Waters of the World: the story of the scientists who unravelled the mysteries of our seas, glaciers, and atmosphere – and made the planet whole

‘In her remarkable Waters of the World, historian Sarah Dry brings to life [the] chain of researchers who helped to reveal the dynamics of Earth’s planetary systems and humanity’s growing impact on them ... As we live through a climate crisis of our own making, the book reveals how researchers, over more than 150 years, defined and measured the processes that got us here — and gave us the knowledge we need to curb their worst impacts.’ -- Ruth A. Morgan * Nature * ‘Sarah Dry’s Waters of the World offers the big science of water … Dry’s call to use her scientific history of the climate to ‘prepare us to see differently, to use the difference of the past to help us conceive of the future with more options in mind’ is laudable.’ * Financial Times * ‘Thoughtful … Dry’s history of this very interdisciplinary discipline remains impressively true to its scientific, political and institutional complexity.’ -- Clare Pettitt * TLS * ‘In this cleverly argued and brilliantly written history, Dry traces the interaction between the dramatic careers of six major figures in the history of climatology and the uneven and surprising emergence of a science of climate since the mid-nineteenth century. The book illuminates its history with tales of mountain climbing and dramatic voyages, of tell-tale ice cores and threatening hurricanes. No set of stories could be more urgent now and in need of the care and intelligence with which they are told here. In showing how the focus of these engaging and energetic scientists and their many colleagues gradually shifted from a collective search for the principles of a global climate system to visions of dynamic, interactive and unstable climates in change, this book has much to teach about the roots of the most reliable knowledge of climate and how it should be best understood in its full historical and cultural setting.’ -- Simon Schaffer, professor of the history and philosophy of science, University of Cambridge ‘Waters of the World sparkles with lyricism and wit. Dry is a gifted storyteller, and her research into the pre-history of Earth system science has turned up gripping tales of risk, adventure, defiance, and discovery. A unique and important book.’ -- Deborah R. Coen, author of Climate in Motion: Science, Empire, and the Problem of Scale ‘An account of the two-hundred-year effort to understand the world’s climate system, Waters of the World is not only timely but also one of the most beautifully written books on science that I have seen in a long time. It is one thing to communicate this complex and important topic lucidly, but quite another to make the material seductive, poetic, enthralling. I was left wanting to read John Tyndall’s writings on ice, to hear the epic creak of Alpine glaciers, to go cloud-spotting off Tenerife and float parsnips in Scottish lochs. Describing one of the most vital but least visible histories in modern science, and rescuing from neglect a host of pioneers who helped us to see how our planet works, it is a remarkable achievement.’ * Philip Ball, author of H₂O: A Biography of Water and The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China * ‘Part history, part biography, part scientific tutorial, part philosophy, Dry humanises and personalises the science of climate change as it has evolved over time. By focusing on a wide selection of important contributors dating back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Tyndall, Smyth, Riehl, Malkus Simpson, Stommel, Dansgaard, and numerous others) the human story emerges from the science. She describes the fits and starts, the emotional elements, conceptual and observational difficulties, and the sheer fun these scientists had along the way as the understanding of climate emerged as a serious intellectual endeavour.’ -- Carl Wunsch, Cecil and Ida Green professor of Physical Oceanography, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ‘In compelling portraits of six scientists and their work, Dry probes the origins of what we now call climate science. She brings alive scientific mysteries about glaciers, clouds, oceans and the atmosphere to show how our present understanding of climate as a complex global system developed over the last 170 years. It’s a brilliant historical jigsaw puzzle, revealing how big questions about our planet have evolved and interlocked. But more than this, she makes a powerful argument about what it means to study the earth. Our knowledge of our planet, and our place on it, grew from concerns and assumptions that are as dynamic and full of change as the natural phenomena we study. How are we driven to ask the questions about nature that we do? Dry’s answers take us to the human heart of science. Exploring her subjects with unfailing insight, she brings each individual set of intellectual passions into focus. Stepping gracefully from Victorian England to late twentieth century Greenland, her biographies illuminate the combination of speculation, observation, calculation, and assumptions that have shaped science at different moments in the past. As she says, global visions come from individuals, particular places and moments in time. Such a profoundly human account of knowledge-building may be our best guide to thinking about the planet’s future.’ -- Katharine Anderson, York University, author of Predicting the Weather ‘Waters of the World offers a far-reaching and wonderfully unique take on the history of climate science. Focusing on key scientists, some less known than others, the book illustrates vividly and through fine details how studies of different forms of water — from a fluid in the Atlantic Ocean to rainfall in the Indian Monsoon, clouds at the root of hurricanes, and glacial ice on mountain tops and polar ice sheets — were all fundamental for our present-day understanding of both water and the global climate. Dry is an expert at tracing the deep scientific questions of the day, showing how specific scientists — fascinating people themselves — spent their lives trying to resolve those intellectual puzzles of the global environment.’ -- Mark Carey, University of Oregon, author of In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers ‘Dry takes readers on a journey through the history of climate science in this smart, compelling, and timely title. By focusing on specific scientists, Dry gifts readers with entertaining portraits of some thoroughly interesting if largely unknown individuals ... She shows how an artful blending of the personal and professional can result in unusually affecting scientific profiles. A true success on every literary level.’ STARRED REVIEW * Booklist * ‘Characterised by strong storytelling within a scholarly framework, this book will appeal to readers interested in how science is performed and accomplished, and anyone curious about Earth’s changing climate.’ * Library Journal * ‘In a very limited nutshell, the story of how we, today, have meteorological forecasts that are getting nearer and nearer to being correct is down to astronomers, simple old time sailor logic, men dabbling in weather research, the British Raj, and the attempt to predict the Monsoon after several years of famine. It all makes a fantastic compilation.’ * NB * ‘An illuminating tour through 150 years of the history of a significant but underappreciated idea: that the Earth has a global climate system made up of interconnected parts, constantly changing on all scales of both time and space.’ * Readings * ‘This is a skilful, clever and entertaining book and a definite must-read for anyone left scratching their head on climate change.’ -- Sarah Hudson * The Weekly Times * ‘[An] exacting but rewarding read … this is one of the many books that Federal MPs should read and understand before they can qualify for office.’ -- Grey Kelly * Talking Heads Magazine * ‘Dry’s writing is both powerful and poetic.’ -- Michael Adams * Australian Book Review * ‘It reminds us how little we once knew and how, not long ago, scientists made mistakes as big, crazy, and glorious as their discoveries. It also reminds us how young the idea of connectedness is; we are in the infancy of understanding how everything from ice sheets to ocean gyres are interwoven. Perhaps here is where Dry is onto something. Maybe our grasp of that connectedness will be the key to facing climate change, humanity’s biggest challenge.’ -- Gretchen Lida * Washington Independent Review of Books * ‘Waters of the World takes readers from the lab to the study to the field and back again … [It is] an accessible work of science history that draws on some of the best recent scholarship in the field … A history that functions as a plea for interdisciplinary work on the problem of climate. The book ends with a call to climate scientists to embrace their interdisciplinary roots and to recognise and celebrate that there are ‘multiple ways of knowing the planet’.’ -- Lydia Barnett * Science * ‘In the eight detailed, immensely readable essays of Waters of the World, Dry shows how over the past 150 years scientists have slowly come to see climate as a global system, and to recognise how human activity contributes to changes in the complex interactions of ice, oceans, and the atmosphere … Dry looks beneath her subjects’ masks with sympathy and curiosity. Noting their shared sense of a quest, at once playful and serious, in the end she turns back to the reader: ‘They each, in their own way, sought something deeply meaningful from their engagement with the planet. So should we all’.’ -- Jenny Uglow * New York Review of Books * ‘Dry’s assured and fluid prose unravels the complicated concepts across the disciplines that comprise climate science. The interconnected forces that move heat from tropics to poles and that drive ocean and air currents are analysed in a masterful, entertaining way. It becomes clear that Earth operates as a complex and turbulent machine. Waters of the World chronicles how much we have learned, how much we don’t know, and how much we need to learn if we are to halt the pace of global warming.’ -- Rachel Jagareski * Foreword Reviews * ‘Science historian Dry presents smart, entertaining, and timely profiles of intriguing, little-known scientists and their epic research into the power of water in all of its forms and its role in shaping climate.’ -- Donna Seaman * Booklist, ‘Top Ten Sci-Tech: 2019’ * ‘In this work, science historian Dry describes key early discoveries in the hydrological cycle and in climate science through the lens of the scientists responsible for those advances … Designed to be readily consumed by non-specialists, the book is accessibly written and liberally peppered with humorous anecdotes … Highly recommended.’ -- S.C. Pryor * Choice * ‘The stories cover nearly 200 years of history, and along the way, Dry builds a clear and cogent picture of Earth’s climate system from the different disciplinary foundations of her chosen characters. It is unusual for a history book to contribute to the readers’ appreciation and knowledge of both science and history, but Dry has accomplished that … She highlights how the pursuit of knowledge by scientists is often also a personal pursuit of wonder, adventure, beauty, and peace. … I highly recommend it. I think experts and nonscientists will enjoy the read, and both will gain perspective they didn’t have before.’ -- K. Halimeda Kilbourne * Physics Today *