The Gnome King reviewed Water Book by Jha, Alok
Review of 'Water Book' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
What is water? The famous actor Leonardo Di Caprio was once quoted as saying the following about water...
"Water is sometimes sharp and sometimes strong, sometimes acid and sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet and sometimes thick or thin, sometimes it is seen bringing hurt or pestilence, sometime health-giving, sometimes poisonous. It suffers change into as many natures as are the different places through which it passes. And as the mirror changes with the colour of its subject, so it alters with the nature of the place, becoming noisome, laxative, astringent, sulphurous, salty, incarnadined, mournful, raging, angry, red, yellow, green, black, blue, greasy, fat or slim. Sometimes it starts a conflagration, sometimes it extinguishes one; is warm and is cold, carries away or sets down, hollows out or builds up, tears or establishes, fills or empties, raises itself or burrows down, speeds or is still; is the cause at times of life …
What is water? The famous actor Leonardo Di Caprio was once quoted as saying the following about water...
"Water is sometimes sharp and sometimes strong, sometimes acid and sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet and sometimes thick or thin, sometimes it is seen bringing hurt or pestilence, sometime health-giving, sometimes poisonous. It suffers change into as many natures as are the different places through which it passes. And as the mirror changes with the colour of its subject, so it alters with the nature of the place, becoming noisome, laxative, astringent, sulphurous, salty, incarnadined, mournful, raging, angry, red, yellow, green, black, blue, greasy, fat or slim. Sometimes it starts a conflagration, sometimes it extinguishes one; is warm and is cold, carries away or sets down, hollows out or builds up, tears or establishes, fills or empties, raises itself or burrows down, speeds or is still; is the cause at times of life or death, or increase or privation, nourishes at times and at others does the contrary; at times has a tang, at times is without savour, sometimes submerging the valleys with great floods. In time and with water, everything changes"
....So I would say water is totes mad.
I've always considered there to be one use for water, ice cubes for a nice cocktail. It turns out there is so much more that water does.
I wish Alok Jha had been my science teacher at school he has an amazing ability to explain complicated sciencey stuff and making sense, I could have grown up to be a scientist.
I loved how he has laid out this book, the backdrop is a trip he is on to the Antarctic, he starts off with the origin of water and how it looks at the atomic level, he then moves on to the water on Earth, ice, oceans, clouds, rain and currents. Finally he leaves the planet and takes a trip around the planets and moons that have water, before he finally leaves the Solar System.
It is all fascinating stuff and I've learnt loads from this.