Rain Comin' Down: Water, Memory and Identity in a Changed World

by Robert William Sandford

From one of the world's foremost authorities on the connections between water, landscape, and our changing climate comes an intimate look at what drives one man's obsession with the world's most precious resource. Robert Sandford has spent a lot time watching and thinking about water. This was not because he was predisposed to do so, but because the importance of water gradually caught up with who he was and what he was doing with his life. As this self-reflective book demonstrates, when one takes up the serious study of water, one cannot but be surprised at how far that interest can take from the very origins of the cosmos right down to the unique structure and remarkable qualities of water as a molecule. It takes you to the depths of the oceans, to the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere, and into the centres of storms. You fall to Earth with raindrops, travel tiny streams and great rivers, go round and round in lakes and ponds. Your study takes you down to the very roots of trees, into the soil, along the dark, dank banks of underground rivers. It takes you from one person’s thirst to the thirst of nations; from the demographics of the past to how those may drastically change in the absence of water in decades to come. Following water takes one back and forth in time, linking us to what the Earth was like in the past; what it is now; and how water will shape what it will be in the future.

360 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

About the author

Bob Sandford is the author or editor of over 35 books on the history and heritage of the Canadian West. He began his work with UN-linked initiatives as chair of the United Nations International Year of Mountains in 2002. He also chaired the United Nations International Year of Fresh Water and Wonder of Water Initiative in Canada in 2003–04. These celebrations focused on the growing importance of water to ecological and cultural heritage in Canada.

Reviews

[Tom Axworthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Sandford, one of the best known water experts in Canada ,has written a wide- ranging book that describes the climate calamity we are in and the implications of our inaction for the future of the planet.Sandford is a gifted writer and his mission is to take the plentiful science that abounds on climate and water and translate it into prose that a wider public can understand.He does this brillantly in Rain Comin' Down by adding to the plethora of data he assembles personal reflections on the places he has visited around the globe and what the implications are for our problems at home. I am from Manitoba and my brother lives in Alberta so Sandford's assessments of what is going on in Africa or China and how the lessons learned apply to Western Canada was especially relevant .For lay people who want to understand the science on how and why our planet is crumbling under the blows of extreme weather this is the book to read