Where the Water Goes
Life and Death Along the Colorado River
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fred Sanders
-
By:
-
David Owen
About this listen
An eye-opening account of where our water comes from and where it all goes.
The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado’s headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes listeners on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the US-Mexico border where the river runs dry.
Water problems in the Western United States can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: Just turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made ecosystem that is far more complex and more interesting than the headlines let on.
The story Owen tells in Where the Water Goes is crucial to our future: How a patchwork of engineering marvels, byzantine legal agreements, aging infrastructure, and neighborly cooperation enables life to flourish in the desert - and the disastrous consequences we face when any part of this tenuous system fails.
©2017 David Owen (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition
- The American West and Its Disappearing Water
- By: Marc Reisner
- Narrated by: Joe Spieler, Kate Udall
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants to transform the West.
-
-
Too much mouth noise in narration
- By AES on 07-23-19
By: Marc Reisner
-
Downriver
- Into the Future of Water in the West
- By: Heather Hansman
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fights over the Green River's water, and what's going to happen to it in the future, are longstanding, intractable, and only getting worse as the West gets hotter and drier, and more people depend on the river with each passing year. As a former raft guide and an environmental reporter, Heather Hansman knew these fights were happening, but she felt driven to see them from a different perspective - from the river itself.
-
-
Well-balanced look at some of the water issues in
- By John Richins on 04-27-20
By: Heather Hansman
-
Ninety Percent of Everything
- Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate
- By: Rose George
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rose George, acclaimed chronicler of what we would rather ignore, sails from Rotterdam to Suez to Singapore on ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls; she patrols the Indian Ocean with an anti-piracy task force; she joins seafaring chaplains and investigates the harm that ships inflict on endangered whales. Sharply informative and entertaining, Ninety Percent of Everything reveals the workings and perils of an unseen world that holds the key to our economy, our environment, and our very civilization.
-
-
I was quite mislead by the title.....
- By Steve on 10-20-17
By: Rose George
-
Down the Great Unknown
- John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis - and as perilous. The 10 men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona.
-
-
Modern references take away
- By HC-2 NAS Norfolk '92 on 08-17-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
This Land
- How Cowboys, Capitalism and Corruption are Ruining the American West
- By: Christopher Ketcham
- Narrated by: Christopher Ketcham
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journalist Christopher Ketcham has been documenting the confluence of commercial exploitation and governmental misconduct in this region for over a decade. His revelatory book takes the listener on a journey across these last wild places, to see how capitalism is killing our great commons.
-
-
innacurate information
- By Scott on 08-10-19
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition
- The American West and Its Disappearing Water
- By: Marc Reisner
- Narrated by: Joe Spieler, Kate Udall
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants to transform the West.
-
-
Too much mouth noise in narration
- By AES on 07-23-19
By: Marc Reisner
-
Downriver
- Into the Future of Water in the West
- By: Heather Hansman
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fights over the Green River's water, and what's going to happen to it in the future, are longstanding, intractable, and only getting worse as the West gets hotter and drier, and more people depend on the river with each passing year. As a former raft guide and an environmental reporter, Heather Hansman knew these fights were happening, but she felt driven to see them from a different perspective - from the river itself.
-
-
Well-balanced look at some of the water issues in
- By John Richins on 04-27-20
By: Heather Hansman
-
Ninety Percent of Everything
- Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate
- By: Rose George
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rose George, acclaimed chronicler of what we would rather ignore, sails from Rotterdam to Suez to Singapore on ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls; she patrols the Indian Ocean with an anti-piracy task force; she joins seafaring chaplains and investigates the harm that ships inflict on endangered whales. Sharply informative and entertaining, Ninety Percent of Everything reveals the workings and perils of an unseen world that holds the key to our economy, our environment, and our very civilization.
-
-
I was quite mislead by the title.....
- By Steve on 10-20-17
By: Rose George
-
Down the Great Unknown
- John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis - and as perilous. The 10 men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona.
-
-
Modern references take away
- By HC-2 NAS Norfolk '92 on 08-17-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
This Land
- How Cowboys, Capitalism and Corruption are Ruining the American West
- By: Christopher Ketcham
- Narrated by: Christopher Ketcham
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journalist Christopher Ketcham has been documenting the confluence of commercial exploitation and governmental misconduct in this region for over a decade. His revelatory book takes the listener on a journey across these last wild places, to see how capitalism is killing our great commons.
-
-
innacurate information
- By Scott on 08-10-19
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
Green Metropolis
- What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability
- By: David Owen
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, David Owen argues that the greenest community in the United States is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York City.
-
-
A stupid and dangerously short sighted view
- By Gare&Sophia on 11-13-12
By: David Owen
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
Science Be Dammed
- How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River
- By: Eric Kuhn, John Fleck
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management - and perils in the mismanagement - of water in the Western United States. It seems deceptively simple: Even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the 20th century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions.
-
-
The power of understanding statistical variation
- By Jose on 10-31-24
By: Eric Kuhn, and others
-
The World in a Grain
- The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization
- By: Vince Beiser
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other - even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. And, incredibly, we're running out of it. The World in a Grain is the compelling true story of the hugely important and diminishing natural resource that grows more essential every day, and of the people who mine it, sell it, build with it - and sometimes, even kill for it.
-
-
History given is only reason it gets 2 stars.
- By Dennis on 07-23-19
By: Vince Beiser
-
The Dreamt Land
- Chasing Water and Dust Across California
- By: Mark Arax
- Narrated by: Mark Arax
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water intensify even as California lurches from drought to flood and back again. In The Dreamt Land, he travels the state to explore the one-of-a-kind distribution system, built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that is straining to keep up with California's relentless growth. The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir to confront the "Golden State" myth in riveting fashion.
-
-
Damn Near Perfect!
- By Charlie Morton on 12-08-19
By: Mark Arax
-
Storm in a Teacup
- The Physics of Everyday Life
- By: Helen Czerski
- Narrated by: Chloe Massey
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Storm in a Teacup, Helen Czerski provides the tools to alter the way we see everything around us by linking ordinary objects and occurrences, like popcorn popping, coffee stains, and fridge magnets, to big ideas like climate change, the energy crisis, and innovative medical testing.
-
-
Everyday Physics Thoroughly Explained
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-17
By: Helen Czerski
-
Ingredients
- The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us
- By: George Zaidan
- Narrated by: George Zaidan
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cheese puffs. Coffee. Sunscreen. Vapes. George Zaidan reveals what will kill you, what won’t, and why - explained with high-octane hilarity, hysterical hijinks, and other things that don’t begin with the letter H. Ingredients offers the perspective of a chemist on the stuff we eat, drink, inhale, and smear on ourselves. Apart from the burning question of whether you should eat that Cheeto, Zaidan explores a range of topics.
-
-
Disappointed in the nutrition conclusion
- By Cristi on 01-30-22
By: George Zaidan
-
The Wizard and the Prophet
- Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 18 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 40 years, Earth's population will reach 10 billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups - Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin.
-
-
Fantastic
- By BKATX on 01-26-18
By: Charles C. Mann
-
Under a White Sky
- The Nature of the Future
- By: Elizabeth Kolbert
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
That man should have dominion “over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it’s said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The question we now face is: Can we change nature, this time in order to save it? Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction, takes a hard look at the new world we are creating.
-
-
Feel Sorry For Your Grandchildren
- By Allen Moody on 02-28-21
-
The Water Will Come
- Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World
- By: Jeff Goodell
- Narrated by: Ian Ferguson
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if Atlantis wasn't a myth but an early precursor to a new age of great flooding? Across the globe, scientists and civilians alike are noticing rapidly rising sea levels and higher and higher tides pushing more water directly into the places we live, from our most vibrant, historic cities to our last remaining traditional coastal villages. With each crack in the great ice sheets of the Arctic and Antarctica and each tick upward of Earth's thermometer, we are moving closer to the brink of broad disaster.
-
-
Well-intentioned but amateurish
- By R. P. on 10-10-19
By: Jeff Goodell
-
Never out of Season
- How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future
- By: Rob Dunn
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern science has brought us produce in perpetual abundance - once-rare fruits are seemingly never out of season, and we breed and clone the hardiest, best-tasting varieties of the crops we rely on most. As a result, a smaller proportion of people on earth go hungry today than at any other moment in the last thousand years, and the streamlining of our food supply guarantees that the food we buy, from bananas to coffee to wheat, tastes the same every single time.
-
-
Great listen!
- By Steve Ebert on 04-13-17
By: Rob Dunn
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Doug on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
Critic reviews
“Owen has the keen observation of a birder combined with the breezy writing to draw you in with unusual insights.... As Owen shows, the Colorado River is a great, sad, terrifying, possibly hopeful example of the pervasive, permanent mark people are making on the planet.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“Wonderfully written...Mr. Owen writes about water, but in these polarized times the lessons he shares spill into other arenas. The world of water rights and wrongs along the Colorado River offers hope for other problems.” (Wall Street Journal)
“Owen is effortlessly engaging, informally parceling out information about acre-foot allotments alongside sketches of notable, often dreadful figures in the river's history... Where the Water Goes doesn't pretend to solve the problems Owen acknowledges are overwhelming and, in some ways, impossible. It's a restless travelogue of long-term human impact on the natural world, and how politics and economics have as much to do with redirecting rivers as any canal. But with its historical eddies, policy asides, and trips to the Hoover Dam, at heart Where the Water Goes is about water as a function of time, and a reminder that we're running out of both.” (NPR.org)
Featured Article: How to Celebrate Earth Day in Your New Normal
What a time for a golden anniversary. Celebrated annually since 1970, Earth Day commemorates its 50th year of existence as the world faces an unprecedented global crisis. While this particular Earth Day won't be filled with parades, communal beach cleanups, and school field trips to plant trees, fear not: when there's a will to honor the environment, there's a way. Inspire your inner environmentalist by listening to some of our favorite earth-loving audio.
Related to this topic
-
Windfall
- The Booming Business of Global Warming
- By: McKenzie Funk
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Global warming's physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see a potential windfall in each of these forces. The melt is a boon for newly arable, mineral rich regions of the Arctic, such as Greenland - and for the man-made snow trade. Drought creates opportunities for private firefighters working for insurance companies as well as for fund managers backing south Sudanese warlords who control local farmland.
-
-
unintended windfalls mixed with obvious perils
- By Andy on 02-09-14
By: McKenzie Funk
-
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition
- The American West and Its Disappearing Water
- By: Marc Reisner
- Narrated by: Joe Spieler, Kate Udall
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants to transform the West.
-
-
Too much mouth noise in narration
- By AES on 07-23-19
By: Marc Reisner
-
The Source
- How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers
- By: Martin Doyle
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fresh and powerful work of environmental history, Martin Doyle explores how rivers have often been the source of arguments at the heart of the American experiment - over federalism, taxation, regulation, conservation, and development. Doyle tells the epic story of America and its rivers, from the US Constitution's roots in interstate river navigation, the origins of the Army Corps of Engineers, the discovery of gold in 1848, and the construction of the Hoover Dam and the TVA during the New Deal, to the failure of the levees in Hurricane Katrina.
-
-
Great historical read without compare.
- By Thomas P Dore on 04-10-18
By: Martin Doyle
-
On the Grid
- A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work
- By: Scott Huler
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In our daily lives, we're surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and myriad other infrastructure that facilitates almost everything we do. Even though these systems are essential, when was the last time you gave them much thought? In On the Grid, Scott Huler sets out to understand all of the systems that shape our society - from transportation, water, and garbage to the Internet coming through our cable lines.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Skippy the Okie on 01-27-16
By: Scott Huler
-
Green Metropolis
- What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability
- By: David Owen
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, David Owen argues that the greenest community in the United States is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York City.
-
-
A stupid and dangerously short sighted view
- By Gare&Sophia on 11-13-12
By: David Owen
-
Collapse
- How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion, and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization. Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted.
-
-
Jared Diamond Downs You in Explanation
- By Rob on 07-20-18
By: Jared Diamond
-
Windfall
- The Booming Business of Global Warming
- By: McKenzie Funk
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Global warming's physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see a potential windfall in each of these forces. The melt is a boon for newly arable, mineral rich regions of the Arctic, such as Greenland - and for the man-made snow trade. Drought creates opportunities for private firefighters working for insurance companies as well as for fund managers backing south Sudanese warlords who control local farmland.
-
-
unintended windfalls mixed with obvious perils
- By Andy on 02-09-14
By: McKenzie Funk
-
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition
- The American West and Its Disappearing Water
- By: Marc Reisner
- Narrated by: Joe Spieler, Kate Udall
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants to transform the West.
-
-
Too much mouth noise in narration
- By AES on 07-23-19
By: Marc Reisner
-
The Source
- How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers
- By: Martin Doyle
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fresh and powerful work of environmental history, Martin Doyle explores how rivers have often been the source of arguments at the heart of the American experiment - over federalism, taxation, regulation, conservation, and development. Doyle tells the epic story of America and its rivers, from the US Constitution's roots in interstate river navigation, the origins of the Army Corps of Engineers, the discovery of gold in 1848, and the construction of the Hoover Dam and the TVA during the New Deal, to the failure of the levees in Hurricane Katrina.
-
-
Great historical read without compare.
- By Thomas P Dore on 04-10-18
By: Martin Doyle
-
On the Grid
- A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work
- By: Scott Huler
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In our daily lives, we're surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and myriad other infrastructure that facilitates almost everything we do. Even though these systems are essential, when was the last time you gave them much thought? In On the Grid, Scott Huler sets out to understand all of the systems that shape our society - from transportation, water, and garbage to the Internet coming through our cable lines.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Skippy the Okie on 01-27-16
By: Scott Huler
-
Green Metropolis
- What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability
- By: David Owen
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, David Owen argues that the greenest community in the United States is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York City.
-
-
A stupid and dangerously short sighted view
- By Gare&Sophia on 11-13-12
By: David Owen
-
Collapse
- How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion, and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization. Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted.
-
-
Jared Diamond Downs You in Explanation
- By Rob on 07-20-18
By: Jared Diamond
-
The Men Who United the States
- America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did America become “one nation, indivisible”? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators. Introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree.
-
-
Sarcastic
- By Cynthia Hartman on 06-16-16
By: Simon Winchester
-
Colossus
- Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America's greatest achievements. The story of its conception, design, and construction is the story of the United States at a unique moment in history: when facing both a global economic crisis and the implacable elements of nature, we prevailed.
-
-
A Political Biography of the Dam
- By Roy on 02-20-11
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
The Great Quake
- How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet
- By: Henry Fountain
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A riveting narrative about the biggest earthquake in North American recorded history - the 1964 Alaska earthquake that demolished the city of Valdez and swept away the island village of Chenega - and the geologist who hunted for clues to explain how and why it took place.
-
-
Fascinating to hear the full story
- By Debby A Davis on 08-18-17
By: Henry Fountain
-
The Boom
- How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World
- By: Russell Gold
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Russell Gold, a brilliant and dogged investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal, has spent more than a decade reporting on one of the biggest stories of our time: the spectacular, world-changing rise of "fracking". Recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a recipient of the Gerald Loeb Award for his work, Gold has traveled along the pipelines and into the hubs of this country’s energy infrastructure; he has visited frack sites from Texas to North Dakota; and he has conducted thousands of interviews with engineers and wildcatters, CEOs and roughnecks, environmentalists and politicians.
-
-
Somehow the author manages to stay balanced
- By Emily C on 05-28-14
By: Russell Gold
-
The Gulf
- The Making of an American Sea
- By: Jack E. Davis
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When painter Winslow Homer first sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, he was struck by its "special kind of providence." Indeed, the Gulf presented itself as America's sea - bound by geography, culture, and tradition to the national experience - and yet, there has never been a comprehensive history of the Gulf until now. And so, in this rich and original work that explores the Gulf through our human connection with the sea, environmental historian Jack E. Davis finally places this exceptional region into the American mythos in a sweeping history that extends from the Pleistocene age to the 21st century.
-
-
Decolonize gulf history
- By Jesse Carr on 05-02-18
By: Jack E. Davis
-
Water to the Angels
- William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles
- By: Les Standiford
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created - William Mulholland's Los Angeles aqueduct - a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man whose vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today.
-
-
Water challenges never end
- By John Matel on 04-10-15
By: Les Standiford
-
Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman
- Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland
- By: Miriam Horn
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many of the men and women doing today's most consequential environmental work - restoring America's grasslands, wildlife, soil, rivers, wetlands, and oceans - would not call themselves environmentalists; they would be too uneasy with the connotations of that word. What drives them is their deep love of the land - the iconic terrain where explorers and cowboys, pioneers, and riverboat captains forged the American identity. They feel a moral responsibility to preserve this heritage and natural wealth.
-
-
great stories
- By GMMT on 05-15-18
By: Miriam Horn
-
Trees in Paradise
- A California History
- By: Jared Farmer
- Narrated by: Kevin Scollin
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
California now has more trees than at any time since the late Pleistocene. This green landscape, however, is not the work of nature. It’s the work of history. In the years after the Gold Rush, American settlers remade the California landscape, harnessing nature to their vision of the good life. Horticulturists, boosters, and civic reformers began to "improve" the bare, brown countryside, planting millions of trees to create groves, wooded suburbs, and landscaped cities.
-
-
lovely audiobook
- By Michael M. on 08-02-22
By: Jared Farmer
-
The Road Taken
- The History and Future of America's Infrastructure
- By: Henry Petroski
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers has, in its latest report, given American roads and bridges a grade of D and C+, respectively, and has described roughly 65,000 bridges in the United States as 'structurally deficient'. This crisis - and one need look no further than the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota to see that it is indeed a crisis - shows little sign of abating short of a massive change in attitude amongst politicians and the American public.
-
-
Well put
- By Lawrence on 08-10-17
By: Henry Petroski
-
The Big Roads
- The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
- By: Earl Swift
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From author Earl Swift comes the surprising history of the U.S. interstate system, a fascinating route through the dreams, discoveries, and protests that shaped these mighty roads.
-
-
Lessons from The Big Roads
- By Joshua Kim on 05-06-12
By: Earl Swift
-
The Good Rain
- Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A fantastic book! Timothy Egan describes his journeys in the Pacific Northwest through visits to salmon fisheries, redwood forests and the manicured English gardens of Vancouver. Here is a blend of history, anthropology and politics.
-
-
White man bad, capitalism bad
- By Forget about it on 04-15-21
By: Timothy Egan
-
No Immediate Danger
- Carbon Ideologies, Volume One
- By: William T. Vollmann
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his nonfiction, William T. Vollmann has won acclaim as a singular voice tackling some of the most important issues of our age. Now, Vollmann turns to a topic that will define the generations to come - the factors and human actions that have led to global warming. Vollmann begins No Immediate Danger by examining and quantifying the many causes of climate change, from industrial manufacturing and agricultural practices to fossil fuel extraction, economic demand for electric power, and the justifiable yearning of people all over the world to live in comfort.
-
-
Look at the brightside always and die in a dream!
- By Darwin8u on 04-14-19
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition
- The American West and Its Disappearing Water
- By: Marc Reisner
- Narrated by: Joe Spieler, Kate Udall
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants to transform the West.
-
-
Too much mouth noise in narration
- By AES on 07-23-19
By: Marc Reisner
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
The Secret Knowledge of Water
- There Are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowning
- By: Craig Childs
- Narrated by: Craig Childs
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deserts are environments that can be inhospitable even to seasoned explorers. Craig Childs has spent years in the deserts of the American West, and his treks through arid lands in search of water reveal the natural world at its most extreme.
-
-
This book is fantastic
- By Jamesdcawley on 04-09-20
By: Craig Childs
-
Water
- A Biography
- By: Giulio Boccaletti
- Narrated by: Giulio Boccaletti
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning millennia and continents, here is a stunningly revealing history of how the distribution of water has shaped human civilization. Giulio Boccaletti - honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford - shrewdly combines environmental and social history, beginning with the earliest civilizations of sedentary farmers on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates Rivers.
-
-
Understand Built-Environment Governance~Know Water
- By Tom on 05-11-22
-
The Trail of Gold and Silver
- Mining in Colorado, 1859-2009 (Timberline Books)
- By: Duane A. Smith
- Narrated by: Chuck Buell
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Trail of Gold and Silver, historian Duane A. Smith details Colorado's mining saga - a story that stretches from the beginning of the gold and silver mining rush in the mid-19th century into the 21st century. Gold and silver mining laid the foundation for Colorado's economy, and 1859 marked the beginning of a fever for these precious metals.
-
-
Great Read for any Coloradan
- By John J. Baich on 11-23-23
By: Duane A. Smith
-
Downriver
- Into the Future of Water in the West
- By: Heather Hansman
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fights over the Green River's water, and what's going to happen to it in the future, are longstanding, intractable, and only getting worse as the West gets hotter and drier, and more people depend on the river with each passing year. As a former raft guide and an environmental reporter, Heather Hansman knew these fights were happening, but she felt driven to see them from a different perspective - from the river itself.
-
-
Well-balanced look at some of the water issues in
- By John Richins on 04-27-20
By: Heather Hansman
-
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition
- The American West and Its Disappearing Water
- By: Marc Reisner
- Narrated by: Joe Spieler, Kate Udall
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants to transform the West.
-
-
Too much mouth noise in narration
- By AES on 07-23-19
By: Marc Reisner
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
The Secret Knowledge of Water
- There Are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowning
- By: Craig Childs
- Narrated by: Craig Childs
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deserts are environments that can be inhospitable even to seasoned explorers. Craig Childs has spent years in the deserts of the American West, and his treks through arid lands in search of water reveal the natural world at its most extreme.
-
-
This book is fantastic
- By Jamesdcawley on 04-09-20
By: Craig Childs
-
Water
- A Biography
- By: Giulio Boccaletti
- Narrated by: Giulio Boccaletti
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning millennia and continents, here is a stunningly revealing history of how the distribution of water has shaped human civilization. Giulio Boccaletti - honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford - shrewdly combines environmental and social history, beginning with the earliest civilizations of sedentary farmers on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates Rivers.
-
-
Understand Built-Environment Governance~Know Water
- By Tom on 05-11-22
-
The Trail of Gold and Silver
- Mining in Colorado, 1859-2009 (Timberline Books)
- By: Duane A. Smith
- Narrated by: Chuck Buell
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Trail of Gold and Silver, historian Duane A. Smith details Colorado's mining saga - a story that stretches from the beginning of the gold and silver mining rush in the mid-19th century into the 21st century. Gold and silver mining laid the foundation for Colorado's economy, and 1859 marked the beginning of a fever for these precious metals.
-
-
Great Read for any Coloradan
- By John J. Baich on 11-23-23
By: Duane A. Smith
-
Downriver
- Into the Future of Water in the West
- By: Heather Hansman
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fights over the Green River's water, and what's going to happen to it in the future, are longstanding, intractable, and only getting worse as the West gets hotter and drier, and more people depend on the river with each passing year. As a former raft guide and an environmental reporter, Heather Hansman knew these fights were happening, but she felt driven to see them from a different perspective - from the river itself.
-
-
Well-balanced look at some of the water issues in
- By John Richins on 04-27-20
By: Heather Hansman
-
Science Be Dammed
- How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River
- By: Eric Kuhn, John Fleck
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management - and perils in the mismanagement - of water in the Western United States. It seems deceptively simple: Even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the 20th century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions.
-
-
The power of understanding statistical variation
- By Jose on 10-31-24
By: Eric Kuhn, and others
-
The Dreamt Land
- Chasing Water and Dust Across California
- By: Mark Arax
- Narrated by: Mark Arax
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water intensify even as California lurches from drought to flood and back again. In The Dreamt Land, he travels the state to explore the one-of-a-kind distribution system, built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that is straining to keep up with California's relentless growth. The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir to confront the "Golden State" myth in riveting fashion.
-
-
Damn Near Perfect!
- By Charlie Morton on 12-08-19
By: Mark Arax
-
Volume Control
- Hearing in a Deafening World
- By: David Owen
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Millions of Americans suffer from hearing loss. Faced with the cost and stigma of hearing aids, the natural human tendency is to do nothing and hope for the best, usually while pretending that nothing is wrong. In Volume Control, David Owen argues this inaction comes with a huge social cost. He demystifies the science of hearing while encouraging listeners to get the treatment they need for hearing loss and protect the hearing they still have.
-
-
Great, interesting
- By Kyle Johnson on 11-17-23
By: David Owen
-
Fire on the Mountain
- Edward Abbey Series, Book 3
- By: Edward Abbey
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A half-century after its original publication, Edward Abbey's classic 1962 novel, Fire on the Mountain, still retains its beauty, power, and relevance. This extraordinary tale by the legendary icon of the environmentalism movement and author of The Monkey Wrench Gang proudly celebrates rugged American individualism, as it tells the story of one tough old loner's stand against the combined, well-armed forces of government that are determined to clear him from his land.
-
-
Excellent story and well-told!
- By katmandu234 on 06-15-18
By: Edward Abbey
-
The King of California
- J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire
- By: Mark Arax, Rick Wartzman
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 19 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. G. Boswell was the biggest farmer in America. He built a secret empire while thumbing his nose at nature, politicians, labor unions, and every journalist who ever tried to lift the veil on the ultimate "factory in the fields". The King of California is the previously untold account of how a Georgia slave-owning family migrated to California in the early 1920s, drained one of America 's biggest lakes in an act of incredible hubris and carved out the richest cotton empire in the world.
-
-
Interesting story of California Ag history
- By Jean on 08-11-14
By: Mark Arax, and others
-
Down the Great Unknown
- John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis - and as perilous. The 10 men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona.
-
-
Modern references take away
- By HC-2 NAS Norfolk '92 on 08-17-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
Longitude
- The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Neil Armstrong
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1714, England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment--from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton--had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on....
-
-
To hear Neil Armstongs Voice
- By Boots on 01-19-13
By: Dava Sobel
-
The Grid
- The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future
- By: Gretchen Bakke
- Narrated by: Emily Caudwell
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The grid is an accident of history and of culture, in no way intrinsic to how we produce, deliver and consume electrical power. Yet this is the system the United States ended up with, a jerry-built structure now so rickety and near collapse that a strong wind or a hot day can bring it to a grinding halt. The grid is now under threat from a new source: renewable and variable energy, which puts stress on its logics as much as its components.
-
-
A disappointment
- By Ronald on 09-24-16
By: Gretchen Bakke
-
Desert Solitaire
- A Season in the Wilderness
- By: Edward Abbey
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Desert Solitaire was first published in 1968, it became the focus of a nationwide cult. Rude and sensitive. Thought-provoking and mystical. Angry and loving. Both Abbey and this book are all of these and more. Here, the legendary author of The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey's Road and many other critically acclaimed books vividly captures the essence of his life during three seasons as a park ranger in southeastern Utah.
-
-
Wrong narrator for Abbey
- By Todd Steele on 02-06-12
By: Edward Abbey
-
Centennial
- A Novel
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 50 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener's magnificent saga of the West is an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America's past, the story of Colorado - the Centennial State - is manifested through its people: Lame Beaver, the Arapaho chieftain and warrior, and his Comanche and Pawnee enemies; Levi Zendt, fleeing with his child bride from the Amish country; and the cowboy, Jim Lloyd, who falls in love with a wealthy and cultured Englishwoman, Charlotte Seccombe.
-
-
One Credit, 14 Great Books
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 08-19-16
-
Shorting the Grid
- The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid
- By: Meredith Angwin
- Narrated by: Eric G. Meyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grid insiders know how fragile the grid is becoming. Unfortunately, they have no incentive to solve the problem because near-misses increase their profits. Meredith Angwin describes how closed meetings, arcane auction rules, and five-minute planning horizons will topple the reliability of our electric grid. Shorting the Grid shines light on the vulnerabilities of our grid, and includes suggestions for making the grid more dependable.
-
-
Very Informative, But Desperately Needs A pdf
- By Richard Redano on 12-27-22
By: Meredith Angwin
-
The World in a Grain
- The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization
- By: Vince Beiser
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other - even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. And, incredibly, we're running out of it. The World in a Grain is the compelling true story of the hugely important and diminishing natural resource that grows more essential every day, and of the people who mine it, sell it, build with it - and sometimes, even kill for it.
-
-
History given is only reason it gets 2 stars.
- By Dennis on 07-23-19
By: Vince Beiser
What listeners say about Where the Water Goes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DK
- 10-20-22
Big picture of the river and its challenges
Well-written and interesting account of the incredibly complex issues surrounding the Colorado river and the states that depend on it. I see now why entire books have been written about water politics in the West. Owen’s book is more of an overview, with vivid visual details, interviews with experts, and broad strokes covering the environmental, economic, legal, and political issues. I got the information I needed to be a better user and witness of the Colorado River.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kyle Ivey
- 01-23-24
Informative
Great book. Very informative and I felt non biased. Really eye opening and thought provoking. The narrator was a little dry and could sound robotic at times but did not deter me from listening to this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 01-11-19
Easy Read on a tough topic
I wish the map would of been displayed on the audio book along with the chapter titles.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John J. Baich
- 01-11-23
Western Water - A Must Listen
David Owen has written a very informative and entertaining book on water in the western USA; the confusing and often contradictory laws of water rights, evolution of the culture surrounding water and the serious predicament we are in. One may think this is likely to be a dry [sic], boring text, and you would be wrong.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Josh
- 12-29-22
Great overview of the problems facing the river.
The author does a good job balancing the pros and cons of water use and mitigation along the Colorado River while staying impartial. This is a good snapshot of the basics along the river while quoting more in depth articles and research.
The narration was okay with the narrator pronouncing Spanish words quite well, but then said "salt-on" during the chapter on the Salton Sea. The narrator was also a bit quiet and airy which made it easy to mind wander at times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JM
- 05-29-19
Very informative and good narration
I was happy to learn all the intricacies and complexities of managing the Colorado river.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael R.
- 01-13-23
Who Knew!?
I’ve lived in California, and then Colorado for my entire life, I always knew we needed to respect and conserve water, but I had no idea how extensive and ultimately threatening the situation is. This is a book that every person connected by the Colorado river should read, understanding and working together is the only hope of our grandchildren.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KDB
- 06-19-23
Must read
Well balanced and interesting. Important reading for everyone in this country as well as the world.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RF
- 10-16-21
People, agriculture, and water - well balanced
An incredibly informative and well-balanced book that analyzes the agricultural, mineral, and residential needs of people, jobs and the history of water.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- PETER
- 08-22-22
Great addition to many other co rover books.
Great addition to the many other books on water in the west and the CO river. Narrator regularly mispronounced name and places, which was a distraction, and may be a nuisance to those familiar with the west
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!