The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Written by Dan Egan
Narrated by Jason Culp
4.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
For thousands of years the pristine Great Lakes were separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the roaring Niagara Falls and from the Mississippi River basin by a "sub-continental divide." Beginning in the late 1800s, these barriers were circumvented to attract oceangoing freighters from the Atlantic and to allow Chicago's sewage to float out to the Mississippi. These were engineering marvels in their time-and the changes in Chicago arrested a deadly cycle of waterborne illnesses-but they have had horrendous unforeseen consequences. Egan provides a chilling account of how sea lamprey, zebra and quagga mussels and other invaders have made their way into the lakes, decimating native species and largely destroying the age-old ecosystem. And because the lakes are no longer isolated, the invaders now threaten water intake pipes, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure across the country.
Egan also explores why outbreaks of toxic algae stemming from the overapplication of farm fertilizer have left massive biological "dead zones" that threaten the supply of fresh water. He examines fluctuations in the levels of the lakes caused by manmade climate change and overzealous dredging of shipping channels. And he reports on the chronic threats to siphon off Great Lakes water to slake drier regions of America or to be sold abroad.
In an age when dire problems like the Flint water crisis or the California drought bring ever more attention to the indispensability of safe, clean, easily available water, The Death and the Life of the Great Lakes is a powerful paean to what is arguably our most precious resource, an urgent examination of what threatens it and a convincing call to arms about the relatively simple things we need to do to protect it.
Editor's Note
Beneath shimmering waters…
Explore the dark history beneath the shimmering waters of the world’s largest freshwater system. This winner of the 2017 LA Times Book Prize for history also combines science and investigative reporting to reveal how an engineering marvel unleashed hidden destruction.
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Reviews for The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
96 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Not since I discovered the entire Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys collections of books in the attic of a house my family briefly rented when I was in third grade, have I been so grateful for being introduced to a literary work. Take every fun, interesting moment I ever had watching Mr. Wizard, Jules Bergman's reports on the space race, Bill Nye the Science Guy, PBS's Miles O'Brien present day science reporting, and the efforts of many others, and it will just barely scrape the consistent and persistent enjoyment I received from this book. It is not lost on me, that the title of the book does very little to get the average reader excited. At the risk of losing your interest, let me offer a crude analogy. Imagine a man in his home, looking out the window on a summer day. He sees the breeze rustling the tree leaves and can faintly hear the birds singing. Anxious to feel the soft breeze and hear the bird songs more clearly, he opens the window wide. He does this forgetting the air conditioning is on full blast due to the heat, so now he's trying to cool the entire outside, raising utility costs for an already stretched family budget. The house-bound family cat promptly jumps out the window, never to be seen again, but rodents find their way in, and memorize for eternity the location of the cat food left behind. Flies swarm in; even a few wasps, which sting a family member, highly allergic and requiring immediate medical attention. And on and on. All of this happening because the man wanted to improve his day. This book is not about that house but about the largest source of fresh water in the world: the Great Lakes. In telling it's story, the author is a true master in getting the reader to fully understand each concept presented with bulls-eye comparisons to facts well within the average reader's experiences. Plus, he writes with a lively, engaging style. My own favorite example, among very many, involves comparing the discriminating tastes of a multitude of invasive mussels avoiding eating toxic algae with the same ferocity of a toddler spitting out his brussels sprouts. Even the ending to the book was a delight as the author brought his young son into the discussion. Other than this book, the author is mainly a an award winning journalist with a Milwaukee newspaper. Maybe I need to subscribe, just to read more of his work, even if I haven't had any interest in Milwaukee since Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn, and the rest of the Braves were my favorite team as a child. I wonder what he has to say about the Braves moving their team back to Milwaukee? Whatever it may be, I'm sure it will be fascinating.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A solid, detailed and often depressing history of the use (or misuse) of our Great Lakes, with a surprisingly simple prescription for assuring their survival--cut off the routes invasive species use to get into the lakes, mostly commercial shipping, and let the lakes recover on their own. He compares not doing this to treating a lung cancer patient with chemo but not getting him to stop smoking. The book is full of detailed instances of ignorance and willful stupidity, but still rings with an unmistakable love for this unique ecosystem. I grew up in Michigan, in the very midst of these lakes, and was chagrined to find I didn't know much about them, which of course is a large part of the problem. The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer, and it's easy to see why.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disturbing, but highly informative.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good overview of crises in the Great Lakes, what has caused them, what has been done to fix them - not always separate things, and how they show the vulnerability of all N. American fresh water bodies and waterways. Not and unpleasant book with a charming affection for many of the figure with rolls in or reports on the problems and the actions to address the problems.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An interesting review of the environmental disasters occurring in and around the Great Lakes, mainly in the 20th century. The focus is on the fish and other creatures that inhabit the Lakes, and the interplay among them as invasive species are introduced. The sea lamprey and the lake trout, the alewife and the salmon, zebra and quagga mussels, all are described in depressing detail. The last chapter is supposed to be about "hope" for the future, but I didn't find much hope there. The book is written by a journalist who works for the Milwaukee newspaper, and it has a definite newspaper-y tone. It is well-researched and interesting, but doesn't go deeply enough into any topic for me. The bibliography at the back of the book may be more useful.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Although I had seen good reviews of this book, I live far from the Great Lakes and passed this by as 'not local to me'. However when the PBS/NYT Now Read This book club featured it as their selection for April, I decided to give it a try – and I'm glad I did.The books starts out with enough history and geology of the region so the reader has the background to understand the political and environment precedents and consequences of current problems.But many of the problems described directly relate to the area where I live, far off in Montana.I now have a much better understanding of the problem of introduced species, including keeping the big head carp out of the Great Lakes, and the mussels that are spreading like wildfire though out almost every drainage in the US – with the exception of the Pacific Northwest, where monitoring is intense.Other universal problem include fertilizer and pesticide runoff from agriculture and the nutrient rich effluent released by cities' sewage plants.All of these will intensify as the current climate changes and the fight for water escalates. It becomes a battle between higher profits/less cost in the short term versus long term planning which is often more expensive in the now.Dan Egan is a journalist who has been covering the stories of the Great Lakes for many years. His writing is clear and engaging. This is a very worthwhile read and recommended to anyone who enjoys drinking water.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Okay, what do Asian carp, sea lamprey, homo sapiens, zebra mussels and climate change have in common? They are all destroying the mighty Great Lakes. Ouch! The five Great Lakes are one of the true wonders of the world, but we are continuously throwing wicked curve balls at this amazing water system. A system we all take for granted, much like our great oceans. Dan Egan, a prize winning journalist, lays it all out here: the history, the canal systems, the invasive species, the various battles, which include the losses and recoveries and finally what can be done to restore and revitalize these national treasures.Egan is a fine writer and his narrative flow, is smart and informative. At first, I thought this might be just a grim, painful look at the destruction of the Great Lakes, but Egan balances it out with some humor and a surprising amount of hope. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart breaking and hopeful for those reasons it's a challenging worthwhile read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There was not a lot in this book that was news to me. Having spent most of my life in the Great Lakes region, I've lived through many of the events referred to in the book. Even so, I thought the author did a great job of putting it all together to make for an interesting and thought provoking read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another excellent book on all the ways humans are harming the environment they depend on. The Great Lakes (Erie, Ontario, Huron, Michigan, Superior) are 20% of the world's fresh water supply. The pollution that humans caused in the 1800s-1900s has largely been reversed, but now invasive species, often brought in ballast water from overseas shipping vessels, has rendered the lake almost sterile. The lakes have beautifully clear water, as I noticed on our recent vacation to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Sadly, in reading this book, I found that water as clear as these lakes' is not the sign of health. These lakes were naturally isolated from invasive species because of Niagara falls and so are ecologically immature when it comes to dealing with invasive species. The native species there have been practically decimated by alewives and mussels. Egan discusses at length invasive species - how they are arriving and how we could stop their arrival. He also discusses pollution from farm runoff, how some of our ideas to improve the lakes have made things worse, future disasters waiting to happen, and simple (but expensive) ways to improve current practices. He also gets into the politics of who deserves access to this freshwater and what the ecological impact could be. This is an important book for all Americans and Canadians who live around the Great Lakes to read. Also, the wider implications of where we get our freshwater and how we can sustain it is important for everyone. I thought this was a fantastic book. It reads well and seems well-documented. I highly recommend.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dan Egan's book is clear-eyed and thorough in his reporting. His purpose is simple: investigate the ecological woes of the Great Lakes. And it is an enlightening read that filled me, a lifelong Great Laker, with incredible sorrow. We are seeing climate change and human intervention wreak havoc on one of our great natural resources, and time is running out. The book points to the urgency of the work ahead, and it is stocked with pertinent research. I highly recommend this book.