The story of a devastating wildfire that reads 'like a thriller' wins U.K. book prize

[sl8]

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213685507/the-story-of-a-devastating-wildfire-that-reads-like-a-thriller-wins-u-k-book-pri

The story of a devastating wildfire that reads 'like a thriller' wins U.K. book prize

NOVEMBER 17, 2023 5:07 AM ET
By The Associated Press

LONDON — A book about a fire that ravaged a Canadian city and has been called a portent of climate chaos won Britain's leading nonfiction book prize on Thursday.

John Vaillant's Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World was awarded the 50,000 pound ($62,000) Baillie Gifford Prize at a ceremony in London.

The chairperson of the judging panel, Frederick Studemann, said the book tells "a terrifying story," reading "almost like a thriller" with a "deep science backdrop."

He called Fire Weather, which was also a U.S. National Book Award finalist, "an extraordinary and elegantly rendered account of a terrifying climate disaster that engulfed a community and industry, underscoring our toxic relationship with fossil fuels."

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[Chautauquas]

1. I'm glad I saw your post

because now I want to read that book. I recommend another book - about the 1949 Mann Gulch fire in Montana that took the lives of 12 or 13 smoke jumpers. The author is Norman Maclean, who also wrote A River Runs Through It, and the title of the book is Young Men and Fire.

[sl8]

2. Thanks for the recommendation. nt

[The Roux Comes First]

3. I Agree, Young Men and Fire is Terrific!