► Description: |
From a renowned
geographer and professor of earth,
planetary and space sciences, a sweeping
natural history of rivers and their
complex and ancient relationship with
human civilization.
Rivers, more than any road, technology, or
political leader, have shaped the course
of civilization. They have opened
frontiers, founded cities, settled
borders, and fed billions. They promote
life, forge peace, grant power, and
capriciously destroy everything in their
path. And even as they have become
increasingly domesticated, rivers remain a
powerful global force, one that is more
critical than ever to our future.
In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence
Smith takes a deep dive into the timeless
and vastly underappreciated relationship
between rivers and civilization as we know
it. Rivers are of course important to us
in all the obvious ways (like water
supply, sanitation, transport, etc.). But
they also shape us in less obvious ways.
Massive amounts of river water support the
global food trade; huge volumes are
consumed to provide the world's
electricity -- not just by hydropower, but
by coal, nuclear, and natural gas power
plants too; most of our globally important
cities are positioned on the banks of
rivers or river deltas. The territories of
nations, their cultural and economic ties
to one another, and the migrations of
people trace to rivers and the topographic
divides they carve on the world.
Beautifully told and expansive in scope,
Rivers of Power, reveals how and why
rivers have so profoundly shaped
civilization, and examines the importance
this vast, arterial power holds for our
present, past, and future.
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