Allen & Unwin The Big Necessity book Science & nature English Paperback 336 pages

Prepare to embark upon an eye-opening tour through the world of human waste. With a journalist's nose for a story, and a campaigner's desire for change, Rose George is our undaunted guide through this fascinating and little travelled terrain. She takes us underground into the Victorian brick sewers of London and New York in the company of flushermen, and overground to meet the heroes of India's sanitation movement. We examine the hi-tech Japanese revolution in toilet engineering; we investigate whether re-naming sewage sludge 'biosolids' might provide an eco-friendly alternative to petrol; and we stand right in front of the single biggest unsolved public health problem on the planet. Witty, serious and original, The Big Necessity proves that shit doesn't have to be a dirty word.