When It Comes to Water, It's 50/50 That Hindsight Is 20/20

Jim Lauria

Back in October 2018, when I started looking to the past to gather wisdom from what people have said about water through the ages, I figured when it comes to water, it’s 50/50 that hindsight is 20/20. So I needed a large sample size. I started collecting quotes from all sorts of people—scientists and screenwriters, poets and philosophers and politicians and pop singers—hoping to provide insight into water and the issues around it. (For more details on my journey, see last year’s World Water Day post.) Some of those quotes can even help us peek into the future.

Since I started gathering and sharing those perspectives, I've gone more than 500 days straight posting water quotes on LinkedIn. As an added feature, every Sunday over the past year and a half, I've posted a music quote, a way to celebrate the rhythm and flow of water through the rhythm and flow of music. Most of those have come to me during my daily walks in the hills of San Francisco, where I can see people sitting on the dock of the Bay, watching the tide roll away.

I believe it's grown to become the most comprehensive list of water quotes published anywhere. I've organized my whole collection in order of the number of likes each quote received and posted it on my website, https://jimlauria.com/.

In addition to my quote collection, I've posted a list of all the books I've read on water. It represents a good bibliography not just for my work, but for anybody who wants to take a deep dive into the subject. I even linked the list to Amazon, so if you find a book that sounds intriguing, you can buy it with a click or two.

If you've read any worthwhile books on water that aren't on the list, please let me know. I love encountering new thoughts and perspectives through great books, and I will be happy to keep building my library and list.

Also on my website, you'll find information on my own soon-to-be-published book, To Know Water Is To Love Water: The connection between water & everything we hold dear. It's a labor of love that springs from my personal connection with water and my long friendship and collaboration with humorist and writer Steve Bhaerman. As the book starts, "A chemical engineer and a comical engineer walk into a bar…and they order water for everyone."

The book combines our perspectives to provide an engaging, enlightening and entertaining exploration of water issues that inspires people to laugh and love the topic. It's all in there: science, policy, history and philosophy. And plenty of humor, too. As Steve often says, it's comedy disguised as wisdom and wisdom disguised as comedy.

As soon as it's published, you'll be able to purchase the book through my website, too.

My hope is that To Know Water Is To Love Water is the first of a portfolio of books from Team Chemistry Publishing that stimulates thought and conversation on water issues and reaches a broad audience with great perspectives on the one thing that connects us all: water.

And you can quote me on that.