{"product_id":"water-giulio-boccaletti-9780525566007","title":"Water: A Biography","description":"\u003cb\u003eSpanning millennia and continents, a revealing history that \"tackles the most important story of our time: our relationship with water in a world of looming scarcity\" (Kelly McEvers, NPR Host). \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Far more than a biography of its nominal subject ... The book stands as a compelling history of civilization itself.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Writing with authority and brio, Giulio Boc­caletti--honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Univer­sity of Oxford--shrewdly combines environmental and social history, beginning with the earliest civ­ilizations of sedentary farmers on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates Rivers. Even as he describes how these societies were made possible by sea-level changes from the last glacial melt, he incisively examines how this type of farming led to irrigation and multiple cropping, which, in turn, led to a population explosion and labor specialization. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e We see with clarity how irrigation's structure informed social structure (inventions such as the calendar sprung from agricultural necessity); how in ancient Greece, the communal ownership of wells laid the groundwork for democracy; how the Greek and Roman experiences with water security resulted in systems of taxation; and how the modern world as we know it began with a legal framework for the development of water infrastructure. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Extraordinary for its monumental scope and piercing insightfulness, \u003ci\u003eWater: A Biography \u003c\/i\u003erichly enlarges our understanding of our relationship to--and fundamental reliance on--the most elemental substance on earth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Giulio Boccaletti\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0525566007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780525566007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/18\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.88lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.13h x 6.06w x 0.94d","brand":"Giulio Boccaletti","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44133605310719,"sku":"9780525566007","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_7f0c8af2-7f36-42fa-ba0f-3fb67266ce42.jpg?v=1687487128","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/water-giulio-boccaletti-9780525566007","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}