It is beginning to be accepted that many illnesses which today plague countless millions of people worldwide spring from a simple, unrecognised cause - we don't drink enough water. This is the medical discovery that Iranian-born Dr Batmangheldj outlines in this book - and if we drank more water daily, he says, many degenerative diseases could be prevented and sometimes cured. Dr Batmanaghelidj first discovered the curative powers of water in a crowded Tehran prison where he was held during the 1979 revolution. The only medic among 3,000 terrified prisoners, in desperation he prescribed a single glass of water for an inmate dying of intense stomach pain - and the man recovered within minutes. In that moment, he asserts, "a new era in the advancement of medical science was born". After his release nearly three years later, he escaped to the United States to begin leading his own gentle, healthcare revolution from his home in Virginia.