The Bookshelf: April 9, 2014

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.

SHARING THE COMMON POOL: Water Rights in the Everyday Lives of Texans

by Charles R. Porter Jr.

Although the author focuses his investigation on the fresh water situation in Texas, his arguments are widely applicable. ... Porter ably describes the looming crisis. Without specific regional water plans — determining demand, supply, social and economic impacts, strategies and options to meet growing needs, and all the infrastructural requirements to maximize water use — shortages are a given. How are we going to balance common good with private right? Anyone upstream is at an advantage; anyone with a large-capacity pump can command a greater share of the aquifer. Without use laws in place, things will get nasty quickly. Porter has an easy, professorial voice, eschewing hysterics but providing a cautionary note that carries a weight of understanding and experience.

For full review, visit kirkus.com

*****

THE MELTING WORLD: A Journey Across America's Vanishing Glaciers

by Christopher White

In 2008, White joined a team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, led by (Dan) Fagre, who were tracking the alarming rate of glacial shrinkage at (Montana’s Glacier National Park). … White was hooked on the story and joined with the team over the next five years as they checked on the glaciers over a three-week period at the end of each August and beginning of September. … “The accelerating loss of ice in Montana also informs us of what's to come in the Alps, the Andes, and the Himalaya,” writes White. As such, these conditions are harbingers of the impending crisis of major floods and the forced exodus of masses of people internationally.

For full review, visit kirkus.com