This book, based on wide-ranging research on water, views the world through the rippling, complex lens of water. It looks at the emergence of civilizations and their decay, delves into creation myths, ponders the place of water in the human psyche as expressed in art and poetry and folklore, considers its role as a factor of production, a source of energy, a conduit of transportation, and a consumer good, examines changing concepts of physical and spiritual cleanliness, and notes the magical...