Complex sentence: His Doctoral dissertation, "Water and Architecture", was a survey of the presence of water in shaping the experience of place; many decades later, the dissertation became the basis of a book with the same title.
Split into simpler sentences: His Doctoral dissertation, "Water and Architecture", was a study of the importance of water in shaping the experience of place. Phenomenology and the Rise of the Postmodern, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010) Many decades later, the dissertation became the basis of a book with the same title.