Elixir : A Human History of Water

Author(s): Brian Fagan

SECONDHAND BOOKS | SCIENCE

"Elixir: A Human History of Water" spans five millennia, from the beginnings of civilisation to the global water shortages of today. Our present-day interaction with this most essential resource has deep roots in the remote past, and every human culture has been shaped by its relationship to water. From the earliest hunter-gatherers, for whom knowing where to find water was a matter of life and death, through the Greek and Romans, whose mighty aqueducts still provide water for modern cities, to China, where emperors marshalled armies of labourers to tame the country's powerful rivers, every human culture has been shaped by its relationship with water. Medieval Europe, and then the Industrial Revolution, brought ingenious new solutions to water management and turned water into a commodity to be bought, sold, and exploited, and we still live at the mercy of the natural world for our most essential resource. Brian Fagan tells the story of 5,000 years of human endeavour. Deeply researched and elegantly written, "Elixir" illustrates that the past teaches us that technologies for solving one or another water problem are not enough. We still live at the mercy of the natural world and to solve the water crises of the future we may need to adapt the water ethos of our ancestors.

2011, First edition, first printing. A fine, unmarked copy in a fine, unclipped d/w.

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Brian Fagan is the author of The Great Warming, a New York Times bestseller. Elixir is a major title about the key human resource. Major review coverage expected on publication.

'The re-imagining of the past is entertainingly done, and a great deal of science, especially climate science, is accessibly introduced on the way' A.C. Grayling on Cro-Magnon '[A] fascinating account of shifting climatic conditions and their consequences' New York Times on The Great Warming 'This is not only World History at its best, sweeping across all of humankind with a coherent vision, but also a feat of imagination and massive research' Theodore Rabb on The Great Warming

Brian Fagan is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Great Warming and many other books.

General Fields

  • : 9781408815731
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : 0.68
  • : April 2011
  • : 234mm X 153mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : August 2011
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : 416
  • : 553.7
  • : English
  • : 1
  • : Hardback
  • : Brian Fagan