Where the River Flows

<p><b>The vital interconnections that rivers share with the land the sky and us</b> <p/>Rivers are essential to every aspect of civilization from brewing beer to building computers yet how many of us understand how they work? <i>Where the River Flows</i> takes you on a journey along our planet's waterways providing a scientist's reflections on the profound interrelationships that rivers have with landscapes ecosystems and societies. <p/>Drawing on examples ranging from backyard creeks to evocative rivers like the Mississippi Yangtze Thames and Congo Sean Fleming looks at rivers through the lens of physics using abundant graphics and intuitive analogies to explore surprising connections between watershed hydrology and the world around us. He explains how river flows fluctuate like stock markets what digital rainbows tell us about climate change and its effects on water how building virtual watersheds in silicon may help avoid water wars and more. Along the way you'll see what communications theory fractals artificial life and other exciting scientific ideas reveal about the life of rivers.</p>