The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet

Name: The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
SKU: 83963
Availability: InStock

4.7 | 1,323 ratings

Price: 19.1

Last update: 06-24-2024

Top reviews from the United States

Immer

Documentation of a Steepening Heat Slope and How All Life on Earth is Affected

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2023

Jeff Goodell’s The Heat Will Kill You First reads as a what will happen to the common man, what we can expect in regard to the looming human caused climate crisis on Earth. As one who has been knocked down with heat exhaustion on a 12 mile summer evening run over 40 years ago, I find it mind numbing that people are succumbing to heat while just living. Goodell tactfully takes the reader through a number of cases, where individuals who succumbed to heat related causes. The first few chapters are can’t put the book down stuff, as he discusses the physiological effects heat has on humans.

The book is divided into 14 chapters, each with a unique concern for the coming plight for humans. Will the wealthy be the only people in the world population who manage to live in climate controlled zones? The author dissects the Heat Islands that our, urban and metropolitan areas have become. What will become of our agricultural zones responsible for feeding so many of the world’s people, and what happens to the worlds displaced populations who are forced to migrate due to heat and or rising water levels? As an aside, I wonder how many times New Orleans will endure endemic flooding, as well as the suburbs of Houston built upon flood plains.

What will happen to the bounty supplied by the oceans despite overfishing, as the chemistry of the oceans are changing with increased warming. Will the major ocean currents, that are responsible for spreading and mixing the cold and warm water patterns and associated weather fail? Will virulent diseases, vectored in by ticks and mosquitoes become more prevalent? What will happen to the remaining wildlife with which humans share a rapidly warming world?

Goodell provides a small amount of human approach to combatting the worlds warming such as planting more trees in urban areas, to releasing aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect the suns warming rays, yet how might such a procedure adversely impact some humans. What it comes down to is our global leaders are dithering as we, as a species, are rapidly approaching a tipping point from which there is no coming back. As I write this, the temperatures have soared in NE Minnesota in early September. It can get warm up here, but the current heat dome is an anomaly amongst many worldwide, that when put together, spell trouble. Goodell’s 317 pages of text, is supported by a short glossary, 40 pages of notes, a four page bibliography, and a decent index. All this added together provides the reader with a very readable and sobering story for what is occurring and what is to come.

BSQK

clear, relatable, well-explained

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2023

Very readable and relatable. Goodell does an excellent job of explaining all the consequences of a hotter planet. You've heard of most, maybe all, of them -- but, well, he explains why objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. From a gripping account of how a couple, their child, and their dog all died on a short hike a five-minute drive from their home, to why whole cities and major sections of our country will no longer support their populations. And of course we see it on the news every day. Heat amounts to a confluence of disasters, caused by us and our foolishness. As I said, you've probably heard it all before, but Goodell brings it from the future of somebody else's problems, to ours, to here, to now. And of course this isn't just the US, but I stress that because we don't seem to be able to take a disaster seriously until we are the ones being hit by it.

The only two weak chapters are the ones on Antarctic ice melt and the disappearing Arctic polar ice. I think that's maybe because it's hard to observe it happening. Oh sure, we can understand methane from permafrost melt and we can see all the water where ice used to be, but it still appears very cold. And yet every country with a border up there is getting ready to exploit it, not save it. Goodell tries to make us feel for the polar bears, doomed to extinction, but we can still see them. I did see a film of one swimming far out to sea looking for ice floes which would enable him to hunt for seals. Polar bears are great swimmers but eventually he returned to land, and died. Goodell did finally see one, close, but she moved off with her cubs. Will they live?

Read this book.

Linda

Scary, but worthwhile, if not essential reading

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2023

This book is frightening, but very interesting reading. Goodell tells the stories of specific individuals around the world who have had to deal with, and will continue to deal with, the effects of extreme heat. The well-told stories are accompanied by details of the basic science involved in each scenario and data that backs it up. Goodell himself participating in some of the scientific investigations in remote parts of the world. Very readable.

Robert Brouillette

This is an important book for today’s climate chance status

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2024

This is well written and is a sobering insight into the status of global warming.

Amazon Customer

must read for climate info

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2024

Writing style is casual and accessible. At times it reads like fiction but you’ll come away knowing it is not.

Sarah G.

I've changed my mind about climate change

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2024

this is one of the most frightening books I've ever read. The author has done a remarkable job of alerting us to the consequences of not taking the warming of the planet seriously. How much we humans can or are willing to do is a problem. Being a cold weather person I can see for myself how warm the winters are getting and how horribly hot the Summers are. WE MUST STOP THIS.
Sarah Goodman

Jerry Lynn Severson

Excellent, comprehensive book on the effects of heat on our shared environment.

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2024

I read this book to obtain additional information on global warming and climate change.

Artemis825

thought provoking and informative

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2023

I enjoyed this book. I learned a lot; it was the kind of book where I’ve been sharing bits from it in conversation with friends and family. The main weakness of the book is evidenced in the title: a slight trend towards sensationalism in language. However, don’t let that deter you; there is plenty of solid research and substance here.

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