The most recommended books about wildfires

Zompoc novels that involve kids are a tough pill to swallow, but David and Wesley have done something totally different with their story of a field trip gone awry in the early days of the apocalypse. One part Lord of the Flies, one part Night of the Living Dead, the three books in the Feral Children series sees school kids surviving the zombie apocalypse trapped in the city zoo, and it follows them as they befriend the animals there, and then step out with those animals at their backs. The Feral Children gives you the opportunity to read about clever kids surviving the horrors of the undead, as well as getting the chance to read about what a bear might do when faced with the undead.

This is one of the few novels I’ve read that perfectly depicts RV life! The main character Ellie ends up living in her car after a hurricane destroys her home. While she’s camping in the back of her car, she quickly becomes interested and maybe a tad jealous at all these people happily camping in their RVs where they have stoves and heaters and real beds.

This easy weekend read is short and sweet (and the first book in a series, if you get hooked). In addition to sharing Ellie’s transition into buying and living in her first RV, there are a few great insights for newbie RVers too. If nonfiction isn’t your thing, this is definitely the best fiction book on RV life that I’ve come across.

Wildfire starts with the protagonist Stephanie Fournier working as an assistant in a boring 9 to 5 job. Yet, this book is anything but boring. Things heat up very fast when gorgeous CEO Robert Quinlan notices her, and the two become passionate. There’s a catch…she’s a virgin. Will his sudden disinterest in Stephanie mean the end of a romance? Or, can experts be seduced by amateurs? And, there is trouble brewing when another woman’s jealousy bubbles over Quinlan. Wildfire is book one in the Smoke Chaser series. It’s packed with great dialogue, a ruthless female antagonist who drops nasty surprises in Stephanie’s path, and a fiery romance that honors the story’s title. 

These authors had me on the edge of my seat in A Fiery Match. What’s better than a Texas love story set on a ranch with exciting characters and danger? Not much. I admired Janie Olson’s feistiness and drive she obtained from her time in the Army. The way the authors polished Fire Chief Mack Griffitt's rough edges was organic and fun. Though the book is filled with tension, the matchmaking busybodies toss in a helping of humor, which made for a super balance of suspense and comedy I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Did I truly want to read a 400-page book about a raging wildfire that caused $10-billion in damage and burned 2,579 homes to ash? Within a few pages, my answer was “Hell, yes!”

Centered on a record-setting disaster in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Fire Weather is as gripping as a Hollywood blockbuster and as magnetic as a Martin Luther King Jr. speech.

John Vaillant captures the shock and heartbreak of destruction—but also the cognitive dissonance that allows our species to burn enough fossil fuels to threaten our very existence. Cities like Fort McMurray wouldn’t exist without the oil industry. But nor would today’s terrifying “fire tornadoes.”

In this time of reckoning, what should people like me do next? 

When I left the East Coast for California fifty years ago, everyone warned me about earthquakes. They thought I was foolish! I can recall only Loma Prieta. I had fallen asleep on the couch while the World Series was being played close by. My daughter, not the quake, woke me up to feel the shaking. Compared to thunderstorms, blizzards, and hurricanes back east, earthquakes were more mythological than actual.

Life was calm until the 2017 night when smoke coming through an open window awoke me. No fire engines or signs of burning anywhere, I went back to sleep. In the morning, I discovered that a firestorm had raged through towns and country fifteen miles away, taking an area larger than Rhode Island. Like so many that hellish night, the president of my university fled her home in pajamas, barefoot. So did Fies, a local artist, and his wife flee. He… show more.

About a woman who rents a remote cabin in the mountains to decide; her cancer is back, and she must either fight again, or let nature take its course. There is a forest fire, and she is pivotal in saving not only her life, but the lives of others.

I loved it because it’s about a woman who doesn’t know how strong she is until faced with a situation she can’t let herself walk away from. 

This resonates in mine, and I expect many other women’s lives.

Any Peter Heller novel will work here—The Dog Stars, The Painter, etc.—but The River is really interesting for a few reasons: Heller pushes his characters into the unknown on a river that serves both as a literal symbol and a propulsive, metaphorical symbol. There’s no way to backtrack on a river, so his two friends can’t go backwards. Then we add in the imminent danger of a forest fire and the creepy people also on the river with them, and the whole entire mix is scary!

When we put our ideas out there in the real world, we take a risk.

It is an element of being entrepreneurial. But sometimes we can do something in service to others that creates value way beyond what we imagined. Something that has a good impact for those we serve. But this something may have been unpredicted, unseen in the planning stages.

Obliquity teaches us we can focus on the features or the benefits of what we do. This may not result in wealth for the founder, it may not mean a mega exit for the company in a few years. But equally, it may mean a bigger impact for the communities we serve and greater cohesion among those people than we had predicted when writing our business plans.

Hands down, Barry Lopez is the best nature writer ever!

Lopez displays his considerable authorial skills in this distinctive collection of essays published posthumously. Older pieces, in concert with new themes, move readers to discover more about the natural world and all its wondrous connections.

Lopez has a distinctive way with words – creating visions, experiences, and insights available in no other book. This is writing as it should be: a tour de force of precise words and compelling language that draws you in and doesn’t let go until long after the final page is turned.

You will be stimulated and awed, excited and moved. He is a distinctive steward of environmentalism and a consummate wordsmith of observation and emotion. This book should be in everyone’s library!