Book 268. Also 36/100 books that changed the world. Rachel Carson. "Silent Spring took Carson four years to complete. It meticulously described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and caused cancer and genetic damage. A single application on a crop, she wrote, killed insects for weeks and months—not only the targeted insects but countless more—and remained toxic in the environment even after it was diluted by rainwater. Carson concluded that DDT and other pesticides had irrevocably harmed animals and had contaminated the world's food supply. The book's most haunting and famous chapter, "A Fable for Tomorrow," depicted a nameless American town where all life—from fish to birds to apple blossoms to human children—had been "silenced" by the insidious effects of DDT."
Jo Barkworth do you know this book? ( )

Important book. Many of the behaviors that she revealed over 60 years ago are still going on. The book is easy to read, interesting and appalling on every page. ( )

Detailing how attempts eliminate various insect species with chemical spraying end up killing birds and mammals, including humans, instead. Carson's beautiful writing made the horror stories easier to read and increased my appreciation for nature. I read part of it in a forest, listening to a jackdaw colony overhead and letting six mosquitos gather on my arm before deciding it was time to get up.

it was interesting to read this both in an historical context, and to realize how much still needs to be done. but seeing where we were when this was written, and how brutal the effects were on the insects, birds, fish, etc, and how long it took them to do anything was honestly astounding (while also not being surprising at all). i can see why this was so necessary and world shifting/changing.

This book should be required reading in all high schools before graduating, if just to keep generations from repeating the same mistakes. I'm sure students would get more out of this reality book over any other required fictional story any day. It is definitely a classic, written in 1962, the author brought together all deadly and lethal facets of broad-spectrum chemical sprays on this earth, in regards to all living creatures, great and small. She’s very plain spoken and easy to follow and understand.

Unfortunately, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, didn’t live long enough to see just how important her book was going to be to the world, and to see it jump-start a social revolution against broad-spectrum spray programs, and against all insecticides and herbicides being used so haphazardly throughout the world. She died in 1964, at age 56, of breast cancer, just 1-1/2 years after this book was published. The front cover states: “The Classic that Launched the Environmental Movement”. Silent Spring was definitely the catalyst that created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 1970, to which the Department of Agriculture would rightfully pass over their so-called job of “pesticide oversight”, and the Food Safety Inspection Service would also be transferred to be regulated by the EPA. Read this book SLOWLY! You might want to purchase this as an eBook to highlight and mark it up with notes. Unfortunately, mine was a library book.

Although, hopefully, most of these earlier highly toxic insecticides and herbicides have since been banned, every word written still applies today because we have only moved onto more "new and improved"…different chemicals, still spraying the crap out of everything, if it doesn’t eat us first, and still trusting the word of the federal government that all pesticides are “safe”, if applied in small doses.

You will be astounded with the liberties our government has taken with the use of hazardous chemicals over the years. The number of times they have used broad-spectrum spraying techniques to try and eradicate an infestation of just a single insect at times all across America, only to have it completely fail. The chemicals would end up only killing the enemies of the pest, and not the pest, themselves, opening the door for them to multiply beyond imagination, doubling and tripling the damage that was being done before. And not to mention the total disregard to the devastation to the wildlife and fish across America. This will really get your attention! She includes an extensive list of quality sources used, 54 pages worth, at the back of the book, organized by chapter (p. 301-355).

I’m not sure where we are at today, but even before the 1960’s, scientists were already beginning to find out about and test more biological controls, using parasites that are the enemies of the pests. They absolutely worked in most areas tested. Chemicals provide a temporary comfort, but, as we see and hear about even today, we lose out to even more resistant strains of weeds or other insects that are now free to move in and devour, when previously they were held in check by the balance of nature's system. ( )

One of the most important books of the 20c. Because I had a science background, friends would ask me if it was real, and of course I said yes. It only seemed overwrought at the time because we as a society had not yet realized all the damage we were doing to our home. ( )

I'm writing about this book for one of my favorite websites. Stay tuned! ( )

I wish the book had lost all of its relevance and ended up on a dusty shelf somewhere, and people would look at it and say "Can you believe people used to live like that?" Unfortunately, that's not going to be the case. I found the part where regular citizens noticed that there were no birds singing on spring particularly disturbing. As I read, I googled various chemicals, insecticides, etc. and was shocked to see how many are still just as big a part of society now as then, in some cases worse. ( )

green

A huge eye opener provided by Rachel Carson’s The Silent Spring. Many times Carson slips into technical language that slows the flow of the nonfiction. After reading this book published over fifty years ago, I marvel that the whole population of living things has not perished due to all the harmful ingredients dropped onto the earth. In our quest for perfect yards and the elimination of insects, we have endangered our existence. Carson plows through the landscape and educates the readers on all the dangers of insecticide, and then falls victim to the dangers herself. ( )

I'm so proud of myself for finally reading this book after all this time. Written in the 1960's, it was a huge impetus in the US that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and spurred public mobilization to limit indiscriminate and blanket use of pesticides. The following decade would see protection of endangered species, inclusive of both plants and animals. A good deal of the effects of the new toxins in circulation were still unknown in the 1960's because science has made great advances since then. As a consequence, some of the questions posed by the author have since been answered, and, indeed, the content of one or two chapters are now ubiquitous. Some of the content can be skimmed, but that's not to say I think the book isn't worth reading.

I found it hugely educational, especially since for me it's history, given I wasn't yet born for a couple more decades after the book was published. It was enlightening and infuriating to read how the Department of Agriculture ran roughshod over anything and everything with toxic chemicals without first doing the most basic of due diligence. The author never states it, but, reading between the lines, I thought to myself, "Profits over public interest. Some things never change."

This book is now considered a classic, and I wish it were required reading. One of my favorite passages from the book:

“The choice, after all, is ours to make. If, having endured much, we have at last asserted our “right to know,” and if, knowing, we have concluded that we are being asked to take senseless and frightening risks, then we should no longer accept the counsel of those who tell us that we must fill our world with poisonous chemicals; we should look about and see what other course is open to us.” ( )

Rachel Carson gives a long and detailed description of the many different ways humans, in their fight against insects, have spread poisons irresponsibly. She lets the facts speak for themselves of what was used, what the chemicals are, how it affected humans, and how it remains. A stunning portrayal of how these poisons accumulate throughout the food chain.

This book was incredibly difficult to read (or listen to as an audiobook) as the information paints a bleak picture. It has been on my to-read for years and even though it is decades old I feel it's message still rings true. We need to do better. We can learn from our mistakes. It is our responsibility as stewards of this world. It is our responsibility to ourselves. ( )

Often cited earnestly and mentioned off-handedly, this is also a book that should be read slowly and savoured. Lovely piece of research and writing, and incomparably influential. ( )

A legendary book from the 1960s that I had never read until now.
Carson tells the story of the (mis)application of toxic chemicals intended as insect pest controls. As she vividly points out in the book, the pesticides failed signally in their objective, and caused untold (until she wrote) collateral damage to wildlife and humans.
The author writes beauftiful text - the sense flows effortlessly off the page. While she was clearly as mad as hell, she restrains herself in the writing, and makes every effort to present facts dispassionately - this was not the twitter era.
I read in the afterword that she was ferociously attacked by vested interests following publication of the book. But, she won - she was right, they were wrong, and she roused such a public reaction that the toxic chemical industry was forced to buckle under some governmental constraints - not a perfect ending, but quite a vindication for a brave author. ( )

Though it does traffic in some exaggerations and since-disproven data, the themes and conclusions Carson reaches echo through the decades with disturbing salience. We live in a time of ecological pollution and environmental toxicity and reading this book is an excellent reminder that even with incremental progress, we still have a long ways to go. Powerful, forceful writing that inspires. ( )

A good edition of this excellent book, with an introduction by Linda Lear and an afterword by E.O. Wilson. I finally decided it was time to sit and take time to read Carson's work, and used an unexpectedly pleasant spring day to do it, mostly in one sitting. It's brilliant and powerful and there should be more like it. ( )

This is one of Penguin's 'Modern Classics' series, and this fact needs some clarification, as this is surely a classic in the sense that it is a foundational text for the public understanding of ecology, and for the then emerging notion of an environmental movement. In the sense of a classic being 'for the ages', having the momentum to hit the escape velocity to transcend merely historical particularism, it is no such book.
Its origins as a series of pieces for the New Yorker magazine are all too apparent; it is an exercise in exposé, bringing to public consciousness the dangers that surrounded reliance on a technocratic approach to pest/weed control. As such it went on to inform important changes in policy, and provoked a tellingly heavy-handed reaction from the industries and interests it threatened. It is, then, a work of historical interest, illustrative of how far our arguments have come in the generally accepted understanding of the nature of ecology, and yet also how little the tropes of industrial and corporate counter-attack have changed. ( )

I got 30 pages in and didn't want to pick it up again. So I didn't. ( )

“Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson is a passionate book. It is a superb book. It is a book that arrived at a good point in history.

Rachel Carson blended science with a deep concern for the environment to produce a book of breathtaking beauty.

There is a strangely lyrical quality to her writing. I read the book almost through in one sitting.

When I read about the reactions that followed the publication of this book, I can only stand back and admire her courage. I wish we had such people in India. ( )

A brutal condemnation of environmental pollution by chemicals including pesticides and fungicides, written in the 1960s but sadly still relevant. Carson is a keen storyteller and acute researcher, and this book presents not only the issues of pollutants but many simple solutions that are also still relevant. Brilliant, troubling and optimistic. ( )

An exceptional book that hasn't aged a bit since it was published. It should be a compulsive read in every school, and every parent should know about it. Pesticides have changed since then, but we still have closets full of dangerous and toxic chemicals that do more harm to the nature and us as we're made to believe. ( )

Scariest book I've ever read! (sorry Stephen King!) ( )

I first read this in the l960s and remember well the furor around it. It helped me early on to see the dark stain in humanity. Yes, it was widely applauded, then we went back to business as usual painting ourselves in a corner. ( )

This book changed history. It convinced politicians and other government figures that we have to preserve nature while it’s still here.The book’s message is still as relevant today as it was in the twentieth century when it was written. Rachel Carson is a brilliant practical woman who wants to improve our world and take care of the wild life we were destroying with chemicals and deforestation. It is a very inspiring book and if you didn’t already think with an ecological mindset, you will after you read it.

This book also brushes over the topic of the aged lifestyle. Carson believes that we live in an over-mechanized time and that we should give the machines a break. I some-what agree with that statement. I think that we should make more eco-friendly machines and factories (although it's very expensive.) But in reality, what will be better in the long-term? The eco-friendly machines and factories are. I don’t think we should give up our advanced lifestyles, but we should be more conscientious about nature than we are. ( )

I learned a lot from this book, and although parts of it are dated, others are still very relevant for today.

One of the things I did not know was that the pesticides Rachel Carson was talking about actually killed birds outright. Up till now I had thought that the title referred to the eggshell thinning caused by DDT, which would cause a gradual decline in bird populations. But at the time this effect was not known; what was known was that pigeons would die in midflight and fall from the skies and songbirds would die in convulsions after the application of the pesticides, and so the "silent spring" would come much sooner.

Contrary to popular belief, Silent Spring did not call for a ban on either DDT or any other pesticide. Instead it called for the more thoughtful and more responsible use of pesticides. But the message the public received appears to have been almost the reverse: DDT et al have all been banned in the US, while other broad-spectrum insecticides and herbicides continue to be applied with much less thought (glyphosate, I’m looking at you).

This book was not just scaremongering; according to a 1999 report prepared by the National Pesticide Information Center DDT is a dangerous neurotoxin.

So I do think this book is still relevant today. And I would say that what is most disturbing now is that the ignorance of the harm pesticides were causing has been replaced with indifference. ( )