Seen from outer space, Earth is blue -- astronauts call it the "blue planet" -- due to the atmosphere and the presence of water. This water, newly baptized as blue gold, is, paradoxically, as rare as it is abundant. Earth is the only planet in the solar system where water is present in a liquid state on its surface. Significantly it is also the only planet, to our knowledge, on which life has developed. As we become acutely aware of the fundamental relationship between water and life, we also begin to understand the lowering of the water table and the increasing rarity of drinking water. All the more reason to bring together the most amazing and beautiful pictures of water published throughout the world by master photographers and contemporary artists. Some images are purely aesthetic; others deal with serious issues, such as H2O's newest phenomenon: as a commodity to be sold in bottles. In addition, the book culminates in a lively catalogue raisonne of over 120 brands of the world's most famous mineral waters tested by a wine expert.