- Paperback: 376 pages
- Publisher: Raincoast (Mar 1 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1551928140
- ISBN-13: 978-1551928142
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.5 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
- Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#107,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #15 in Books > Outdoors & Nature > Conservation > Water
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Veteran journalist Chris Wood declares war on North America's blasé attitude toward the environment in general and water in particular. The battle he wages in his awesome, terrifying Dry Spring (awesome for its depth of research, terrifying for what it portends) is positively ferocious. Wood lobs facts like grenades, and he hits his target--our collective conscience and fear of a very grim future--every time. But much more than a clinical recitation of data, Dry Spring is Wood's impassioned plea for action. Even gas company lobbyists and Fox News anchors are hard-pressed to refute his evidence. And while many of these stats have appeared elsewhere, Wood succeeds in aggregating and connecting the dots between local phenomena and larger planetary changes. Not since Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth has the Earth had such a persuasive advocate. --Kim Hughes
Book Description
Written in the tradition of Jared Diamond's Collapse and Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers, Dry Spring is an explosive book on the coming water crisis--and what we need to do to prevent it. The globe is running out of water. Lakes, aquifers and rivers disappear, but we consume more than ever. Many fast-growing places--the U.S. Southwest, B.C.'s Okanagan, the Great Lakes area--face deadly scarcity. Yet even as the world dries, some parts are getting more violently stormy. Dry Spring tells dramatic stories of floods and droughts that will worsen over the next 25 years. We see what's happening to cities, farms, ranches and orchards--and people. Chris Wood shows that Canada overall will get more water--and America less. He calls provocatively upon Canada to find solutions and opportunities jointly with the U.S. And he describes inspiring choices by which we can save this precious resource for our future. "The best thing yet written on the many impacts of global warming on the world's water and climate systems. A highly readable interweaving of hard science with the stories of individual people." (Al Appleton, former commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection, City of New York) "This is a beautifully written, compelling, controversial and hopeful tale that merits a place on the bookshelf of anyone who cares about the fate of humanity." (Alanna Mitchell, author of Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots)
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting & rather well written up to Chapter 10, then dies for the balance.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America (Paperback)
I enjoyed the information in this book, liked that it was written by a Canadian and looked forward to a balanced and impartial journalistic report on the status of our most valuable resource. From Chapter One to Nine, it was enjoyably readable. Starting at Chapter 10, it appeared to be written by someone different than the author of the first 9 Chapters.It became a right-wing rant on why water should be privately owned, privately managed, and spent much energy attacking the book "Blue Gold" (which I haven't read - yet) - and spoke in first-person as a strong proponent for the "market is best to manage" approach to water management, and water rights should be divorced from the land it occupies. As it was written before the "market management" blundered by fraud and ineptness into the worst recession since the '29 Crash, perhaps he is rethinking his book. I went into the book with high expectations and initially enjoyed the "facts" and "situations" very much. I lost it all with the right-wing "we want to own it all" proposition for the balance of the book. I'm very disappointed in this work. I had expected far far better. But now I'm intrigued to the point that I will be ordering "Blue Gold" to see what so inflamed this author. I have an ethical and moral problem with the idea of denying people water because they may not be able to "pay" for it, so this may be my basic horror in reading this work. I found the proposals in it scary to say the least. The author makes statements from Chapter 10 onwards that are accusatory of others, while making unsubstantiated and unsupported statements as fact ('trust me'). Where did the "journalist" go after Chapter 9 I wonder? I can only guess that he must've received his Republican Party Corporate Membership card and proceeded on writing with wild abandon. Just because you can write a book, doesn't translate into it having any redeeming features. This one started well, then went to pot in a hurry. Save your money -- buy something else. No doubt there are other, better written, better researched, more impartial and better supported books than this drivel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Peak Water,
By Scott M. Kruse "Biophysical Geographer" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America (Paperback)
We are in "Peak Everything" (food, water, oil, space). This is a good overview of changing global climate and the consequences for water - both fresh and ocean. We have tended to substitute water (and oil) for knowledge. We now must apply the knowledge and use water (and oil) more carefully. We are seeing seasons shift - earlier springs, prolonged fire seasons, "late" autumn and winter, earlier and smaller snow melt and more prolonged period of aridity and higher evapotransporation. The media frequently gets it wrong. You long for a handy reference that puts things in context, gives you a big picture and keeps you grounded with objective information. This is a calm, easy to read, matter-of-fact source.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dry Spring,
By J. Salmons - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America (Paperback)
Great book a must read for anyone concerned with our planet and way of life.
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