Colorado River Commissioner Becky Mitchell Shares Bedside Book Picks

The Colorado Sun asked for book recommendations on Western water, and instead of the usual polite deflection, more than 20 of the state’s top water officials and experts dropped their guard to share what was actually on their nightstands. This wasn’t a curated marketing list; it was a candid inventory of what keeps these people awake at night, ranging from dense dissertations to children’s books that happen to be about drought.

Commissioner Becky Mitchell, Colorado’s top negotiator on Colorado River issues, didn’t bother with the classics everyone expects. She skipped The Emerald Mile, Where the Water Goes, and Cadillac Desert to highlight two specific titles resting on her own bedside table. The first is Words on Water: Droplets of Wisdom from Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans by Matthew Moseley. Mitchell described the book as functioning like a fortune cookie, offering quotes that connect back to water in thoughtful ways, allowing her to open it at random and find a passage that fits the moment perfectly. The second is Against the Odds: A Path Forward for Rural America, co-written by Bruce Vincent, Nicole Olynk Widmar, and Jessica Eise. This nonfiction work doubles as a memoir focused on the timber wars of the 1980s and 1990s, but Mitchell noted it offers hope by focusing on how to move forward and rebuild trust.

Steve Wolff, general manager of the Southwestern Water Conservation District — a body created by the Colorado legislature specifically to advocate for water in southwestern Colorado — recommended Paolo Bacigalupi’s 2015 science fiction thriller, The Water Knife. Wolff called it a "great vision of a dystopic future … that may come true." The novel takes place in a near-future Southwest devastated by drought, blending the lives of three characters navigating a world of deep economic, geological, and political shifts. It uses suspense and rivalry to carry readers through real Colorado River issues without feeling like a textbook.

The list also included Shelley Read’s Go as a River, though the Colorado Sun reported that the source material cuts off before detailing its specific relevance. Meanwhile, the contributors offered everything from epicly dry white papers for "true water wonks" to fiction that blends entertainment with hard science. The consensus was clear: there are always more books to read, but this collection serves as a starter guide for anyone trying to understand the mechanics of Western water through the eyes of those who manage it daily.

Mitchell’s bedside table holds a slim volume by Matthew Moseley, its pages likely worn from being opened at random, searching for a single sentence that makes sense of the dry air outside.