Bartlett Book Club

Next Book: When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas

Join us on Thursday, January 8th, for the next Bartlett Book Club meeting!

Members are FREE! When registering, please sign in at the top right to get your discount. Join today here.

Currently Reading:

When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas

A hotshot firefighter’s gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season

Eighteen of California’s largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term “megafire” to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been nearly impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction.

In When It All Burns, wildland firefighter and anthropologist Jordan Thomas recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots—the special forces of America’s firefighters. Being a hotshot is among the most difficult jobs on earth. Thomas viscerally renders his crew’s attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain. He uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires, revealing how humanity’s symbiotic relationship with wildfire became a war—and what can be done to change it back.

Thomas weaves ecology and the history of Indigenous peoples' oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex into a riveting narrative about a new phase in the climate crisis. It's an immersive story of community in the most perilous of circumstances, told with humor, humility, and affection.

What?

The Bartlett Arboretum Book Club is a bimonthly program that brings readers and nature lovers together in one place.

What we read is up to you! At each meeting, members vote from a selected list of nature, plant, gardening, or wildlife-themed books, to determine what the next one will be. If you would like to join the club, please read this book before the meeting date; we will be discussing our thoughts on the book as a group then.

The nature aspect of this club won’t be limited only to the books we choose. At the meetings, there will be additional educational information provided, as well as tie-in plant activities. This will vary by meeting, but activities like book swaps, plant repotting, and propagation are all on the table! Guest speakers will also be brought to the meetings, to offer additional educational information or an important diverse perspective.

This is a low-commitment book club. We hope the two months between meetings will give our members enough time to finish the book. But even if you don’t, it’s no problem. Come anyway and discuss what you got to or hear what others have to say about the book.

Where?

We will meet in the Adult Classroom in the Silver Education Center. When the weather warms up, we will meet outdoors within the arboretum grounds.

When?

This meeting is on Thursday, September 4th, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. We meet every other month, on the first Thursday of the month, unless otherwise noted.

Anything else?

If you wish to bring a dish or snacks to share with the group, you are welcome to do so; please contact William if you plan to do so.

If you have any questions about the club please email our educator, William Carter, at wcarter@bartlettarboretum.org