He charts the growing movement in defense of our great waterways. There is something strangely compelling about a river. It is at the same time comforting and exhilarating. Part of it is the hypnosis of constant movement - like the flames of a fire or waves on a beach. But part of it is that sense that there is something eternal here that will keep on going long after the car engine conks out, the nuclear power station has been decommissioned and we have all turned to dust.
Rivers are much more than flowing water.
Different rivers 'imprint' in different ways. A lazy stretch of the Mekong or the Amazon is a world away from the violent rapids of the Colorado or the treacherous eddies of the Yangtze. It is little wonder that when humanity set out to 'conquer nature' the wayward and uncontrolled river was a prime candidate. The imprint of the river will be different if you spend your time catching the giant Mekong catfish for your food or are the deckhand on a colourful Zaire river barge, or rely on the Amazon to carry you to the nearest market, or are related to a river only as a distant source of water and power. For those of us who live with a river every day, its moods shape our moods.