{"product_id":"book-e9qm","title":"Water","description":"\u003cb\u003eSpanning millennia and continents, here is a stunningly revealing history of how the distribution of water has shaped human civilization. Boccaletti, of The Nature Conservancy, “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\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\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. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\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. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\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\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCover image: \"Vista\", painting by Tobias Tovera © 2016\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49325524910384,"sku":"BDe9qm","price":22.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/e9qm-Square-cover.jpg?v=1776155983","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-e9qm","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}