The Bookshelf: Aug. 10, 2016

Trib+Water is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of water studies. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com.

THE GREAT DERANGEMENT: Climate Change and the Unthinkable

by Amitav Ghosh

In this erudite, cautionary treatise, novelist Ghosh questions why, even in the face of mounting proof, much of the general public remains unfazed by increasing environmental disruption and disintegration. He recalls, as a child, hearing a tale from the mid-1850s about the “ecological refugees” from his Bangladesh homeland being displaced after the Padma River suddenly changed direction, wiping out villages and their inhabitants. As that story and those he shares in the book’s first section prove, the planet’s natural elements, which many of us take for granted, “can come to life with sudden and deadly violence.” Originally begun as a set of four lectures at the University of Chicago in 2015, the book lays out the reasons for and ramifications of climate crisis denialism.

For the full review, visit kirkus.com.