An explosive, completely new understanding of heat, the lethal force which threatens every living cell on Earth. New York Times best-selling writer Jeff Goodell presents a deeply-reported examination of the impact that temperature rise will have on our lives and on our planet, offering a vital new perspective on where we are headed, how we can prepare, and what is at stake if we fail to act.
“If you have ever sweated through a heatwave and wondered how much worse things are going to get as temperatures continue to rise around the planet, then Jeff Goodell’s The Heat Will Kill You First is just the book for you. Meticulously researched yet thoroughly readable, this is at once a portrait of a heat-disrupted world and a primer for how to prepare for it.”
—Amitav Ghosh, author of The Nutmeg’s Curse
“It is already a new world, hotter than ever before in human history and getting rapidly hotter still. The Heat Will Kill You First is a masterful, bracing, vivid portrait of the future we now know will be shaped, like clay, by that heat—a godlike force, as Goodell writes, governing all life conducted under its profound and brutal reign.”
—David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth
The New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2017, as well as one of Washington Post ’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2017
“An immersive, mildly gonzo and depressingly well-timed book about the drenching effects of global warming, and a powerful reminder that we can bury our heads in the sand about climate change for only so long before the sand itself disappears.”
—Jennifer Senior, The New York Times
Winner of 2011 Grantham Prize of Special Merit
“A vividly written, thoughtful book . . . Jeff Goodell helps readers explore the audacious question of whether humans can use technology to fix the very problem it’s created.”
—Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post
“A compelling indictment of one of the country’s biggest, most powerful and most antiquated industries . . . well-written, timely, and powerful.”
— The New York Times
“Big Coal‘s greatest strength lies in Goodell’s ability to tell human stories—how individuals, families and communities are affected by the mining, production, and consumption of coal.”
—Rocky Mountain News
New York Times bestseller
“A pulse-racing tale . . . Goodell wisely keeps the focus on these hard-bitten men and the bravery that kept them going through those long, indistinguishable days and nights underground.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Goodell’s story, despite, or maybe because of, its inexorability, is riveting.”
—Sam Lipsyte, The New York Times Book Review
“An excellent, alarming memoir.”
—The Boston Globe