When the aqueduct that brings fresh water to thousands of people around the bay of Naples fails, Roman engineer Marius Primus heads to the slopes of Mount Vesuvius to investigate, only to come face to face with an impending catastrophe.

"This picture book poetically explores the many things water can be--from home maker and ship breaker to cloud fluffer and fire snuffer. Backmatter provides additional explanations."--

When Ms. Frizzle, the strangest teacher in school, takes her class on a field trip to the waterworks, everyone ends up experiencing the water purification system from the inside.

In this intelligent, eye-opening work of narrative journalism, Royte does for water what Eric Schlosser did for fast food: she finds the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that bring it from nature to the supermarkets.

Describes the origins, characteristics, and uses of water.

Examines the ecological, economic, and political limits of water usage.

"There's Money in Thirst," reads a headline in the New York Times. The CEO of Nestl�e, purveyor of bottled water, heartily agrees. It is important to give water a market value, he says in a promotional video, so "we're all aware that it has a price." But for those who have no access to clean water, a fifth of the world's population, the price is thirst. This is the frightening landscape that Karen Piper conducts us through in The Price of Thirst--one...

"In his eye-opening books The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs and The Natural Navigator, Tristan Gooley helped readers reconnect with nature by finding direction from the trees, stars, clouds, and more. Now, he turns his attention to our most abundant--yet perhaps least understood--resource. Distilled from his far-flung adventures--sailing solo across the Atlantic, navigating with Omani tribespeople, canoeing in Borneo, and walking in his own backyard--Gooley...