Knowledge of the past

The past is the key to the future. Knowledge of the past helps us to better prepare ourselves for the future. In 2005 I decided to study the water history of the Netherlands. My aim was to get a better overview of the relationship of the Dutch and their water throughout the ages, and to present this overview as a coherent, chronological and easily accessible story.

My big example was Geert Mak, a famous Dutch author who succeeded in opening up an enormous amount of historical knowledge to a wide audience. People around me were saying that the Dutch know so little about their own water history and I thought: could I tell the story of Dutch water history in a 'Geert Mak kind of way'?

There is only one way to find out: just do it! In 2007 my book Land in Sea (Land in Zee, written in Dutch) was published. With this book I wanted to write a book different from all the other books about the Dutch water history. No book of reference or one with many (technical) details about a specific period but an easily accessible story that connects different disciplines such as geology and civil engineering into a story for bedtime reading or to read in the train.

Land in Sea is a book for those who wish to know more about the Dutch past but do not look forward to reading detailed or technical books. If you do look for details, I can recommend the book Man Made Lowlands by Gerard van de Ven, to my knowledge the best book of reference about the Dutch water history that has been written. What’s more, this book has been published in English. Land in Sea, unfortunately, not (yet). Maybe some day ….

One of the major advantages of writing a book is that you do so much research about the subject that you end up being a specialist once the book is out. The water history of the Netherlands is part of my knowledge base from now on.