The Secret Knowledge of Water: There Are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowning

Written by Craig Childs

Narrated by Craig Childs

Naturalist Craig Childs's "utterly memorable and fantastic" study of the desert's dangerous beauty is based on years of adventures in the deserts of the American West (Washington Post). 

Like the highest mountain peaks, deserts are environments that can be inhospitable even to the most seasoned explorers. Craig Childs, who has spent years in the deserts of the American West as an adventurer, a river guide, and a field instructor in natural history, has developed a keen appreciation for these forbidding landscapes: their beauty, their wonder, and especially their paradoxes. His extraordinary treks through arid lands in search of water are an astonishing revelation of the natural world at its most extreme. 

"Utterly memorable and fantastic...Certainly no reader will ever see the desert in the same way again." —Suzannah Lessard, Washington Post

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: May 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781549174872

Reviews for The Secret Knowledge of Water

[mapg.genie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Craig Childs is a master of description, vocabulary, and analogies as he describes both the surprising life in the dry desert and the dangerous flash flooding desert. Throughout his book he also shares his amazing repertoire of stories and knowledge as he enlightens readers to a hidden world.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I just finished a harrowing tale that involved desperate illegal immigrants trying to brave the scorching harsh desert to make it to the promised land of the United States. Images of Mexican refugees left to die of thirst, roasting in the arid desert played through my mind as I read Craig Childs's Secret Knowledge of Water. Childs willingly and eagerly traverses this seemingly barren landscape; bringing his readers through ravines and canyons; vast wastelands that look like the epitome of nothingness. But, pay attention to Childs's lyrical language and a new desert starts to form before our eyes. Dripping caverns create pools of water rich with organisms.
There is an egotistical slant to my interest in a subject or rather, my attention to reading about it. Secret Knowledge of Water was interesting enough but it became more fascinating when Child talked of specific areas I plan to visit in May.

[unclebob53703 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Some fascinating stuff on water where you least expect it, but the last part about floods seemed repetitive, there being only so many ways to describe torrents of water destroying everything in their path. His passion for desert places inhabits every sentence and I'm not sure anyone writes about them with a better balance of science and adventure.

[devil_llama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author looks at the issue of water in the desert. Most of the book is a personal story, detailing his own relationships with water and the arid American southwest. An easy, pleasurable read.

[oldbookswine · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book chosen by our book club proved to provide much information and a lively discussion. Craig Childs takes you on his adventures to find water in the southwest deserts. Under rocks and sand, the Grand Canyon, tanks in the rocks and even water that surfaces at night.

This book is very readable and contains plants, animals, and insects all of whom must find the water to live. It also raises your awareness of how valuable water is.

Recommended for high school biology students as well as anyone wanting more knowledge of water.

[co_coyote · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Craig Childs points out there are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst and drowning. He explores both in this incredible book about his travels in the desert southwest United States. Childs combines a poetic literary style with hardcore adventure, amazing knowledge of natural history, and a passion for the people who once populated this dry, stark part of the country. I found this an extremely interesting and informative account of the part of the country I grew up in, but which, I see now, I barely knew.

[tracyfox_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Secret Knowledge Water beautifully encapsulates the book cover's warning: "There are two easy ways to die in the desert-thirst and drowning." The twelve essays cover everything from ancient maps of desert water holes and endangered desert fishes to shrines honoring the power of water and tales of harrowing escapes from raging floodwaters. Any of the essays is a worthwhile read on its own, but together they paint a complex picture of how geology, geography, ecology and humans shape the ever-changing desert.

Craig Childs never writes from an armchair or the outside looking in. He fully immerses himself in the desert, walking dozens of miles alone in unmapped territory, exploring canyons cognizant of but unworried by the danger of flash flooding, and taking more notes per mile than any other author I've read. He translates his notes into lyrical prose that truly honors the ecosystem he so clearly loves and transports readers into wild places they might never discover on their own.