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Sierra Club Book Club: Cadillac Desert
March 20, 2018 @ 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
From the Sierra Club –
This book club meeting is being set two months in advance, due to the book being larger than most books we’ve done. It’s 495 pages of well researched stories of how rivers were dammed and water was supplied to cities situated in some of the most inhospitable places in America.
Amazon.com describes the books as…
“The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In his landmark book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city’s growth…..”
There was a four part documentary series made based on this book. It can currently be viewed on youtube.com.
Too heavy for you? The next book after this is by one of my favorite authors, Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore’s Dilemma and a few of his fascinating books have been turned into documentaries as well. April’s book will be “Second Nature” by Michael Pollan. The New York Times reviewed it by saying: “[It’s a] delicious a meditation on one man’s relationships with the Earth as any you are likely to come upon”
The book club will be meeting at the picnic tables called the “Rock Garden,” uphill from Zilker Theater at Zilker Park.