Picked from my general TBR list.

The Lucretius Problem is a mental defect we all fall victim to, in which someone thinks the worst thing that can happen is the worst thing that CAN happen. This defect is at the heart of Fire Weather.

In 2016, a fire like none seen before decimated Fort McMurray in Alberta. Trees didn't just burn down. They were vaporized in the extreme heat. And, when the fire hit the city, 88,000 people were driven out of their homes.

Having dealt with wildfires for years, and thinking they'd seen the worst of them in the past, residents and first responders were caught unawares. 

The other instance of the Lucretius Problem comes from climate science, and the people who have ignored it. Scientists started talking about the Greenhouse Effect in the 1800s. And that talk turned into warnings about how the Earth warming would affect human beings.

Some ignored the warnings in lieu of profit. But others feel into the defect in question. "I've seen the temperature go up before. Nothing very bad happened. So nothing that bad COULD happen." As we've seen in recent years, it was a horrible failure of imagination.

Fire Weather is compelling science writing. And I really don't give a shit about science, so that's saying something. And as Valliant chronicles the 2016 fire, the book starts to feel like a thriller. He even has room for some very human moments, like when a man sneaks into an evacuated area to liberate his Harley.

Highly recommended. I think this will be on college syllabi in 20 years, when the kids are learning about the beginnings of the climate disaster.