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A stunningly illustrated atlas of the world's rivers, estuaries, and deltas, and their ecosystemsFrom the Congo and the Mekong to the Seine and the Mississippi, Earth's rivers carve through landscapes before coursing into the world's oceans through estuaries and deltas. Their inexorable flow carries sediment and more, acting as lifeblood for a variety of ecosystems and communities. More than any other surface feature of Earth, rivers, estuaries, and deltas are vitally important to our economic and social well-being, and our management of them often sits at the sharp edge of today's most pressing environmental challenges. The World Atlas of Rivers, Estuaries, and Deltas takes readers on an unforgettable tour of these dynamic bodies of water, explaining how they function at each stage of their flow. Combining maps and graphics with informative essays and beautiful photos, this invaluable reference book will give you a new appreciation for the power that rivers, estuaries, and deltas wield.Features a wealth of color photos, maps, and infographicsBrings together invaluable perspectives from leading expertsDescribes the rich biodiversity associated with the world's rivers, estuaries, and deltasExplains how rivers, estuaries, and deltas work, from river networks to deltaic floodplains, and sheds light on the erosion, movement, and deposition of sedimentDescribes the anatomy of rivers, estuaries, and deltas, from channel geometry and river planforms to estuarine shape and delta morphologyExamines the ecology and ecosystems of rivers, estuaries, and deltas and how humans interact with these environmentsAdditional topics include damming, climate change, water use, pollution, resource management, and planetary health, as well as future perspectives on these vital landscapes

An'eye-opening, sometimes alarming, and ultimately inspiring'natural history of rivers and their complex and ancient relationship with human civilization (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction).Rivers, more than any road, technology, or political leader, have shaped the course of human civilization. They have opened frontiers, founded cities, settled borders, and fed billions. They promote life, forge peace, grant power, and can capriciously destroy everything in their path. Even today, rivers remain a powerful global force -- one that is more critical than ever to our future.In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores the timeless yet underappreciated relationship between rivers and civilization as we know it. Rivers are of course important in many practical ways (water supply, transportation, sanitation, etc). But the full breadth of their influence on the way we live is less obvious. Rivers define and transcend international borders, forcing cooperation between nations. Huge volumes of river water are used to produce energy, raw commodities, and food. Wars, politics, and demography are transformed by their devastating floods. The territorial claims of nations, their cultural and economic ties to each other, and the migrations and histories of their peoples trace back to rivers, river valleys, and the topographic divides they carve upon the world. And as climate change, technology, and cities transform our relationship with nature, new opportunities are arising to protect the waters that sustain us.Beautifully told and expansive in scope, Rivers of Power reveals how and why rivers have so profoundly influenced our civilization and examines the importance this vast, arterial power holds for the future of humanity.'As fascinating as it is beautifully written.'---Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and Upheaval

Les quatre grandes civilisations de la haute antiquité se sont toutes épanouies dans des régions fluviales. Le Hoang ho et le Yangtze kiang arrosent le domaine primitif de la civilisation chinoise ; l'Inde védique ne s'est point écartée du bassin de l'Indus et du Gange ; les monarchies assyro-baby-loniennes ont eu pour théâtre la vaste région dont le Tigre et l'Euphrate sont les deux artères vitales ; l'Egypte enfin, comme le disait déjà Hérodote, est un « don, un présent du Nil ». Fruit d'une sélection réalisée au sein des fonds de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, Collection XIX a pour ambition de faire découvrir des textes classiques et moins classiques dans les meilleures éditions du XIXe siècle.

Far from being the serene, natural streams of yore, modern rivers have been diverted, dammed, dumped in, and dried up, all in efforts to harness their power for human needs. But these rivers have also undergone environmental change. The old adage says you can't step in the same river twice, and Ellen Wohl would agree—natural and synthetic change are so rapid on the world's great waterways that rivers are transforming and disappearing right before our eyes. A World of Rivers explores the confluence of human and environmental change on ten of the great rivers of the world. Ranging from the Murray-Darling in Australia and the Yellow River in China to Central Europe's Danube and the United States'Mississippi, the book journeys down the most important rivers in all corners of the globe. Wohl shows us how pollution, such as in the Ganges and in the Ob of Siberia, has affected biodiversity in the water. But rivers are also resilient, and Wohl stresses the importance of conservation and restoration to help reverse the effects of human carelessness and hubris. What all these diverse rivers share is a critical role in shaping surrounding landscapes and biological communities, and Wohl's book ultimately makes a strong case for the need to steward positive change in the world's great rivers.

Title from eBook title screen (viewed Jan. 25, 2007).