![]() ![]() White settlers from Europe and the United States (and often their slaves) arrived on steamboats dispossessing the Native Americans of their lands and converting the landscape into farms and cities. Fur traders plied their trade on the river and soldiers of several nations garrisoned troops at strategic points, at various times, along the river when the area was still on the frontier. Early European explorers used the Mississippi to explore the interior and the northern reaches of what was to become the United States. Native Americans lived along its banks and used the river for sustenance and transportation. It is also one of the world's most important commercial waterways and one of North America's great migration routes for both birds and fishes. "A book like this helps to remind us of the fascinating nature of our world, and to show us that science can help to get us in touch with these aspects."-Hoshin V.The Mississippi River is one of the world’s major river systems in size, habitat diversity and biological productivity. Fleming is skilled at explaining relatively complex ideas in simple and accessible language."-Ellen Wohl, Colorado State University " Where the River Flows is distinctive and engaging. ![]() Fleming makes difficult scientific concepts accessible to the layperson, and takes a very broad range of topics and shows how they are interconnected in so many ways."-Karen C. Where the River Flows is a treasure house of ‘fun facts’ on physics, chemistry, and biology as they relate to rivers and hydrology."- The Ormsby Review This small volume is a good buy for anyone with an enquiring mind about rivers or indeed about natural science in general. "Fleming’s style is colloquial and engages the reader quickly. It calls for a radical shift outside of the disciplinary box, as rivers are but a reflection of profound interrelationships between landscapes, ecosystems and societies."- Current Science " Where the River Flows offers a paradigm shift in understanding the rivers. ![]() Abstract physics concepts feel more relevant when applied to concrete phenomena that readers can visualize."-Laurel Hamers, Science News "Fleming's decades of experience shine through in this book. " engenders a new appreciation for the waterways around us."- Library Journal Where the River Flows offers a new understanding of the profound interrelationships that rivers have with landscapes, ecosystems, and societies, and shows how startling new insights are possible when scientists are willing to think outside the disciplinary box. Along the way, you will learn what some of the most exciting ideas in science-such as communications theory, fractals, and even artificial life-reveal about the life of rivers. Fleming explains how river flows fluctuate like stock markets, what “digital rainbows” can tell us about climate change and its effects on water supply, how building virtual watersheds in silicon may help avoid the predicted water wars of the twenty-first century, and much more. Each chapter looks at a particular aspect of rivers through the lens of applied physics, using abundant graphics and intuitive analogies to explore the surprising connections between watershed hydrology and the world around us. Sean Fleming draws on examples ranging from common backyard creeks to powerful and evocative rivers like the Mississippi, Yangtze, Thames, and Congo. Rivers are essential to civilization and even life itself, yet how many of us truly understand how they work? Why do rivers run where they do? Where do their waters actually come from? How can the same river flood one year and then dry up the next? Where the River Flows takes you on a majestic journey along the planet’s waterways, providing a scientist’s reflections on the vital interconnections that rivers share with the land, the sky, and us. ![]()
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