“If you want to study water, you do not go to the Amazon or to Seattle. You come here, to the driest land. Nowhere else is it drawn to such a point. In the desert, water is unedited, perfect.” —Craig Childs The Secret Knowledge of Water

A desert is an ecosystem that receives less than 10 inches of rain per year. Deserts are, by definition, very dry places, and yet, there is a paradox here: the mark of water lies heavy on the desert landscape. Canyons, arroyos, ravines and washes are all topographical features carved by water. North American deserts are lush with different types of cacti, with wondrous birds, with carpets of blooming flowers that brush the desert floor in spring. All forms of life require water, so the desert, despite its reputation, must have secret stores somewhere. Author Craig Childs knows where. In The Secret Knowledge of Water, Childs ferrets out the hidden water sources on which life depends. He spends time on assignment mapping ephemeral water holes for the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge on the Mexican/Arizona border. He probes a dark cave with an interior lake. He walks at night in summer to preserve water, both his interior and exterior supplies. Childs is a reliable guide. He knows this terrain from his mother’s womb; in fact, he opens his collection of essays with a story about her birth, conjuring up an almost mystical sense of the desert’s private water caches. Happily, as well as understanding the geological and biological underpinnings of deserts, Childs also knows how to craft a fine sentence. The twelve essays in the book have a light lyricism that sits well with the reader. I bought The Secret Knowledge of Water from a small bookstore in Las Vegas, New Mexico and we read the pieces aloud to while away the miles on the long drive home. Now, my copy sits on my bookshelf, waiting for my next trip to the desert, when I’ll take it down to refresh my memory of how the desert refreshes itself.

             Sue