Silent Spring

Rachel Carson was way ahead of her time in determining that toxic insecticides , herbicides & pesticides were literally being dumped upon not only humans but, animals & vegetation . Although she can sound over the top with her assessment of the dangers, she was one of the first to speak out & make the public aware of the issues and probably saved many lives. This can be a little technical at times but not overly so. I think you can tell how passionate she was about these issues & truly was concerned about the future of the population & ultimately the earth. This is a book to be slowly read & digested & maybe re read again. It even applies to society today & that's just as scary as it was in 1962.

Amazing book! Although it is over 50 years old, it doesn't make the material seem dated at all. The author does a great job at organizing the book to pull the reader in and understand the effect that humans are having on the environment. At times, it can be a little hard to follow if you're not science-savvy, but she does a nice job of making it easy to understand. If you're looking for a reason to start living a more eco-friendly lifestyle, this book will definitely be a swift kick into making that change!

A brilliant book that makes you think about what the true cost of the world's chemical obsession is. Silent Springs should be a required read for all high school students, biology majors, and anyone who makes or enforces policy that relates to the environment. I have never used too many chemicals, but since reading this book, I always ask myself if there is another, safer, way before I use any chemicals on my garden, etc.

Carson is an excellent writer, but I felt that this book just didn't quite match all the hype behind it, in spite of the fact that the book helped to get the environmental movement to its next level. It's alternate identity, "The Poison Book", seems a pretty accurate one. I didn't know (before I read the book) how hard some of the book's repercussions hit Carson. Even today it's still a valuable book.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is a vital read for anyone interested in
environmental impact of chemical poisons that were in wide spread exesive
use in the 1950's and early 1960's that caused wide spread killings of
plants and animals. The facts and the results she puts forward in her book
are as relevent today as they were then. I First read this book when I was
in high school and just rediscovered it. It was one of my influances that
pushed to study sceince.

This is a book which grabbed public attention about the incredible harm being done to the environment from wide-spread use of chlorinated pesticides. I bought to re-read and was struck again with how compelling and how detailed it is. Silent Spring became a national wake-up call about the damage we were doing to fish, birds, mammals, lakes, rivers, soil, trees, and air and was a catalyst for passage of significant federal legislation in the 1960's and 70's.

The book is out-of-print, so the copy I received it old but readable. I recommend reading (or re-reading it), especially if you hold strong views about the role of government in environmental protection.

It has really made me understand how indiscriminate use of chemicals affects our water sources which in turn affects all living things that directly or idirectly depend on those water bodies.

I recommend this book to everbody especially friends of the environment,

It has really made me understand how indiscriminate use of chemicals affects our water sources which in turn affects all living things that directly or idirectly depend on those water bodies.

I recommend this book to everbody especially friends of the environment,

The information Rachel has collected and put together is enough to make everyone take a long hard look at the things we eat and the products we use everyday. The death and destruction we have caused to the natural world with the use and abuse of chemicals in the name of progress and in the blind pursuit of the almighty dollar is astounding. Even worse is what we are doing to ourselves in the process.

Anyone who believes the environment should be respected MUST read this book.

It's beautifully written in a very gentle style. The facts surrounding DDT contamination are clearly and carefully laid out, and the reader is allowed the freedom to draw personal conclusions.

Reading "Silent Spring" was an interesting experience: I was reminded several times that this single book changed the world by raising public awareness of chemical pollution. This new awareness in turn gave rise to the modern environmental movement. I grew up in the 60s; what people take for granted now was revolutionary then, and Rachel Carson was a key initiator of those changes.

This book is essential for anyone living on planet earth. Carson helped to pioneer the sustainability movement in America and help the Environmental Protection Agency (better known as the E.P.A.) get started. I had my sustainability class read this book this past semester and they enjoyed having their brains picked.

An older book, but still a great read!! Everyone should read it. It's amazing how everything still applies today and how Rachel Carson was so on the cutting edge when the book was written. I read it a couple time years and years ago, but let others borrow it and can't find it when I wanted to recently re-read it.

This 1962 classic was a major force in launching the US environmental movement. Inspired by the author’s view of life as deeply interconnected, Silent Spring deserves to be read or re-read today as we face the present effects of human-induced climate change and attempted roll-backs of the environmental protections this book helped initiate. The author, aquatic biologist Rachel Carson died from breast cancer only 18 months after the publication of Silent Spring; she expended her last life effort to raise the alarm in the American public of the destruction being wrought by arrogant policies that ignored our mutual interdependence.

Very eye opening! It crazy to think about all the poisons we add into our environment every day! Rachel Carson does an excellent job at describing the horrible things that mankind did to our world. Yes this was written in like the 1930s but its still relevant today, a lot of our wildlife is still affected by the DDT and everything else we pumped into our environment. A MUST READ!!!

Very informative, made me start thinking about all the chemicals I use in my life. Some chapters are a little long, but the way Carson writes makes it easy to read and understand. My only wish is that some informed author/scientist would write a follow-up piece about the progress, or lack thereof, that we've made since the book was published.

I actually bought a first edition hard-back version of this book.

Although Rachel Carson wrote this book over a half century ago, her words ring truer than ever.

She woke up America about the true hazards of pesticides. Unfortunately many have yet to learn or recognize the prophetic wisdom of her words.

Excellent read for the average reader to the environmentally conscious. Rachel Carson illuminates your mind as to cause and effect theory of life. This book truly highlight that our actions on the environment sometimes have an equally opposite reactions. A tremendous amount of discoveries which brought adverse conditions to light and formed the foundation for future environmental policies.

This is a classic of environmental science, and it is astonishing how applicable it still is today. Carson may have many critics, but this book is packed with case study evidence, and is mostly non-anecdotal. She also provides not only the problems, but her proposed solutions as well. In the world's current state of environmental sabotage, this is excellent reading to establish a foundation of environmental science's concerns.

This is another book that should be required reading for everyone. It is important not just because of it's role in bringing environmental concerns to the forefront of public consciousness, but for her story and background as well.

A nice review of the history of what our environment has seen. From my perspective,of course it's very dated but following the research over the years has validated her and our worst fears. A must reread. Cactus Ken

Still a classic. Although the events it describes (deadly effects of wisespread use of DDT, etc.) are now history, it serves as a reminder of the fragility of biotic systems in which we live and the importance of exercising caution and restraint in our attempts to "improve" them