Secret Knowledge of Water [Paperback]

One has chance encounters when hiking the back trails, and often a useful nugget of useful knowledge is obtained. But it is extremely unlikely that one would meet someone of Craig Childs' erudition and obsessions. Fortunately, one does not have to rely on those meetings of chance; this book obviates the need, and one can walk with the author on the many trails he has taken in the past. His "area of operation" is primarily the deserts of Arizona and the immediate surroundings.

I was immediately drawn in by his first chapter, "Maps of Water Holes," in which he relates his crossing of the Cabeza Prieta in southern Arizona. He is following El Camino del Diablo (the Road of the Devil) no doubt so named because of the number of travelers who did not complete the journey. His "companion" is a map made in the late 1600's, by a Spanish missionary, Father Eusebio Kino. Craig is amazed at its accuracy. One of the many things that I learned is that water will be stored naturally, not where you would expect it - in the lowest points of elevation, but up high, trapped in "tinajas," rock basins. How to find these tinajas without a map - Craig finds it useful to "follow the bees."

There are major chapters on the various forms that water assumes in the desert, from the still water (the water that waits), to the water that moves, seeps, forms streams and the cataclysm of "fierce water." In the still water exists the oldest living animal on the plant, a crustacean called a "Triops." When the water disappears, these, as well as other animals and plants assume dormant states, awaiting the next appearance of the source of life.

Craig is clearly a "hands-on" researcher, and obviously loves his work, which has given him an opportunity to follow his obsession. And "pushing" his hikes to see what is around that next bend almost cost him his life, to an abundance of the book's subject - in a flash flood in a canyon. He wears his erudition lightly; his inquisitiveness is not compartmentalized. His principal focus is the ecology of the desert, its flora and fauna, with Latin names frequently affixed. But he has a solid background also in geology and the human history. His prose style is crisp, and he'll surprise you with reference to the 13th Century Persian poet, Rumi, the Kama Sutra, and a search for a water hole deep in the Gobi desert.

In other chapters he relates the horrifying tale of the sacrifice of children of the Tohono O'odham tribe to stop the flow of too much water, and visits the memorial to them. He also goes to the Muleshoe Ranch, where the manager, Bob Rogers, has done much to restore the naturally ecology of the desert, for the most fundamental of reasons: his livelihood depends on it. To exist in the desert environment, one must be in harmony with it. An obvious principle which is all too often forgotten in human efforts to "conquer it." In another chapter he discusses "Chubascos", the storms of the desert, and how they differ from the monsoons of southeast Asia, and how the later term was applied to the summer rains by returning veterans. In yet another, he witnesses a flood at Kanab, the wall of mud that followed a channel that had been dry for 8 months, ending by pointing out that at Fredonia, only seven miles away, it never even become cloudy. Such is the nature of the Chubascos.
The only point in the entire book I would question is his assertion that all the water on earth is derived from collisions with comets.

Overall though, Craig's book is an enthralling read, and a testament to an individual who has clearly taken the trail less traveled.

(Note: Review first published at Amazon, USA, on November 06, 2008)

In the American West, where water politics is intimately entangled with power, this author sets out into untramelled reaches in search of desert water in a seemingly barren & unforgiving environment.

Part memoir, part paean to the infinitely changing landscape & part lessons in geology, geography & genealogy, this book lures you out of your safety zone to follow Craig Childs' footprints across scrublands, along river beds & deep, deep into voice-filled canyons.

A word about Regan Choi's artwork: imagine it "life" sized - immense jutting bones of our planet towering above cactus & tumbleweed; an Escher-like botanical drawing in exquisite detail, of water hole shrimp eggs or The Shrine or Sonoran desert spires or after the flood as seen from the floor of an overwhelming canyon. Delicate & mouth-watering!

This is a magical read, to be savored for years to come; returned to with the same delight a parched explorer returns to a shadow-cooled pool.

Craig Childs is an extraordinary writer who makes you feel and see right along with him. He shares his immense "secret knowledge of water" and you will learn about things you never knew existed. I would also recommend his "Animal Dialogues" book.