Reading this after the LA fires and realizing that all of the records broken in this book - most destructive fire, most people evacuated - have already been broken in the short time since publication is pretty disheartening. 

Vaillant presents a thoroughly researched book in three parts. How we got here, or the role of fossil fuels and the tar sands that permeate every moment of our lives. A minute by minute rehashing of the Fort Mac fire, told with the common theme of "I've never seen anything like this before". And where do we go from here. Now that we've done indelible damage to our planet, what can we do. How can we learn to survive on a planet that's on fire or is it possible to put out the flames?

There are messages of both caution and hope in this book. Caution that if we continue on as we have done - and watching the US roll back climate protections to 'drill baby drill' makes this seem likely - we will have to get used to the beast we have created. 2024 was the hottest year on record. But we're also never going to have another year as cool as it. We thought the Fort Mac fire was horrible. LA showed us it could be worse. In a few years will we watch more destructive fires and wonder how we thought the LA fires were so bad?

There is hope in this book, but I admit I felt pretty hopeless at the end. So much of how we can protect the earth and our climate is based on politics. The global shift right doesn't bode well for the earth.