Excellent review in the FT by Carl Wilkinson: 'a tour de force; a brilliantly written scrapbook of history and travel, geography and science, myth and legend both ancient and modern. No element of the river escapes from him: from its deadly crocodiles, hippos and diseases such as bilharzia; to the respect the Ancient Egyptians had for the life-giving Nile and the efforts of modern cultures - often hubristic - to tame it. Twigger allows the river's ever changing shape to inform this engrossing biography. It's a vast subject but he never becomes overwhelmed by the material and has written an elegant, amusing and fascinating book, buoyed by his own enthusiasm, that draws you along in its current'