- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (2 July 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099512289
- ISBN-13: 978-0099512288
- Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 1.9 x 19.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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- #81 in Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Geology > Economic Geology
Take Me To the Source: In Search of Water
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
An entertaining tour of the world of water
--Times Literary Supplement
--Times Literary Supplement
Guardian, Giles Foden
'...Wright's 10 commandments for water projects should be required reading for all engaged with water governance'
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a serious and ambitious book that anyone with a personal, professional or poetic interest in the most important substance on our planet should read. Like a good Haiku, the Universal relationship between Man and water is revealed through the microcosm of a personal search for the underground flows supplying Rupert's swimming pool. Along the way, the science, history, economics, literature, spirituality, engineering and, above all, the politics of water are explored and, when necessary, debunked. It's an eclectic journey upstream to the source of white water, white elephants and white lies. The Bible, the Koran and the search for extraterrestrial life each have their water stories told. We find out why water is coloured blue and why the Carcassonne firemen once put out fires with wine rather than water. We meet World Bank technocrats and the Brazilian Bishop prepared to lay down his life for the river he loves. Does it matter if water is public or private? Will the next wars be fought over water? No slick answers here, just a journalist's eye for humbug and procrastination. This is a book you can dip into to discover unexpected facts or you can let yourself go with the flow from cover-to-cover and emerge a little less wet behind the ears. There really is more to water than something to dilute your whisky with.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Really very good. From the lower reaches of Manhattan to the parched deserts of central africa, Wright takes the reader on a magical mystery tour of the very substance that makes the world work. Unlike many of its ilk this effort is neither too trite nor too learned, but strikes just the right balance of entertainment and information. Moreover despite the arch worldview Wright clearly both cares about and understands his subject, and this makes for a compelling read. I liked it a lot.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Take me to the source
With that engaging mixture of humour and erudition that one has come to expect from the author, Rupert Wright in his latest book covers the subject of water in all its aspects from ancient Rome to modern Manhattan.in an encyclopaedic journey through the byways of history, literature, engineering, and art relating to water.
For those who live in developed countries water is something that comes out of a tap with which we cook, wash, and slake our thirst. On the odd occasion when it is cut off, it is an inconvenience. In many parts of the world it has to be fetched from a well many kilometres away, and then it may be so impure that it can easily kill you. According to the United Nations water is the biggest killer of children in the world. Life on earth would be impossible without it and yet it receives very little attention on a day-to-day basis except when or where there is an abundance or a lack of it.
The author sets out to rectify this neglect, meeting on the way "Dr.Water", the Bishop of Barra in Brazil who went on hunger strike to save a river, and visiting the huge tunnel project to bring additional supplies of water to Manhattan, the bar in Paris where they serve nothing but water, a World Bank conference on water in Washington, and rafting down the Nile.
"Take me to the source" will surely become a cult book like "Haunts of the Black Masseur" by Charles Sprawson, so much admired by the author.
With that engaging mixture of humour and erudition that one has come to expect from the author, Rupert Wright in his latest book covers the subject of water in all its aspects from ancient Rome to modern Manhattan.in an encyclopaedic journey through the byways of history, literature, engineering, and art relating to water.
For those who live in developed countries water is something that comes out of a tap with which we cook, wash, and slake our thirst. On the odd occasion when it is cut off, it is an inconvenience. In many parts of the world it has to be fetched from a well many kilometres away, and then it may be so impure that it can easily kill you. According to the United Nations water is the biggest killer of children in the world. Life on earth would be impossible without it and yet it receives very little attention on a day-to-day basis except when or where there is an abundance or a lack of it.
The author sets out to rectify this neglect, meeting on the way "Dr.Water", the Bishop of Barra in Brazil who went on hunger strike to save a river, and visiting the huge tunnel project to bring additional supplies of water to Manhattan, the bar in Paris where they serve nothing but water, a World Bank conference on water in Washington, and rafting down the Nile.
"Take me to the source" will surely become a cult book like "Haunts of the Black Masseur" by Charles Sprawson, so much admired by the author.
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