Cynthia Barnett is the author of four books including "The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans" (WW Norton, 2021). Her most-recent previous book, "Rain: A Natural and Cultural History" (Crown-Random House, 2015), was longlisted for the National Book Award, a finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson award for literary science writing, and named a best book of 2015 by NPR's Science Friday, Kirkus Reviews, the Tampa Bay Times, the Miami Herald and the Boston Globe.

The Globe has described Ms. Barnett's author persona as "part journalist, part mom, part historian, and part optimist." The Los Angeles Times writes that she "takes us back to the origins of our water in much the same way, with much the same vividness and compassion as Michael Pollan led us from our kitchens to potato fields and feed lots of modern agribusiness."

Ms. Barnett is also the author of "Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis" and "Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S." She lives with her family in Gainesville, Florida, where she also teaches journalism at the University of Florida.