RIVERS

Flowing thematically from “upper” through “middle” to “lower” courses, the narrative begins with the basics (“What Is Water?”). Chapman goes on to mingle methodical remarks, presented in dense-looking blocks of text, about common geological features from headwaters to deltas, with closer looks at select rivers all over the world. Along with the likes of the Danube and the Mississippi, readers will find themselves riding some less familiar waters—sailing down the rapids of the Yarlung Tsangpo in the Himalayas, for example, where the river has cut a gorge three times deeper than the Grand Canyon. The author also expands his topic, acknowledging efforts to clean up the polluted Ganges and tallying the environmental advantages and disadvantages of dams. Still, his unexceptional prose makes absorbing all the information a chore, particularly in the absence of an index or any other backmatter, nor do the paint by numbers–style illustrations do much to lighten the load. Switching repeatedly between horizontal and vertical orientations for multiple foldout pages, Qu’s images have a generic look, whether depicting broad landscapes, riverbanks crowded with small human figures, or composite assemblages of typical flora and fauna from multiple regions. Pass this up for livelier treatments, such as Peter Goes’ Rivers: A Visual History From River to Sea (2018).

Jun 24, 2025 - 06:02

Flowing thematically from “upper” through “middle” to “lower” courses, the narrative begins with the basics (“What Is Water?”). Chapman goes on to mingle methodical remarks, presented in dense-looking blocks of text, about common geological features from headwaters to deltas, with closer looks at select rivers all over the world. Along with the likes of the Danube and the Mississippi, readers will find themselves riding some less familiar waters—sailing down the rapids of the Yarlung Tsangpo in the Himalayas, for example, where the river has cut a gorge three times deeper than the Grand Canyon. The author also expands his topic, acknowledging efforts to clean up the polluted Ganges and tallying the environmental advantages and disadvantages of dams. Still, his unexceptional prose makes absorbing all the information a chore, particularly in the absence of an index or any other backmatter, nor do the paint by numbers–style illustrations do much to lighten the load. Switching repeatedly between horizontal and vertical orientations for multiple foldout pages, Qu’s images have a generic look, whether depicting broad landscapes, riverbanks crowded with small human figures, or composite assemblages of typical flora and fauna from multiple regions. Pass this up for livelier treatments, such as Peter Goes’ Rivers: A Visual History From River to Sea (2018).