Synopses & Reviews
AS ALEX PRUDHOMME and his great-aunt Julia Child were completing their collaboration on her memoir,
My Life in France, they began to talk about the French obsession with bottled water, which had finally spread to America. From this spark of interest, Prudhomme began what would become an ambitious quest to understand the evolving story of freshwater. What he found was shocking: as the climate warms and world population grows, demand for water has surged, but supplies of freshwater are static or dropping, and new threats to water quality appear every day.
The Ripple Effect is Prudhommes vivid and engaging inquiry into the fate of freshwater in the twenty-first century.
The questions he sought to answer were urgent: Will there be enough water to satisfy demand? What are the threats to its quality? What is the state of our water infrastructure—both the pipes that bring us freshwater and the levees that keep it out? How secure is our water supply from natural disasters and terrorist attacks? Can we create new sources for our water supply through scientific innovation? Is water a right like air or a commodity like oil—and who should control the tap? Will the wars of the twenty-first century be fought over water?
Like Daniel Yergins classic The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, Prudhommes The Ripple Effect is a masterwork of investigation and dramatic narrative. With striking instincts for a revelatory story, Prudhomme introduces readers to an array of colorful, obsessive, brilliant—and sometimes shadowy—characters through whom these issues come alive. Prudhomme traversed the country, and he takes readers into the heart of the daily dramas that will determine the future of this essential resource—from the alleged murder of a water scientist in a New Jersey purification plant, to the epic confrontation between salmon fishermen and copper miners in Alaska, to the poisoning of Wisconsin wells, to the epidemic of intersex fish in the Chesapeake Bay, to the wars over fracking for natural gas. Michael Pollan has changed the way we think about the food we eat; Alex Prudhomme will change the way we think about the water we drink. Informative and provocative, The Ripple Effect is a major achievement.
Review
"Both drought and flood are on the rise, and Alex Prud'homme, in this fine new account, helps you understand why. We've taken the planet's hydrology for granted for the 10,000 years of human civilization; that's a luxury we can no longer afford." —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
Review
"By illuminating the central issues—water quality, water quantity, ownership, waste, infrastructure—through the tales of individuals who wrestle with them, Alex Prud'homme makes a vast and desperately serious topic flow beautifully through the rocks and hard places that our planet is caught between."—John Seabrook, New Yorker staff writer and author of Flash of Genius
Review
“The problem of water quantity, quality and use are upon us. Alex Prud’homme’s book identifies some of the culprits, including us inattentative citizens and the combination of regulations and markets needed to make clean water usable and available in the twenty-first century. This book should wake you up.”—William D. Ruckelshaus, former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Review
“An essential work about a topic too-often ignored.”—Kirkus (starred review)
Review
"A tightly written, thoroughly researched, almost encyclopedic book.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
“[Prud’homme] patiently lays out the staggering extent of the world’s water problems.”—The New Yorker
Review
“A reader only has to look at the latest headlines to judge the timeliness of Alex Prud'homme's The Ripple Effect."—The Denver Post
Review
“The Ripple Effect is true to its title, following the myriad reverberations from our use and abuse of this most abundant, ubiquitous resource. The book plunges in and rarely comes up for air.”—Washington Post
Synopsis
From the bestselling coauthor with Julia Child of My Life in France "a balanced and insightful assessment of what could emerge as the dominant issue in decades ahead" (Associated Press)--the fate of fresh water in the twenty-first century.
Will there be enough drinkable water to satisfy future demand? What is the state of our water infrastructure--both the pipes that bring us freshwater and the levees that keep it out? How secure is our water supply from natural disasters and terrorist attacks? Can we create new sources for our water supply through scientific innovation? Is water a right like air or a commodity like oil? Will the wars of the twenty-first century be fought over water?
As the climate warms and world population grows, demand for water has surged, but supplies of freshwater are static or dropping, and new threats to water quality appear every day. The Ripple Effect is Alex Prud'homme's vividly written and engaging inquiry into the fate of freshwater in the twenty-first century.
Like Daniel Yergin's classic The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, Prud'homme's The Ripple Effect is a masterwork of investigation and dramatic narrative. Prud'homme introduces readers to an array of colorful, obsessive, brilliant--and sometimes shadowy-- characters through whom these issues come alive. The Ripple Effect will change the way we think about the water we drink.
Synopsis
Now in paperback from the bestselling coauthor with Julia Child of My Life in France “a balanced and insightful assessment of what could emerge as the dominant issue in decades ahead” (Associated Press)—the fate of fresh water in the twenty-first century.With The Ripple Effect, Alex Prud’homme has changed the way we think about the water we drink. Inspired by an interest in our worldwide obsession with bottled water, Prud’homme undertook an ambitious quest to understand the evolving story of freshwater. What he found was shocking: as the climate warms and world population grows, demand for water has surged, but supplies of fresh water are static or dropping, and new threats to water quality appear every day.
The questions he sought to answer were urgent: Will there be enough water to satisfy demand? What are the threats to its quality? What is the state of our water infrastructure—both the pipes that bring us fresh water and the levees that keep it out? How secure is our water supply from natural disasters and terrorist attacks? Can we create new sources for our water supply through scientific innovation? Is water a right like air or a commodity like oil—and who should control the tap?
Like Daniel Yergin’s seminal classic The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power, The Ripple Effect is a masterwork of investigation and a dramatic narrative, spanning from the alleged murder of a water scientist in New Jersey to the epic confrontation between salmon fishermen and copper miners in Alaska. The Ripple Effect is a major achievement and will change our understanding of the importance of water forever.
Synopsis
Will there be enough drinkable water to satisfy future demand? What is the state of our water infrastructure—both the pipes that bring us freshwater and the levees that keep it out? How secure is our water supply from natural disasters and terrorist attacks? Can we create new sources for our water supply through scientific innovation? Is water a right like air or a commodity like oil? Will the wars of the twenty-first century be fought over water?
As the climate warms and world population grows, demand for water has surged, but supplies of freshwater are static or dropping, and new threats to water quality appear every day. The Ripple Effect is Alex Prud’homme’s vividly written and engaging inquiry into the fate of freshwater in the twenty-first century.
Like Daniel Yergin’s classic The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, Prud’homme’s The Ripple Effect is a masterwork of investigation and dramatic narrative. Prud’homme introduces readers to an array of colorful, obsessive, brilliant—and sometimes shadowy— characters through whom these issues come alive. The Ripple Effect will change the way we think about the water we drink.
About the Author
Alex Prud’homme was born in New York City. A graduate of Middlebury College, he has worked as a fisherman in Australia, an English teacher in Japan, and a janitor in Paris. His other books include Forewarned (with Michael Cherkasky) about terrorism and security, and the New York Times bestseller My Life in France. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.