My embarrassing affliction – obsessively clicking on my book’s Amazon page to try to infer how well it is selling – is apparently common among new authors. But I noticed something the last couple of days that made me clutch.
Amazon screenshot
There are no two books more important as predecessors to Water is For Fighting Over than Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert and Elinor Ostrom’s Governing the Commons.
I’m dyin’ here.
Read Cadillac Desert many years and just bought your book and have started reading it. Bravo. I do hope that you consider the decline in population growth in the SW as a factor in avoiding water conflicts and maintaining water deliveries.
“I’m dyin’ here.” Um, why? As you write, “There are no two books more important as predecessors to Water is For Fighting Over than Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert and Elinor Ostrom’s Governing the Commons.”
You are in good company, no?
I read Cadillac Desert 23 years ago. It was profound as it dealt with Reclamation, MWD and the Colorado River. As I was learning all three of these topics from the ground level it was a fascinating primer and gave me a reference point to start from. In the ongoing years as I saw things through my own eyes, I found this book to be somewhat biased in its conclusions as compared to my own experiences. The book focused on mindsets that were prevalent in the 60’s to early 80’s timeframe. My own experiences happened on the ground level starting in the early 90’s and continuing to this very day. I got to know people within Reclamation, MWD and other stake holders within the Colorado River. You get to see a pretty accurate assessment of things when you talk to everyone on and off the river. They all see the river (and water) personally to some extent and you also get to see how passionate they can get on the topic,
Sometime back, I got passionate about it too. I got to know the river in a very personal sense. My actual hands-on time on the Colorado River probably exceeds the typical river guide’s time and it extends into the scientific nature of the river’s characteristics. I often joke with my peers that I have the best ob on the river.
My wife often complains that I know the river better than I know her.
I’m looking forward to reading your book John. I know that you did your investigations and have talked to several people that I’ve had conversations with. You’ve looked at the issues from a different perspective than Reisner had (how refreshing).
Our problems on the basin have been there for years yet people are becoming aware of the issues just now. I got to see it firsthand. You got to report to the people those conditions in your articles and posts. Everything you’ve written about has been factual.
Marc Reisner talked about the things as he sat it nearly a generation ago. You see it as it is today. Are you in his shadow? Not as I see it.
BTW, your book costs more than his.
dg