BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS – SEPTEMBER 2022

WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY: EARTH’S WATER IN CRISIS – NANCY F. CASTALDO

How often have you opened your tap, only to find either no water or highly contaminated water?

No matter what the size of the water and water bodies, right from a droplet to larger bodies, they all hold fascinating stories.

Over 72% of the earth’s surface is covered in water, but just 3% of it is fresh, the rest being too salty for drinking, growing crops, and most industrial uses except cooling.

Water is essential for life on this planet, but not every community has access to safe and clean water as we have seen in several cases across the world, not only in underdeveloped countries, but even in countries like America as seen in California and the Flint crisis.

In When the World Runs Dry, award-winning science writer Nancy Castaldo takes readers on a journey across the world from Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, to Iran and Cape Town in South Africa, to explore the different ways in which water around the world is in danger and why we must act now to salvage the situation make a difference.

EVERYBODY LOVES A GOOD DROUGHT: STORIES FROM INDIA’S POOREST DISTRICTS – P. SAINATH

P.Sainat’s – Everybody Loves a Good Drought provides an intimate view of the daily struggles of the poor and the often failed efforts made to uplift them. The book reveals how a large section of India continues to suffer in the name of development so that a small percentage may prosper. Besides exposing rampant misgovernance, the book is also a devastating comment on the media’s failure to speak for the voiceless.

The book is a compelling read, even 20 years after its publication and has been prescribed in over 100 universities and colleges, and included in part in The Century’s Greatest Reportage, alongside the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Studs Terkel and John Reed.