The Heat Will Kill You First

Life and Death on a Scorched Planet

By: Jeff Goodell

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Most Anticipated by The Washington Post• New York Times bestselling journalist's "masterful, bracing" (David Wallace-Wells) investigation exposes "through stellar reporting, artful storytelling and fascinating scientific explanations" (Naomi Klein) an explosive new understanding of heat and the impact that rising temperatures will have on our lives and on our planet. "Entertaining and thoroughly researched," (Al Gore), it will completely change the way you see the world, and despite its urgent themes, is injected with "eternal optimism" (Michael Mann) on how to combat one of the most important issues of our time.

“When heat comes, it’s invisible. It doesn’t bend tree branches or blow hair across your face to let you know it’s arrived…. The sun feels like the barrel of a gun pointed at you.”

The world is waking up to a new reality: wildfires are now seasonal in California, the Northeast is getting less and less snow each winter, and the ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctica are melting fast. Heat is the first order threat that drives all other impacts of the climate crisis. And as the temperature rises, it is revealing fault lines in our governments, our politics, our economy, and our values. The basic science is not complicated: Stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, and the global temperature will stop rising tomorrow. Stop burning fossil fuels in 50 years, and the temperature will keep rising for 50 years, making parts of our planet virtually uninhabitable. It’s up to us. The hotter it gets, the deeper and wider our fault lines will open.

The Heat Will Kill You First is about the extreme ways in which our planet is already changing. It is about why spring is coming a few weeks earlier and fall is coming a few weeks later and the impact that will have on everything from our food supply to disease outbreaks. It is about what will happen to our lives and our communities when typical summer days in Chicago or Boston go from 90° F to 110°F. A heatwave, Goodell explains, is a predatory event—one that culls out the most vulnerable people. But that is changing. As heatwaves become more intense and more common, they will become more democratic.

As an award-winning journalist who has been at the forefront of environmental journalism for decades, Goodell’s new book may be his most provocative yet, explaining how extreme heat will dramatically change the world as we know it. Masterfully reported, mixing the latest scientific insight with on-the-ground storytelling, Jeff Goodell tackles the big questions and uncovers how extreme heat is a force beyond anything we have reckoned with before.

©2023 Jeff Goodell (P)2023 Little, Brown & Company

Goodell is now my favorite nonfiction author

Jeff Goodell's "The Water Will Come" nonfiction book about sea level rise sparked an idea for my disaster novel "Ice Crash: Antarctica." With this second work on climate change, Goodell has secured himself as my favorite nonfiction author. The book isn't all doom and gloom. It ends on a high note. What CAN we do to stop this overheated future?

Informative

I found this book engrossing and opened my eyes to aspects of climate change I hadn’t considered

A Real Eye Opener

A careful reckoning of our future-from melting ice flooding the coast lines to increasing numbers of heat related deaths.
The planet is in real distress as we dawdle.

Great presentation of compelling information.

Clear, compelling, full of important information. Great reading. Accessible to wide audience but not overly simplified.

Great overview of heat and the climate crisis

This book weaves together a combination of personal stories, historical discoveries, and interviews with scientists to paint a comprehensive overview of the role of heat in climate change. The author does an excellent job helping readers to connect the dots between pieces of familiar information to understand the issue in a deeper way. Highly recommended!

What an amazing concise book

I really enjoy this book and it explained and showcase what’s wrong with carbon emissions today.

Important Book on Global Warming

Another incredibly important book to help readers wrap their minds around the devastation that is coming with regard to the terrible effects of a hotter planet. Jeff Goodell profiles many individuals and communities who are being impacted. I can't recommend this book enough for those of us who are concerned about our rapidly warming world. Fantastic journalism!

Indespensible

This book should be required reading for every Member of Congress and every state legislstor.

Thank You Jeff Goodell

I thought Jeff Goodell wrote a great current, wide range accounting of Global Warming. It works great for the Layman. And that is most people in the world. I don’t know why some ratings are 3 or 4 stars. It is obvious that he has gone to great pains to create a widely encompassing book on this topic that is so informative, and still interesting. Anyone who has put this much time and effort and research into The Most Important Issue on the Planet deserves to be Celebrated! This message needs to get out as much and as fast as possible!

Read it!

This is THE most important book of our time. Spread the word. I’m going to send the title to each senator and congressperson.