Let the Water Do the Work

Let the Water Do the Work is a fast-moving, story-driven adventure about what happens when people give themselves fully to something wild, like a whitewater river.

Drawing on a forty-five year love affair with rivers across four continents, author and whitewater rower Peter Fox brings readers inside decisive moments on some of the world's most iconic rivers: the now-lost Biobi³ in Chile, the Futaleufº, California's Tuolumne, and the Grand Canyon of the Stikine.

Fox's stories invite readers into the rowing seat of the raft to feel the acceleration of world class rapids. Moments that are not second hand recollections, but actual lived experiences. Vivid present-tense stories that unfold with the necessity for split second attention and respect for a force of nature far greater than ourselves.

For river runners and non-river runners alike, Let the Water Do the Work explores a deeply human relationship with the natural world, connecting readers to rivers through sharing the adventures and innovations of bigger than life characters. How, throughout rowing history, individuals have formed lifelong bonds with free-flowing water. People whose stories move us to care, to think about why rivers matter, and why finding our place within the natural world is what makes us human.