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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 28, 2020 at 10:47:33 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Carpenter on Dry, 'Waters of the > World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Our Oceans, > Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Sarah Dry. Waters of the World: The Story of the Scientists Who > Unraveled the Mysteries of Our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and > Made the Planet Whole. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 2019. > 321 pp. $30.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-226-50770-5. > > Reviewed by Kathryn B. Carpenter (Princeton University) > Published on H-Environment (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > Water is startling in its flexibility and power. It takes so many > forms--oceans, rivers, clouds, rain, ice, gas--and can shape our > landscape through torrents or single drips. If I push the metaphor a > bit, the same might be said of knowledge: it comes in many forms, > sometimes unrecognizable from one another, and can change the > landscapes of our understanding in huge gushes or with a single > droplet of an idea. In _Waters of the World_, which takes both water > and ways of knowing as its subject, Sarah Dry shows how, in their > studies of different forms of water, scientists have created > knowledge that has, over time, interacted in sometimes surprising > ways to result in a global understanding of climate systems. By > zeroing in on the experiences of key figures in different fields, Dry > works to bring more than 150 years of research on multiple continents > within the grasp of readers. > > Combining scholarship in the history of science with the published > and personal papers of the scientists themselves, _Waters of the > World_ joins a growing number of histories seeking to explain how our > understanding of global climate and climate science emerged (for > example, see Deborah Coen's _Climate in Motion_ [2018] and Paul > Edwards's _A Vast Machine _[2010]). Yet Dry is interested not only in > scientists' conclusions, but also in the passions and emotions that > animated and informed their work. By focusing on the humanity of > researchers, Dry illuminates how "the contingency of individual lives > has influenced the creation of what might otherwise seem to be a > natural object--the system of the earth, the vision of the globe" (p. > 272). The scientists here are presented with their charms, flaws, > and, most of all, the playfulness, awe, and desire they brought to > their work. In arguing for the importance of interdisciplinarity and > different ways of knowing, Dry invites us all--scientists, > historians, readers from all walks of life--to approach the planet's > climate crisis with our own sense of curiosity and willingness to > imagine alternatives. > > Each chapter of Dry's elegant prose introduces readers to one of six > key figures, from different periods and scientific fields, ranging > from John Tyndall's work in the 1850s to understand the causes of > glacial movement and the impact of water vapor on the atmosphere to > Joanne Simpson's wide-ranging investigations in the > mid-twentieth-century United States into the dynamics of clouds, > their impacts, and whether they could be manipulated. Although few, > if any, of the scientists profiled understood themselves to be part > of the same scientific project, by placing them alongside one another > Dry deftly shows how these disparate pursuits created ways of knowing > the world that, in turn, demonstrated the interconnectedness of the > world's natural systems that we now take for granted. These chapters > are largely presented as biography; Dry allows us to get to know the > scientists as fully formed people, capturing their eccentricities, > their charm, their foibles, and how their personal values interacted > with their work. > > This emphasis on individual scientists not only makes the book > engaging to a nonspecialist audience, but it also underscores one of > Dry's key ambitions. By emphasizing the embodied work of scientists, > from the physical discomforts they face in the field to the personal > grudges that sometimes animate their work, _Waters of the World_ > encourages readers to understand scientists as people. These details, > along with Dry's careful attention to explaining how each researcher > would have understood his or her research, help us to set aside > whatever modern scientific knowledge we bring to the book and see > through the eyes of these five men and one woman. > > At the heart of Dry's profile of each scientist is an emphasis on > their sense of play, wonder, and curiosity. Charles Piazzi Smyth, > while observing the atmosphere through a spectroscope on a > mountainside in 1856, also took photographs of the landscape and > plants surrounding him, seeming to delight in the very act of > documentation. Henry Stommel, at the end of a lifetime of exploring > the mysteries of ocean currents, still found that science failed to > capture the awe-inspiring scope of nature. The stories demonstrate > the importance of play in knowledge-making and the idea that > discoveries often arise in places we do not expect to find them. Yet > the wonder at the heart of this book is much more than a tool for > discovery; it is a way of engaging the world that Dry urges us all to > embrace: "Their playful exploring was, in its seeking, searching > quality, elevated by a poignant sense of longing--for more knowledge, > more time with which to study the plants, more freedom in their work, > and more tools with which to see deeply" (p. 288). > > Dry leads by example in _Waters of the World_, bringing this sense of > delight to her telling of this history. She introduces us to the > "magic trick" of scientific work, that "a great amount of work is > applied to making a small bit of nature visible in a way it has never > been visible before" (p. 81). It is hard not to reflect that the > magic that Dry finds in science should be part of historians' work, > too: a great deal of work, a sense of curiosity, awe, and searching > that brings many ways of knowing together to reveal a part of human > experience that has been difficult to see before. In an age that > emphasizes research efficiency, funding scarcity, too many demands on > researchers' time, and expectations of productivity, Dry's emphasis > on a different approach reflects its own sense of longing. > > Dry avoids becoming mired in the details of biography, placing each > featured scientist not only within their historical context but > within the institutions and governments that inform, fund, and build > upon their work. Carrying readers between scales--from the close-up, > for example, of Willi Dansgaard and his team analyzing ice core > samples in a mass spectrometer to the Cold War backdrop that gave > them access to massive core samples--_Waters of the World_ connects > the individual choices and quirks of scientists to the systems that > shape them and the reception of their work. The scope of time and > scale that Dry covers sometimes presents the book's greatest > challenges; occasionally the sheer number of individuals and > institutions feels unwieldy. But the book's expansive reach also > results in some of its greatest strengths. Each scientist's > individual actions and choices build on, reinterpret, or ignore > previous work; take place within the context of varying societies, > institutions, and governments; and reflect both individual and > cultural values and attitudes, some of which change over the course > of a single career. This broad scope is central to one of the book's > key purposes, "to show how the thing we today refer to quite casually > as climate science is an amalgam of different ways of knowing the > earth" (p. 273). > > Despite the sense of compounding knowledge, _Waters of the World_ is > far from suggesting that such building has been efficient or > inevitable. In fact, the messy unfolding of scientific work is > essential to the book's argument. Dry takes us down intellectual > rabbit holes alongside our scientists, both to dead ends and to > unexpected discoveries. She reveals how knowledge uncovered in one > context can have a completely different meaning in another, allowing > researchers to make new connections. In doing so, Dry nudges readers > in the sciences toward the benefits of interdisciplinarity, despite > its challenges. She also shows how knowledge can be both gained and > lost, and hints at how some forms of knowledge have been overlooked > by professional scientists. Discussing Tyndall's work, for example, > she notes that the shepherds who worked on the mountains where > Tyndall researched had long noticed glacial changes, yet "it occurred > to none of the small cadre who called themselves 'gentlemen of > science' to ask them what they thought" (p. 24). These tantalizing > hints of knowledge neglected by scientists, from that of local > residents to indigenous knowledge, beg for further exploration. As > she puts it, "We are inheritors of both more and less than we know" > (p. 5). > > Dry's emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the connections between > different ways of knowing is a message, too, for historians, and > perhaps especially for historians of science and the environment. Too > much focus on the history of a single scientific discipline can > obscure the larger, interconnected picture. By tracing histories of > "water" rather than a specific scientific approach, Dry can > demonstrate how seemingly disparate fields developed connections over > time. For environmental historians, the use of "water" as the central > element in this book may be a bit puzzling; environmental history has > tended to focus on water in its liquid state, rather than subjects > such as ice cores and atmospheric conditions. Here, too, Dry's work > demonstrates the importance of thinking more creatively about our > subject and considering a broader lens. > > Dry seeks to provide useful context for the crisis of climate change > we now face, and the urgency comes through clearly in the conclusion. > There, Dry argues that historians have an essential role to play > alongside climate scientists, and that any worries we might harbor > about presentism are distractions in the face of this need: "we > urgently need to think hard about the relationship between the > present and the past. Any fears about how we are blinded by our > present prejudices seem increasingly less significant than the risk > of depriving ourselves of the best tools we can use for imagining the > future" (p. 284). Historians, Dry says, are uniquely positioned to > help both scientists and the broader public understand the value > systems that have shaped our knowledge, and what assumptions those > values have caused us to take for granted. > > Yet in the midst of this urgency, _Waters of the World_ reminds us > all that the search for knowledge and the ability to imagine > alternative futures requires more than single-minded focus. The book > is also a call to follow the examples of these scientists and engage > with the world with a sense of playfulness, wonder, and > curiosity--and to take this relationship as seriously as we take our > search for solutions. > > Citation: Kathryn B. Carpenter. Review of Dry, Sarah, _Waters of the > World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Our > Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole_. > H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54991 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#2004): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/2004 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/77178215/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
