Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Read!
Review: I've lived in the desert, I've hiked in the desert, I've camped in the desert and I've cursed the desert but nothing I have read before made me understand and love the desert like The Secret Knowledge of Water does.
Until I read Craig Childs' essay, I never gave much thought to water in the desert except that without it you die. Childs paints a vivid picture of the juxtaposition of desert and water in all of its manifestations. I can still picture the pools of water in the tinajas of the barren, sun-baked Cabeza Prieta and the thunderstorm-fed floods on the Arizona Strip. I can feel the terror he must have felt squatting on a ledge in a feeder canyon of the Grand Canyon as flood waters rose and swirled around him and his relief as they receded, leaving behind tons of debris. I can also feel his awe at the power and majesty of nature at the same time. I can feel his exhilaration as he bathes in a deep, cool waterpocket after a long day's hike. And I can sense his deep respect for the original peoples of the desert and how they have adapted to its caprice.
It is obvious from his style that Childs has an abiding love for the desert. If you know and love the desert, you will find The Secret Knowledge of Water a fascinating read and come away with new respect for the desert and for the waters which both nurture and shape it.
Rating:
Summary: Thirsting for Wisdom
Review: In the American West, where water politics is intimately entangled with power, this author sets out into untramelled reaches in search of desert water in a seemingly barren & unforgiving environment.Part memoir, part paean to the infinitely changing landscape & part lessons in geology, geography & genealogy, this book lures you out of your safety zone to follow Craig Childs' footprints across scrublands, along river beds & deep, deep into voice-filled canyons. A word about Regan Choi's artwork: imagine it "life" sized - immense jutting bones of our planet towering above cactus & tumbleweed; an Escher-like botanical drawing in exquisite detail, of water hole shrimp eggs or The Shrine or Sonoran desert spires or after the flood as seen from the floor of an overwhelming canyon. Delicate & mouth-watering! This is a magical read, to be savored for years to come; returned to with the same delight a parched explorer returns to a shadow-cooled pool.
Rating:
Summary: Close to Land, Close to Water
Review: In the southwest, as one strives to get closer to the land it becomes necessary to get ever closer to the knowledge of water that Childs writes of here. Thirst in the desert without this knowledge of water will fan a killing panic long before any real threat of deadly dehydration. Beyond survival though, Childs shares beauty, science, historical anecdote and research in a nice balance. Every few generations, Childs tells us, civilization sends someone into the desert to gain and map the knowledge of water. In this generation, we are grateful Childs was chosen. Facsinating.
Rating: 
Summary: watch out for the floods
Review: Secret Knowledge is an extremely descriptive first-person account of a traveler's journey though the desert in search of water and its associated experiences. Childs describes his locales with a variety of methods: use of metaphor, scientifically and spritually. He intertwines information from a number of scientific areas, including, biology, geology, anthropology, archaeology and of course hydrology. The only negative thing I could say was my desire to learn about more desert areas--his book limits the reader to the Grand Canyon and some areas of Arizona. Also, the book read so quickly--it ended and I wanted more. I guess I'll have to check out some of his other books.
Rating:
Summary: poetry in the desert
Review: the secret knowledge of water is tempting, sensual, humbling and even frightning. having recently moved into the area which childs so reverently describes, i was moved by the passion and understanding in his writing. the desert is ruthless. that much is clear from living here and reading this book. however, the desert also holds amazing beauty and power; all fluidly shared by the author. i highly reccomend this read to anyone who has experienced water in any form. i guarantee you will come away with a new respect for mother nature.
Rating:
Summary: desert prophet
Review: The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of The American Desert by Craig Childs is a must read for anyone who is stirred by the desert. Water is the defining mark of the desert and everything you look at testifies of its presence. In this book Childs takes us through all the various incarnations of water in these arid lands...the water that waits in pockets and tinajas; the water that moves in washes, streams, rivers and aquifers, and finally to the very heart of fierce water that tears and creates in torrents of violence - floods. Water is what we pray for and what we fear. He explores the ways of the Tohono O'odham, "Don't drink too much water" and recreates the routes of Father Kino tracking precious water in the Cabeza. From triops that suspend themselves - anhydrobiosis - life without water to the native fishes of desert streams struggling to survive in the face of habitat degradation, to the riparian habitats and barren plains - he covers it all, in an artistry of words that left me feeling reverent. This book is written in the holy prose of a prophet, one who knows. Childs is a natural writer who has gone to the desert and become a part of it. He cracks the door and lets the land bear witness for itself. It is incredible writing, better than I have ever known.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best things I've read
Review: This book was a sentimental indulgence of the highest order for me. Having been in situations where a mouthfull of dirty water or even a pothole in a dirt road was like a refreshing spring I could relate intimately with this book. Craig Childs seems to have a profound connection with the wild and forbiding places of the west. He represents a high order of human, wild and yet civilized enough to communicate in writing. I appreciate the author as much as the stories he tells.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting read
Review: This is an interesting read, especially if you have visited the southwest deserts. The book is for the casual reader rather than the scientist, although there is enough science to keep one interested. The presentation is artfull and full of imagry, but I felt he tried a bit too hard to be poetic. Overall, worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful guide to the desert
Review: What John McPhee did for North American geology in "Annals of the Former World", Craig Childs does for the deserts of the southwestern U.S. in "The Secret Knowledge of Water". Childs does it better, however: he writes as a son of the desert, one whose intimate knowledge and love of the land and its ways percolate up through these pages like the waters of a favorite desert spring. And he shares his admiration and respect for the desert in a lyric prose that delights as much as it informs. Childs has worked as a guide and teacher in this area of the country. That he wrote a book based on his knowledge of the terrain is not all that surprising, but his ability to provide a guided tour on paper and to paint word pictures of desert scenes like a novelist would is extraordinary. The successive sections of the book stand on their own as introductions to the desert world and, particularly, to the nature and role of water in the desert. But they also peel away a layer at a time, revealing more and more fascinations as he leads through the book. So we are treated at the start to an account of what John Wesley Powell called the "Thousand Wells" area of the Arizona-Utah border, a collection of potholes, or "waterpockets", each containing hundreds (or thousands) of gallons of water and found sitting on the surface of the land in one of the least likely places on the planet for water to be. But from there we are treated to more delights: underground reservoirs that bubble up to the surface in springs or spout out from a rock face in a waterfall; arroyos that carve the desert into creeks and then disappear; canyons that channel even modest rainfall into floods that are as fierce as they are fickle. Childs' prose is full of wonder and an eye for detail; he can get new-agey at times, though, especially in how often and how strongly he personifies water, and the account he tells of child sacrifice to stop a flood can be either poignant or horrifying, depending on one's point of view. So the accounts hit some bumps here and there, but nothing hard enough to make the jeep he's taking us around in bend an axle. I have been to, or near, some of the places Childs describes in Secret Knowledge and, as a lifelong resident of the well-watered east, naturally missed every single feature he wrote about. So next time I go, I will be sure to bring this book along to point the way to some of the hidden gems of the desert. It's like having the best tour guide ever lead you around personally, but on the cheap.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful guide to the desert
Review: What John McPhee did for North American geology in "Annals of the Former World", Craig Childs does for the deserts of the southwestern U.S. in "The Secret Knowledge of Water". Childs does it better, however: he writes as a son of the desert, one whose intimate knowledge and love of the land and its ways percolate up through these pages like the waters of a favorite desert spring. And he shares his admiration and respect for the desert in a lyric prose that delights as much as it informs. Childs has worked as a guide and teacher in this area of the country. That he wrote a book based on his knowledge of the terrain is not all that surprising, but his ability to provide a guided tour on paper and to paint word pictures of desert scenes like a novelist would is extraordinary. The successive sections of the book stand on their own as introductions to the desert world and, particularly, to the nature and role of water in the desert. But they also peel away a layer at a time, revealing more and more fascinations as he leads through the book. So we are treated at the start to an account of what John Wesley Powell called the "Thousand Wells" area of the Arizona-Utah border, a collection of potholes, or "waterpockets", each containing hundreds (or thousands) of gallons of water and found sitting on the surface of the land in one of the least likely places on the planet for water to be. But from there we are treated to more delights: underground reservoirs that bubble up to the surface in springs or spout out from a rock face in a waterfall; arroyos that carve the desert into creeks and then disappear; canyons that channel even modest rainfall into floods that are as fierce as they are fickle. Childs' prose is full of wonder and an eye for detail; he can get new-agey at times, though, especially in how often and how strongly he personifies water, and the account he tells of child sacrifice to stop a flood can be either poignant or horrifying, depending on one's point of view. So the accounts hit some bumps here and there, but nothing hard enough to make the jeep he's taking us around in bend an axle. I have been to, or near, some of the places Childs describes in Secret Knowledge and, as a lifelong resident of the well-watered east, naturally missed every single feature he wrote about. So next time I go, I will be sure to bring this book along to point the way to some of the hidden gems of the desert. It's like having the best tour guide ever lead you around personally, but on the cheap.
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