A few years ago, Andri Snaer Magnason, one of Iceland's most beloved
writers and public intellectuals, was asked by a leading climate
scientist why he wasn't writing about the greatest crisis mankind has
faced. Magnason demurred: he wasn't a specialist, he said; it wasn't 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, Magnason's 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 an iceberg to exhortation
for a heightened understanding of human time and our obligations to one
another, throughout history and across the globe, On Time and Water is
both deeply personal and globally-minded: a travel story, a world
history, and a desperate plea to live in harmony with future
generations. Already a massive bestseller in Iceland, and selling in two
dozen territories around the world, this is a book unlike anything that
has yet been published on the current climate emergency.
