To write a history of water was a good idea. Since life depends on water, it has been man's constant companion from the moment his forebears emerged from the sea and, you could say, even before. Human affairs have therefore been intricately related to water. But man has mistreated his friend, and now, it is said, the world faces a water crisis. There is too much of it in some places, too little in others. It has been acidified, dirtied and squandered. It should no longer be taken for granted.rnThe first three-quarters of Steven Solomon's book is an account of the ascendancy and decline of various civilisations, seen through a watery lens. The survey starts in antiquity with Egypt, Mesopotamia and the areas round the Indus and the Yellow River. It runs through the Roman empire, the building of China's Grand Canal in the seventh century and the Islamic era that followed.
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