On Time and Water (eBook)

Description

Coming March 2021Asked by a leading climate scientist why he wasnt writing about the greatest crisis mankind has faced, Andri Snr Magnason, one of Icelands most beloved writers and public intellectuals, protested: he wasnt a specialist, he said. It wasnt his field. But the scientist persisted: If you cannot understand our scientific findings and present them in an emotional, psychological, poetic or mythological context, he told him, then no one will really understand the issue, and the world will end.Based on interviews and advice from leading glacial, ocean, climate, and geographical scientists, and interwoven with personal, historical, and mythological stories, Magnasons resulting response is a rich and compelling work of narrative nonfiction that illustrates the reality of climate change and offers hope in the face of an uncertain future. Moving from reflections on how one writes an obituary for a glacier to exhortation for a heightened understanding of human time and our obligations to one another, throughout history and across the globe,On Time and Wateris both deeply personal and globally minded: a travel story, a world history, a desperate plea to live in harmony with future generationsand is unlike anything that has yet been published on the current climate emergency.Praise forOn Time and WaterAndri Snr Magnasons perspective on his countrys environment is unique and compelling The author tries to understand, and tries to make the reader understand, why the climate crisis is not widely perceived as a distinct, transformative event in the manner of, say, the fall of the Berlin Wall or the attacks of September 11th, 2001. The fundamental problem, as this book elucidates, is time. Climate change is a disaster in slow motion, and yet slow is a great deal faster than many people seem able to comprehend.The EconomistAndri Snr Magnason combines intimate history and collective mythology, personal essay and exploration of memory, geography and environment, to bring the elusive reality of climate change painfully and dangerously close to each of us.Paolo Giordano, author ofHeaven and EarthWith poetry and wonder Magnason summons deep emotions about our place on our planet. I was deeply moved and inspired by his words.Darren AronofskyPraise for Andri Snaer MagnasonEco-lit needs more attention, and devotees will be pleased to discover a new addition from the Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason, who writes with a Seussian mix of wonder, wit and gravitas. immensely satisfying.New York TimesThe love child of Chomsky and Lewis Carroll.Rebecca SolnitMagnason has created an intimate epic that floats effortlessly between genres as diverse as fairy tale and political commentary, science fiction and social realism.The Casket of Timespans the chasm between once upon a time and have you heard the news today in a way that makes his philosophical fable feel both timely and timeless.Bjarke Ingels