
Balanced approach
Goodell does a great job of providing a balanced look at our situation. The author clearly explains what’s happened to our planet so far and what will eventually happen if we don’t make serious, wide-spread changes. He also outlines what we’re doing to try to help now and what we need to do moving forward. There’s not much optimism about achieving what we need to do… but there is a path forward where we save our planet.
Is this a sci-fi novel?
Well… no. But it certainly reads like one at times. Considering how the next pandemic could start and what happens if Antarctica melts… this would have made a great sci-fi novel if it wasn’t our actual reality.
Cons:
Can be hard to follow…
The author has so many amazing examples of critical people and places… but he jumps around quite a bit and it can be hard to keep up with. Often multiple examples are used in the same chapter and he bounces between them in a way that takes active reading to fully understand.
What can I do?
At the end of the book, I wish Goodell had provided a list of things that the average person can do to help with climate change. Unfortunately, he says he “can’t answer those questions.” It was a bit disheartening to see that the decisions need to be made at an international, governmental level in order to generate the amount of change we need to fix what we’ve done. Personally, I think that there’s something each of us can do including how we use our air-conditioning, how often we drive, and if we choose to recycle. But I can also see that providing a list like that could diminish his message that we need to make massive changes and what the average person can do is simply not enough and never will be.
Overall…
I think every person needs to read this book. We are at a critical moment in history to either fix what we’ve done or suffer the dire consequences. Unfortunately, we are at a severe disadvantage where we not only need to generate massive change at a global level but we also need to educate people on why that change is needed in the first place. Like I said at the start, comprehension of heat’s impact varies from person to person… and we don’t have the luxury of time to fix that. The severity of our situation can be demoralizing… but there is a path forward to save our planet if we can only accomplish it before time’s up.
Caroline’s Library 