DIRE STRAITS — VOLUME I
Dire Straits
The Chemistry We Inherited
How Industrialization Changed the Environment of Human Life
By Glen B. Caulkins
Volume I and Volume II are complete in manuscript and will be published at a later date. Release dates, retailers, prices, and audiobook details have not been announced.
The central question
“What did industrialization change?”
Two centuries ago, the air, water and soil around people looked much as it had for generations. Then came factories, new fuels, synthetic materials and industrial farming — and with them, a different chemical environment for daily life.
Dire Straits traces those changes in plain language. It connects environmental chemistry — the study of what substances do in air, water and soil — with the way our bodies take in what surrounds them.
The book offers a systems-level framework for seeing connections. It is careful to separate that framework from proof that any environmental change causes a specific disease.
A brief preview
Four threads through the book.
Water carries what it touches. The book follows how rivers, aquifers and municipal systems changed as industry grew — and what that means for the water that reaches us.
Inside Volume I
Six parts, one question.
- I
The Foundation
The central question and the way the book reads evidence: associations, mechanisms, exposures and their limits.
- II
Water
How water carries what it meets, and how industrial growth changed what reaches the tap.
- III
Land and Waste
Soil, farming and the disposal of what industry leaves behind.
- IV
Combustion and Commerce
Fuels, air and the trade that moved new materials into everyday life.
- V
Metals and the Pollution Cycle
How metals move between air, water, soil and food.
- VI
From Environment to Physiology
Where the environment meets the body — the bridge into Volume II.
Volume I examines how the environment changed. Volume II follows that chemistry into the biological systems that meet it. Neither is a guide to products.
DIRE STRAITS — VOLUME II
The Biology We Depend On
Water, minerals, magnesium, resilience, and the systems that sustain life
ForthcomingVolume II carries the story from the chemistry around us to the biology within us — the water and minerals we depend on, and the systems that sustain life.
Editions
How to read it.
| Edition | Volume I | Volume II |
|---|---|---|
| Paperback | Forthcoming | Forthcoming |
| Hardcover | Forthcoming | Forthcoming |
| eBook | Forthcoming | Forthcoming |
| Audiobook | Forthcoming | Forthcoming |
Publishing is underway. Retailers, prices, ISBNs and release dates will appear here as each edition is confirmed.
New writing and product updates.
Email updates are coming soon. In the meantime, call the store at (949) 581-9191 and ask to be kept informed.
Earlier writing
Manuscripts from Glen’s earlier site.
Before Dire Straits, Glen shared these manuscripts on his Next Level Longevity site. They are earlier works, not current retail books. The original files haven’t been recovered yet.
- Principles of the SpiritDocument being recovered
- Sacred MissionDocument being recovered
- Water: The Essential NutrientDocument being recovered
- Waste LandsDocument being recovered
- Gerovital H3Document being recovered
Start with a question.