How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea

In this enthusiastic, if esoteric, volume, Gooley (The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs), a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Institute of Navigation, diagnoses humans with a lack of fascination with water and sets out to rectify this situation. He examines water in its various liquid forms, pointing readers toward the “physical clues, signs, and patterns to look for in water, whether you are standing by a puddle or gazing out across miles of ocean.” For example, Gooley identifies various types of puddles—including low-point, tracker, and navigator puddles—and reveals the reasons behind the ways they form, such as the ground beneath them, or the local flora and fauna. Similarly, he explains the differences among ripples, waves, and swells in larger bodies of water. Readers should be prepared for the occasional technical discussion, as when Gooley gives a rundown of the individual layers of water in a lake—epilimnion, thermocline, hypolimnion—and outlines an experiment readers can do at home to further explore them. The minutiae may turn off some readers, but avid and budding outdoorspeople will appreciate Gooley’s breadth of knowledge and accessible approach to his subject. Agent: Sophie Hicks, Sophie Hicks Agency. (Aug.)