false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172437144m/175798.jpg 175798 5 Water is a curious thing, observed the economist Adam Smith: although it is vital to life, it costs almost nothing, whereas diamonds, which are useless for survival, cost a fortune. In <I>Water</I>, Canadian journalist de Villiers says the resource is still undervalued, but it is becoming more precious. It's not that the world is running out of water, he adds, but that "it's running out in places where it's needed most."<p> De Villiers examines the checkered history of humankind's management of water--which, he hastens to remind us, is not a renewable resource in many parts of the world. One of them is the Nile River region, burdened by overpopulation. Another is the Sahara, where Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi is pressing an ambitious, and potentially environmentally disastrous, campaign to mine deep underground aquifers to make the desert green. Another is northern China, where the damaging effects of irrigation have destroyed once-mighty rivers, and the Aral Sea of Central Asia, which was killed within a human lifetime. And still another is the American Southwest, where crops more fitting to a jungle than a dry land are nursed. De Villiers travels to all these places, reporting on what he sees and delivering news that is rarely good.<p> De Villiers has a keen eye for detail and a solid command of the scientific literature on which his argument is based. He's also a fine storyteller, and his wide-ranging book makes a useful companion to Marc Reisner's classic <I>Cadillac Desert</I> and other works that call our attention to a globally abused--and vital--resource. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> 169839 2000 Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource total:36|5:10|4:13|3:12|2:0|1:1| 36 139 83 7 4 0 false false Mon Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 10:25:37 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 17:48:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Jul 18 01:43:19 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 01:43:36 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 29 13:53:10 -0800 2007 Thu Jul 31 22:39:23 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Jan 23 19:39:25 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 23 19:39:25 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun May 25 10:05:48 -0700 2008 Sun May 25 10:06:32 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 06 08:57:26 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 08:57:26 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Fri Jun 22 16:54:52 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 17:00:42 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Thu Nov 12 13:15:47 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 13:15:47 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri Nov 06 13:57:02 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 13:57:12 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 01 12:57:20 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 12:57:20 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 19 13:23:56 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 13:23:56 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 14 13:42:49 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 13:43:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 09 18:19:15 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 18:19:15 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 04 19:39:12 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 19:39:12 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 23 15:08:35 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 15:08:35 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Sep 13 09:44:31 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 09:44:31 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 08 14:55:24 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 14:55:31 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 31 19:08:01 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 17 18:06:23 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Aug 28 19:42:23 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 19:42:29 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Aug 15 13:01:09 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 13:01:09 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=175798