I shudder to begin a book with this quote. I do not have any real hopes of meeting Steinbeck's goals nor, certainly, of matching his prose. It is important to note, however, that I am trying to give some kind of structure, albeit personal, based on observed reality, but for the most part on reality at second hand. I have worked in riparian landscapes in Iowa, Montana, and Utah, but in this book I primarily review the fairly large collection of scientific literature on riparian ecology from the perspective of landscape ecology. Certainly more than Newton, I stand on the shoulders of giants, and I have tried, perhaps to the extent of overzealousness, to document their work in detail. The work is diverse, addressing themes from pollination biology to sediment deposition.