Water from heaven : the story of water from the big bang to the rise of civilization, and beyond

Prologue -- Priming the pump -- The states of water -- Some remarkable properties -- Water's many cycles -- pt. I. Water in the universe from the big bang to the appearance of man -- 1. Beginnings -- From hydrogen to oxygen, and all the rest -- Water in the interstellar medium -- 2. The churning of the earth -- Saving the water at the birth of the planets -- Primordial waters, from inside the earth or from outside? -- Outgassing and deluge -- A living solid earth : oceans, sea-floor spreading, continental drift, earthquakes, and volcanoes -- 3. Origin and evolution of life -- An extraterrestrial origin? -- Matter living and inert -- Where and when did life appear? -- Life without the sun at the bottom of the sea -- The invention of photosynthesis and the conquest of dry land -- 4. Catastrophes -- Climbing up an evolutionary ladder? -- Mass extinctions -- The demise of the dinosaurs -- Deadly impact -- Man the exterminator -- 5. Ice, moon, and planets -- The moon, time, and tide -- The precession of the equinoxes -- The moon and Milankovitch -- Ice on the move -- Ice in the tropics -- pt. II. Water in today's world -- 6. Water and energy cycles -- Ice budgets -- Water budgets : clouds, rain, and snow -- Water budgets : evaporation, condensation, and latent heat -- Energy budgets and the greenhouse effect -- Latitudes and seasons -- Land and sea -- 7. Winds, waves, and currents -- The tropical furnace and the Hadley circulation -- East winds, west winds, and the gyrations of the oceans -- Land and sea : monsoons -- East-west : El Niño, La Niña, and the Pacific basin -- North-south : the Atlantic -- 8. Water's deep memories -- The salt of the sea -- The great conveyor belt -- Foreseeable accidents, or surprises? -- 9. Clouds, rain, and angry skies -- Making rain -- Stability or instability? -- From fair-weather cumulus to cumulonimbus : convection and precipitation -- Cyclones and convective cloud systems -- Tornadoes -- Tropical cyclones : hurricanes and typhoons -- Gently falling snow and rain -- Acid rain -- 10. Earth's water, between sky and sea -- Watersheds and water flows -- Vegetation, evapotranspiration, and the soil -- Infiltration and underground water -- Runoff : from rills to rivers -- Along the great rivers -- Water on the continental scale -- pt. III. Water in human history, past and future -- 11. Water and man's rise to civilization -- Out of the Ice Age -- The Nile -- Water's revenge -- Drinking water for the cities -- Clean but toxic water -- Water down the drain -- Water for food -- Land for food? -- Mosquitoes and disease -- Water for industry -- Water business -- Nuclear power and water -- 12. Problems for the 21st century -- A new millennium? -- The water resource -- Satisfaction of water needs -- Water management : cooperation or conflict? -- Water between Israel and the Arabs -- 13. Butterflies and humans in a warming greenhouse -- The butterfly effect -- The greenhouse effect -- Global warming? -- The real risks -- A new deal in water -- 14. Back to the Ice Age -- The end of the Pleistocene? -- From the twentieth to the 21st century -- Finite and infinite resources -- Avoidable catastrophe -- 15. Conclusion, the end of the story? -- Back to the beginning?