Water, A to Z [Paperback] Cooper, Leon

This book is intended for readers at all levels. Each topic is presented as a basic, easily understood concept that is developed step by step along the way to a technical level of understanding. The casual reader may use this text as a source of general information for almost every aspect of water. He or she may also utilize this treatise as a programmed learning resource for improving his or her proficiency in the technical understanding of water, its characteristics, properties and uses. Some countries receive abundant rainfall which, combined with mountainous terrain (i.e., Costa Rica and Guatemala), produce sufficient hydropower for all their electrical needs, but the United States depends on oil and coal-fired generators for most electrical production. The alarming consequence is that we have developed an enormous appetite for fossil fuel energy. This has resulted in an increased dependence on imported petroleum. Hydroelectricity, nuclear, and alternative energy produce less than 10% of our total energy requirements. We are also the world's largest per-capita consumers of the global, available energy supply. Clean water is rapidly becoming the chief limiting factor for population growth and economic expansion. It is presently our most important natural resource and will soon become the number-one national and global priority, surpassing that of energy and transportation and, eventually, food and shelter. It is vitally important that every citizen becomes knowledgeable in the basic understanding and management of water.

Leon Cooper is, among other things, a retired teacher of physics and chemistry, engineer and technical writer. His professional experience includes work at Los Alamos National Laboratory and engineering applications across the Western Hemisphere. He holds university degrees from Southern Nazarene University and University of Utah, and completed advanced studies at UCal Berkeley and other universities. He is a musician, linguist, adventurer, inventor -- the first to develop an accurate picture of a molecule, based on its electron probability distribution. Like his Cherokee ancestors, he believes in Nature's Law, "Be good to the earth for it is good to you."