Editorial Review:
Appropriate for courses in elementary hydrology, hydrogeology, or groundwater. Brief paperback format also makes it suitable as a supplementary text for courses in natural resources, ecology and other environmental sciences, geography, city planning, etc. This is the only text to give a complete, non-mathematical exposition of the universal Water Cycle in language accessible to non-specialists. It begins with a discussion of the physical and chemical attributes that make water such a unique substance, and goes on to a step-by-step discussion of various aspects of the Water Cycle.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Excellent book  2008-10-22
I picked up a copy of this book many years ago (probably an earlier edition). I thought it might be a candidate as a text for an introductory hydrology class for young civil engineers. I read the book and even used it one semester. I can offer a few comments on that basis.
First, this book is well-written. The language is clear and the prose is enjoyable. In fact, for a book intended to convey scientific material, it is exceptionally well-written and clearly understandable be anyone with a reasonable background.
When I used this book in the class, it was as a supplemental book intended to be a reader. I don't know whether the students appreciated it or not, but that was my intent.
What the book doesn't do is present technology. If you need to apply technology, then this book is not useful. A standard engineering textbook is required to provide that information. Viessman and Lewis is competent in this regard and is also well-written.
However, if you want to understand hydrologic principles without the need to execute computations, this book will do that very well. You will find much of what you want to know about hydrology from Manning's book. Then, if you need to execute computations, another text with that material will be more approachable, given the knowledge derived from Manning's book.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn basic hydrology, particularly those who do not need to do hydrologic computations.
Good for beginners but...  2003-03-03
For an introduction to hydrology this is a good book, but it's a little too basic and laymen for my tastes. This criticism aside, the information in this book is nevertheless good and adequate to provide you with decent background information in hydrology. If you've had any education in basic meteorology, climatology, oceanography, etc... you won't find this book very useful since it is mostly a recap of 101 courses in the physical sciences, but for the rest of us who haven't had much experience in these fields, this book is not only very informative, but it is a very interesting read... who would've known the molecular structure of water was so unique and life-sustaining?! Alter it even a little and life would be impossible, lakes would freeze from the bottom up instead of the top down... and other weird possibilities! For the beginner, this book is easy to read, avoids math, and provides a relatively strong foundation. I recommend this book the 90% of you who want to learn more about the physical sciences... but for the 10% looking for more details over what they already learned in beginning courses, look for another book since this one will only recap that info.
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