The title of this book alone made me want to learn more about it. Rob Ferguson was a communications specialist and he was contracted to go to central Asia to try and help raise awareness of the catastrophic water shortage that was threatening the entire region.

Almost 100 years ago is when the seeds for this disaster were planted. The Aral sea was considered an aberration and ‘unnatural’ so exploiting it was not considered a problem. Then the Soviets came along conquered the entire region and wanted to turn the area into a cotton belt. turning a near desert region into a cotton producing gold mine, requires a LOT of water. Two large rivers in the region fed the Aral Sea crossing borders and many miles. Hundreds of miles of canals were built off these rivers to supply the farmers with the water they needed for cotton and rice. Severely lowering the river levels. The list of problems goes on and on. 5 different countries have a stake in the economic and ecologic survival of the watershed. 5 countries not long out from under control of the USSR and it’s propaganda machine. This is the environment that Rob is tossed into.

Rob gets to find out first hand about the expectations of powerful bureaucrats and the games they play. Ferguson tells his story of his trials as a foreigner and it is an interesting one, almost impossible to believe. His primary contact and most of those he was tasked to work with remind me of Boris & Natasha from Rocky & Bullwinkle. It was funny and very tragic all at the same time.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. Rob would give us scenes that happened and then follow up with a bit of history about the country, place or people that were relevant. I learned a lot about central Asia, both from the history lessons and from this real life account of dealing with dirty bureaucrats. I think this book would appeal to a wide range of readers, worth the read. ( )