Alaska author crafts adventure in ‘Heat’

Biologist Bill Streever says insatiable curiosity fuels his drive to create bestselling nonfiction works about natural phenomena

Rose Ragsdale

For Petroleum News

Bill Streever, Ph.D., is at the top of his game. The acclaimed author of “Cold” has done it again, trotting out another literary adventure for the average Joe that’s sure to grab the attention of both critics and fans.

But precious little is average about “Heat: Adventures in the World’s Fiery Places” (Little, Brown and Co.: $26.99/$29.99 in Canada; Hardcover; January 2013). A tidy 332-page read, “Heat” goes down as smoothly as a hot toddy on a winter night. In the words of Streever’s publicist, the book “takes us on an adventurous ride through the most blisteringly hot regions of science, history and culture.”

From its first few pages, “Heat,” snags the reader’s interest with compelling anecdotes that enliven the simplest and most well-worn concepts about warmth and refuses to let go.

From the floor of Death Valley to the heights of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, Streever examines hot places and hot circumstances with an unbridled enthusiasm that resonates throughout his writing — a modern-day Indiana Jones seeking lost treasures of scientific understanding.

He takes us back billions of years to the hottest occurrence of all time: the big bang, and hurtles us forward to the era of the Atom bomb and quark soup, dishing up surprising tidbits about heat along the way. Did you know, for example, that you can safely dip your hand in certain melted metals (DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!) and yet, should your entire body, heat up by just 10 degrees Fahrenheit, you will die?

From the obvious to the startlingly unexpected, “Heat” covers everyday topics such as matches, wildfires and firefighting, fever and the chemistry of cooking. The book also ventures into the realms of the rarely discussed, such as the history of peat, coal and oil and gas and what happens above 4 trillion degrees Fahrenheit.

The volume is also chockfull of amusing and self-deprecating passages as Streever chronicles his journey of discovery as the author attempts to start a fire with sticks, climbs into firefighting survival gear, examines a hundreds-year-old corpse and yes, best of all, walks on a bed of live coals and flaming wood heated to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

I began to read early passages of “Heat” aloud to a companion as we traveled along a limited access highway. The two of us became so engrossed in the material that we forgot where we were going, missed our turn and had to backtrack nearly 20 miles to reach our destination.

Amid much laughter and some chagrin, I realized that in this book, Streever has crafted a rare delight: A treatise both enlightening and entertaining on a subject that we typically think we already know a great deal about.

Due out Jan. 15, “Heat” is already getting attention in the world of science writing. David R. Montgomery, author of “The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood,” described “Heat” as “an illuminating romp sure to delight connoisseurs of extreme geography and ignite everyone’s inner pyromaniac.”

And Publisher’s Weekly has tapped it as a “Top 10 Pick, Science.”

A curious mind

In a Jan. 7 interview, Streever told Petroleum News that his activities in Alaska, including trips to the North Slope, inspired his previous book, “Cold.”

But when he first proposed a book about heat, the editor asked him how he could have credibility on the subject, living in Alaska.

“I told him that in Alaska we know everything about heat because we spend so much time trying to stay warm,” Streever said.

Is “Heat” a book about climate change? Streever says, “No.”

“When I wrote ‘Cold,’ I had little snippets about climate change,” he said. “And when I wrote ‘Heat,’ I didn’t want it to be about climate change, but I included (the subject) as a thread through the book. I think that’s more interesting. The books I’ve read about climate change seem to be preachy. They hit you over the head with ‘doom and gloom.’ I think we will see less and less of this … genre, thankfully.”

Once he began researching “Heat”, Streever found it to be an even bigger topic than he envisioned and ended up leaving out “a mountain of information” uncovered in his research.

“Did you know that cold bottoms out at about minus 460 degrees, which is absolute zero, while heat goes into the trillions of degrees?” Streever asks. “And did you know that the vast majority of time in the earth’s history, the atmosphere couldn’t support a flame?”

The questions raise specters of the book. Streever has a way of bombarding the reader with an avalanche of facts woven into an engaging narrative.

This writing style, he said, reflects his approach to life. One scientist colleague called Streever’s books, “travelogues of discovery.”

“I think it’s the way I approach things. Every day all these questions are firing off in my mind,” observes Streever. “I remember as a child being very curious. I think something beats that out of most of us as we get older, but in my case, it wasn’t.”

Streever’s friends tell him that he is a great generalist, and that their natural curiosity about everything has been stifled by the need to focus on their specific areas of expertise.

He says John McPhee may be a kindred spirit. Highly regarded for the quality, quantity and diversity of his writing, the Princeton University journalism professor has written more than 26 books reflecting his eclectic interests. These include his widely read “Coming into the Country,” about the Alaska wilderness, as well as works on the U.S. Merchant Marine, farmers’ markets, freight transportation, the Mississippi River, oranges, basketball and a church.

Streever says he admires the kind of curiosity that could spawn such a legacy.

“I think the world would be a much better place if we were all constantly asking, ‘what, why’ and ‘how.’ ”

Where will Streever’s curiosity take him next? “I’m working on a new book now,” he confided, “And “Gold” is the working title.