Synopses & Reviews
Peter Gleick knows water. A world-renowned scientist and freshwater expert, Gleick is a MacArthur Foundation andquot;genius,andquot; and according to the BBC, an environmental visionary. And he drinks from the tap. Why donandrsquo;t the rest of us?
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Bottled and Sold shows how water went from being a free natural resource to one of the most successful commercial products of the last one hundred yearsandmdash;and why we are poorer for it. Itandrsquo;s a big story and water is big business. Every second of every day in the United States, a thousand people buy a plastic bottle of water, and every second of every day a thousand more throw one of those bottles away. That adds up to more than thirty billion bottles a year and tens of billions of dollars of sales.
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Are there legitimate reasons to buy all those bottles? With a scientistandrsquo;s eye and a natural storytellerandrsquo;s wit, Gleick investigates whether industry claims about the relative safety, convenience, and taste of bottled versus tap hold water. And he exposes the true reasons weandrsquo;ve turned to the bottle, from fearmongering by business interests and our own vanity to the breakdown of public systems and global inequities.
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andquot;Designerandquot; H2O may be laughable, but the debate over commodifying water is deadly serious. It comes down to societyandrsquo;s choices about human rights, the role of government and free markets, the importance of being andquot;green,andquot; and fundamental values. Gleick gets to the heart of the bottled water craze, exploring what it means for us to bottle and sell our most basic necessity.
Review
andquot;Gleick trains his scientifically objective eye on the bottled water phenomenonandhellip; [and] offers a sobering yet sensible look at societyand#39;s ill-considered thirst for bottled water.andquot;
Review
andquot;With the gusto of a born raconteur and the passion of a believer, Gleick makes a sound case for improving the developing worldand#39;s access to and the developed worldand#39;s attitude toward safe, piped drinking water purified by the natural hydrologic cycle.andquot;
Review
andquot;In his insightful new book, Bottled and Sold, the scientist and freshwater expert chronicles how modern society has abandoned one of its greatest public health achievements in favor of a financially and environmentally costly alternativeandhellip; The bookand#39;s power lies in his obvious yet compelling argument: Rather than shore up the natural processes that have provided us with drinkable water for centuries, we have invented an elaborate business that causes more harm than good.andquot;
Review
andquot;Alongside fascinating discursions into the history of the public water fountain, cholera, and Kabbalah, Gleick provides an dispassionate glimpse into purposeful distortions of science that drive us to believe bottled water will make us and#39;healthier, skinnier, or more popular.and#39;andquot;
Review
andquot;Peter Gleick, one of the most visible and respected advocates for smart water use, has made a well-researched and timely first foray into popular nonfiction with his new book, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water. ...Gleick culls first-rate anecdotesandmdash;some personal, some historicalandmdash;to illuminate the more perplexing and revealing twists behind the bottled-water industryand#39;s rapid growth.andquot;
Review
andquot;This is my favorite kind of book: packed with facts but such a pleasure to read. Peter Gleick has skillfully navigated the complex landscape of bottled water, covering everything from neglected municipal systems to bogus advertisers to piles of plastic waste. Congratulations to Gleick for tackling a problem of gigantic proportions and especially for charting a viable positive way forward.andquot;
Review
andquot;We ended the sale of bottled water in 2007 at Chez Panisse as its environmental implications became clear. After reading Peter H. Gleickand#39;s startling investigation of the lucrative and unsustainable bottled water industry, I am confident we made the right decision. Water is our most primary element. It is precious and its access should be a democratic right. Bottled and Sold is a carefully researched, clear-eyed look at an industry that too often escapes the public glare.andquot;
Review
andquot;The P.R. execs and charlatans who hawk bottled water donand#39;t want us asking a fundamental question: Will we abandon our commitment to providing safe public tap water? Peter Gleick takes the issue head on. He brilliantly captures the environmental, economic, and moral dimensions of the bottled water controversy in an exploration that is authoritative yet entertaining, alarming yet optimistic.andquot;
Review
andquot;In Bottled and Sold, Peter Gleick shows that most communities serve up better tap water than the bottled stuff. Besides, all those bottles are filling up our landfills. If you want to know the full costs of this industryandmdash;from environmental to health and economicandmdash;this fascinating exposandeacute; is the best place to begin.andquot;
Review
andquot;Bottled And Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, by MacArthur and#39;genius grantand#39; recipient Peter Gleick, confronts readers with questions like andquot;If itand#39;s called and#39;Arctic spring water,and#39; why is it from Florida?andquot;
Review
andquot;Peter H. Gleick...has published a book that will have you thinking twice about reaching for that overpriced bottle of water the next time youand#39;re in a store. Bottled and Sold...outlines, in disturbing detail, just how much of a threat those billions of plastic bottles are to the environment. [He] also makes a convincing case that most tap water is quite goodandmdash;and better regulated than the oh-so-trendy stuff one finds in a store.andquot;
Review
andquot;Issue by issue, Gleick gently debunks the pro bottled water myths we are inundated with and exposes our mass consumption of bottled water as an and#39;act of economic, environmental and social blindnessand#39;. Despite his engaging, Malcolm Gladwell-esque prose style, Gleick is more than just a journalist with an eye for a story and a knack for knitting together other peopleand#39;s research. In fact, he is perhaps the worldand#39;s leading expert on fresh water....andquot;
Review
andquot;Gleick, a scientist and noted water issues researcher, presents a thought-provoking, eye-opening view of the many aspects of bottled water usage....The book is well organized, easy to understand, interesting, and enjoyable to read.andquot;
Review
andquot;Bottled and Sold is a book that environmentalists, water experts, and all who follow consumer trends will want to read.andquot;
Review
"Gleick makes a strong, supported, and fair case for for the status of bottled water in our consumer stream, with thorough research into many aspects of bottled water and municipal water supplies.
Bottled and Sold is a must-read for anyone concerned about the bottled water industry or who advocates returning to the tap."
Review
andquot;Gleick covers the topic in illuminating detail, yet packages his writing with the skill and passion of a novelist. Supported by research, including interviews and plant visits, Gleick examines how water is found, pumped, bottled, treated, lied about, and sold to a relatively unsuspecting public. If selling bottled water is a shell game, Gleick picks the right shell every time....Bottled and Sold is a necessary book: we are surely in for serious water damage in the future if we continue to drink our water from bottles. Every citizen should read it; every legislator and state natural resource administrator should have a desk copy. Lobbyists who prowl the halls of Congress seeking to overturn long-standing common water laws ought to be made to read this, twice. It seems impossible that a reader would come away from Gleickand#39;s book with a desire to ever buy another plastic bottle of water. Itand#39;s that compelling.andquot;
Synopsis
Peter Gleick knows water. A world-renowned scientist and freshwater expert, Gleick is a MacArthur Foundation "genius," and according to the BBC, an environmental visionary. And he drinks from the tap. Why donand#8217;t the rest of us?
Bottled and Sold shows how water went from being a free natural resource to one of the most successful commercial products of the last one hundred yearsand#8212;and why we are poorer for it. Itand#8217;s a big story and water is big business.
About the Author
Dr. Peter Gleick is renowned the world over as a leading expert, innovator, and communicator on water and climate issues. He co-founded and leads The Pacific Institute in Oakland, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012 as one of the most innovative, independent non-governmental organizations in the fields of water and economic and environmental justice and sustainability.
Dr. Gleick's work has redefined water from the realm of engineers to the world of social justice, sustainability, human rights, and integrated thinking. His influence on the field of water has been long and deep: he developed the first analysis of climate change impacts on water resources, the earliest comprehensive work on water and conflict, and defined basic human needs for water and the human right to water--work that has been used by the UN and in human rights court cases. He pioneered the concept of the 'soft path for water,' developed the idea of "peak water," and has written about the need for a "local water movement."
Dr. Gleick received the prestigious MacArthur "genius" Fellowship and was named "a visionary on the environment" by the BBC. He was elected both an Academician of the International Water Academy, in Oslo, Norway and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Wired Magazine featured Dr. Gleick as "one of 15 people the next President should listen to."
He received his B.S. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Gleick serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations, and is the author of many scientific papers and nine books, including the influential series The World's Water and Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, as well as A Twenty-First Century Water Policy.