A book makes you want to read at all hours until it is finished and then sets your mind to thinking - "what would I do means" you have a winner in your hands. This book is excellent; easily the best book I've read for a long time and before you say `that's a qualified reference if ever there was one':- I read constantly. Obviously, the book is about sea levels rising and rising but it is also about society, relationships, nation states, big business, families and mankind's relationship with the planet. The book exposes how fragile our hold on civilization and perhaps should be a lesson to us all. But Katrina and Kosovo notwithstanding it never is. You will start thinking about your home's current height above sea level however. Baxter develops the human conflict issues well but what I really enjoyed was the development of the various ways people were surviving as the water rose and the way the action moved around the world as countries were lost and the struggles that developed within the various communities. Half the news items one sees have a parallel in the book and as I said it sets you thinking. Baxter eloquently, but without being overly dramatic, sets out the various personal and national conflicts that arise. This isn't really a science fiction book more of a disaster/ human conflict novel but Baxter uses science to carefully explain what is happening to the planet. It is set over a period of about 40 years or so and covers the effect on the planet and on its inhabitants brilliantly by following the stories of a small disparate group of individuals who start the book together. Towards the end the book becomes positive as we learn how humans are surviving and adapting. Buy it - it's a really good read. I note on the web that a sequel Ark is coming next year - excellent.