The Secret Knowledge of Water
by Craig Childs
Back Bay Books
2001
pp. 304
Paperback
ISBN 9780316610698
$13.95
Synopsis
Like the highest mountain peaks, deserts are environments that can be inhospitable even to the most seasoned explorers. As Craig Childs makes clear in this highly praised book, there are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst or drowning. His extraordinary treks through arid lands in search of water, mysterious solitary water holes, a network of streams that flow only at night, a gushing fountain that conceals a hidden lake, serene and other worldly are an astonishing revelation of the natural world at its most extreme.
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“Childs’s obsessive quest to find, map, observe and get wet in the waters of America’s deserts has personal roots. Born in the Sonoran Desert of West Texas, this naturalist, river guide and author of four previous books (most recently, Grand Canyon) grew up learning to revere water, that fickle, scarce, elemental sustainer of life. More than a fiercely lyrical travelogue through Arizona, Utah, the Grand Canyon and northern Mexico’s cottonwood-willow forests, his hypnotic new book describes an existential adventure. Trekking for days or weeks, alone or with a companion, in search of random waterholes, rare creeks, waterfalls, springs, shrimp-filled pools and sudden, furious floods, Childs mingles personal observations with a cosmic perspective (“Most, if not all, water on this planet came from countless small comets thumping against the atmosphere... “) to make readers feel an integral part of earth’s hydrologic processes. Far from being arid, his narrative ripples with adventure. He descends into a slot canyon full of 800-year-old handprints left by the Anasazi people; spots desert fish found nowhere else and believed to be holdovers from the Ice Age; survives an Arizona chubasco, a violent convective thunderstorm that rips roofs off buildings and creates myriad waterfalls. Childs’s sources are diverse: conversations with archeologists, ecologists, ranchers, conservationists, geologists; Native American legends; tales of backpackers, explorers and illegal immigrants who fell victim to the desert; and a meticulous, 300-year-old desert map made by a Jesuit missionary from Spain. His highly personal odyssey combines John McPhee’s gift for compressing scientific knowledge and Barry Lopez’s spiritual questing.” -- Publishers Weekly
“Over the course of two years, naturalist/ adventurer Childs took a series of month-long treks on foot through each of the North American deserts in search of water. An astute observer of nature and a concise writer with a knack for storytelling, he meticulously records each significant occurrence in an attempt to understand how the absence or presence of something most of us take for granted dictates life and death in the harsh environment. Highlights include terrifying accounts of flash floods and a fascinating cave exploration, complete with wet suits, deep in the Grand Canyon. Recommended for all regional and most natural history collections, although a bibliography would have been a useful addition.” --Library Journal
About the author
Craig Childs-naturalist, adventurer, desert ecologist, and frequent contributor to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition-lives in Crawford, Colorado. His previous books include Crossing Paths, The Desert Cries, and The Secret Knowledge of Water.
Visit your local library to borrow a copy of The Secret Knowledge of Water. Or purchase it from the Back Bay Books.