Dirty Water: One Man's Fight to Clean Up One of the World's Most Polluted Bays

I was expecting an over-blown recounting of how someone fought against bureaucracy and apathy to change his little corner of the world, but the story was neither that inflated nor that familiar. It was, though, complex, interesting, compelling, and, often, surprising. The natural drama of the story would make this a good read in any case, but the book would also be useful in, say, courses on environmentalism, politics, the psychology of social influence, marine biology, and on and on. Very well done.

I usually don't read nonfiction books, but I read this one. Bill has brought the topic of water pollution in Santa Monica Bay to life with the colorful stories of real people. He's analyzed all the data and facts for us and gives us the bottom-line of what they mean and why they matter, skillfully weaving them into the story so they're interesting. I had never paid that much attention to the news stories in the '80s of all the sewage spills into the Bay, thinking they were just another bureaucratic failing we had to live with. But this book shows us the power of grass-roots involvement and how just one person can make a difference.

Dirty Water helped me understand how Santa Monica Bay had become so polluted and how a few brave souls helped to clean it up. In many cases it was at a considerable personal cost. The interviews helped to see all those involved as decent people with different points of few. The often surprising interviews made the book hard to put down.