Rating: 
Summary: At Once, Horrifying and Inspiring
Review: I do believe these two gentlemen have articulated in 200 pages what many of us feel everyday, but are unable to communicate. I see Cradle to Cradle as their initial wake-up call to the human race, one that should inspire us to re-examine our ways of life and ways of thinking. These reviewers that like to hear themselves talk and complain how Bill and Michael have not formulated any actionable solutions should be ashamed. The vision set forth in this book is one of positivity and I don't think anyone should expect the book to solve the world's problems. Please read this book and use it to spark creativity and motivation towards what we need in this world, re-evaluation.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Premise - Problematic binding
Review: I would like to pick this book up into 2 sections:
1. Content
2. Binding as it relates to #1 1. Content
This book is an excellent "manifesto" about re-use, and defining it as "real" re-use -- meaning the material stays as close to its highest possible use as long as possible. It seems the terms "Reduce, reuse and recycle" have stuck in the authors' craw - since as they point out, most reuse and recycling involves taking 2L soda pop bottles and changing them into mattress fill essentially delaying the inevitable landfill destination, but not preventing it (they call this "downcycling"). And "reducing" brings us to the Carter 1970's where conservation involved great personal sacrifice to which modern eco-movement says "balderdash." These folks most certainly are in that new Ecology camp. (The new branch of the Ecological movement claims proper conservation and efficient use of resources makes living *better* than before, since the movement has shown that efficient use of resources is the key to living well, and in fact *better* than before in terms of personal comfort, more profits for companies, etc.) The authors contend in well written words, that paying serious attention to same-level reuse during a manufacturing process can help to eliminate waste later. This brings us to the second part of this review -- the binding. 2. The binding The binding is a durabook -- esentially a plastic book with a waterproof binding. The authors and publisher claim that the book is 100% waterproof, and others have claimed to have put it through a wash cycle with no ill effects. At $25 retail, $17.50 Amazon, I am not likely to try this, but it is "cool." Additionally, the authors claim infinite recyclability of the binding and pages into other books - giving great weight to their thesis, but can also bring up some issues. Issue 1: You can't compost their book. The authors are likely to point out, that their point was not FLEXIBILITY of use, just that this book can and should be disassembled to make other books, and they are quick to point out that it is not made of trees. I hope they are correct, since this book won't decompose if I lose it in the forest or on the beach - and if I throw it away mistakenly, will sit in a landfill with all those other non decomposible wastes. Paper, while not part of their thesis, does not have to be made of wood pulp - there is a lot of agricultural waste that could be made into paper for books such as this one that would be an example of "upcycling" - and last time I checked, paper could be reused several generations, then decomposed back into the life cycle -- the ultimate in upcycling, I think. Issue 2: The inks. I tried to look into the "durabook" on the web - and found nothing much about the ink. Durabook aside, printing on plastic involves inks that tend to be rather toxic. If the Durabook is no exception, the authors may have illustared how difficult it may be to achieve painless, true, same-level recycling, since somehow the inks would have to be removed from the pages and the toxicity neutralized before reprinting or reforming a page (some sort of plastic friendly soy ink might be good to use?). Current paper recycling has to deal with this issue and generates a lot of toxic sludge per year unless the paper uses soy inks, which naturally decompose and are not toxic. Summary: While the thesis is interesting, the binding tells the real story of how far we've gotten in the new definition of recycling. Thinking about the uses beyond the immediate was shown by the authors to be important, but their choice of binding shows that there needs to be a great attention to detail and rigor to avoid unintended consequences. 5/5 for their thesis, 3/5 for the binding, 4/5 overall!
Rating:
Summary: environment vs economic arguments: obsolete
Review: I would like us to prepare our minds to begin working together to rebuild our world. This is the magnitude of Cradle to Cradle and eco-effectiveness.
The era of environmentalists verus business is under attack because there is a far better way to love the trees and make more money. Humans becoming tools of Nature is the answer to the how question.
I am very excited to begin engaging in full-scale peace instead of waging war on the children of the Earth, which we have been doing since the Industrial Revolution.
It is time to show this strategy of hope to the world. It is time for universities to shift from studying problems and more problems to studying directions towards systemic solutions.
It is time to wake up and give your heart a warm hug.
http://wesley.stanford.edu/Multimedia/lectures/mcdonough.ram
Check out this intellectual thriller of the 21st Century if you are interested in the future. It is to be studied, critized and implemented.
Study Cradle to Cradle. Cheers to you:)
Rating:
Summary: This Book is Not a Tree
Review: It doesn't look like a tree, it doesn't smell like a tree, it doesn't feel like a tree, nor does it taste like a tree (believe me). The book is not a tree. Instead of being made from wood pulp or cotton fiber, it is composed of plastic resins and inorganic fills, so that we don't have to cut down our precious and dwindling forests to produce "so humble and transient a substance as paper." Nor is this waterproof (yes, waterproof) "durabook" composed of any hazardous materials, unlike the computer we both use/d to interface right here and now. It is a prototype of a "technical nutrient" book, meaning it can be broken down and "circulated infinitely in industrial cycles--made and remade as 'paper' and other products." Many products are not so environmentally friendly or healthy as this book, though. The chair you plopped down in to read this probably contain "mutagenic materials [what are those?], heavy metals, dangerous chemicals, and dyes that are often labeled hazardous by regulators--except when they are presented and sold" to you. And your computer? It contains "a thousand of different materials, including toxic gases, toxic metals (such as cadmium, lead and mercury), acids, plastics, chlorinated and brominted substances," and many other additives. As the authors ask, is the way we make and package things sensible? Is it even necessary? What were the designers at the toy company thinking when they constructed your baby's plastic rattle--the one she's got in her mouth right now--out of PVC plastic, which contains "phthalates, known to cause liver cancer in animals (and suspected to cause endocrine disruption), along with toxic dyes, lubricants, antioxidants, and ultraviolet stabilizers"? Could they have been thinking about anything other than the bottom line? It's doubtful. But according to these authors, commerce is about to experience a new day, a way of making things that transcends old Industrial Revolution modes of extraction, manufacture, and disposal that are so harmful for the planet. With this book, they envision a "New Industrial Revolution," where waste becomes "food," consumption okay, and commerce is as natural and cyclic as the growth process of a sequoia tree. You might find a few patchy spots and loopy reasoning by the time you've finished the book, but its lucid vision of the future is awe-inspiring. And unlike Marxian revolutionaries, the authors of this book do not propose that we use whatever means are necessary to reach our ideological end-goal. The book itself is living proof of the fact that commercial ends must not be sacrificed to the means employed getting there. All in all, a fine book--a book you will want to see, smell and touch. Indeed, if you are like me you might even want to play with it: marking it with different types of pens and pencils, floating it in the bathtub, boiling it, or trying to burn it (not a good idea). It's a good read, and good fun for cavemen.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Ideas Book
Review: Let's be clear: this book is about ideas. It's not a "how to" manual. It's not a recipe book. It's about promoting the idea of designing things that "work" over their entire life cycle. Which includes the time they spend, for example, in landfill leaching toxins into the earth. It's about how many commonly used household products carry all sorts of chemical legacies of their "short cut" design processes. When spending more time in the design process could result in big savings at the factory, at the furniture superstore, and in the amount of toxins off-gassed into your home or into the environment. And it's about redesigning industrial processes inside large and small organisations to both save a LOT of money, and achieve the goal of "whole life cycle" safety and excellence. And so, in explaining these concepts, there is little space for pages and pages of graphs and chemical formulas. It's a concept book - not an industrial chemistry manual. It seems like there are three kinds of people who will read this book:
1) People who know nothing about the topic. Folk like this will be blown away by the possibility this book represents and will ask "WHY!?" the kinds of things outlined in the book aren't done as routine.
2) Industrial Chemists/Scientists. Folk like this will probably say "Yes! At last this stuff is getting publicised!" These people won't need the pages of formulas other reviewers have criticised the book for not having, they will know that stuff already.
3) Pseudo-Intellectuals. These people will likely criticise the book for not having the formulas and graphs they couldn't understand if it did. If you want ideas, buy this book. If you want a chemistry textbook, buy one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Ideas Book
Review: Let's be clear: this book is about ideas. It's not a "how to" manual. It's not a recipe book. It's about promoting the idea of designing things that "work" over their entire life cycle. Which includes the time they spend, for example, in landfill leaching toxins into the earth. It's about how many commonly used household products carry all sorts of chemical legacies of their "short cut" design processes. When spending more time in the design process could result in big savings at the factory, at the furniture superstore, and in the amount of toxins off-gassed into your home or into the environment. And it's about redesigning industrial processes inside large and small organisations to both save a LOT of money, and achieve the goal of "whole life cycle" safety and excellence. And so, in explaining these concepts, there is little space for pages and pages of graphs and chemical formulas. It's a concept book - not an industrial chemistry manual. It seems like there are three kinds of people who will read this book:
1) People who know nothing about the topic. Folk like this will be blown away by the possibility this book represents and will ask "WHY!?" the kinds of things outlined in the book aren't done as routine.
2) Industrial Chemists/Scientists. Folk like this will probably say "Yes! At last this stuff is getting publicised!" These people won't need the pages of formulas other reviewers have criticised the book for not having, they will know that stuff already.
3) Pseudo-Intellectuals. These people will likely criticise the book for not having the formulas and graphs they couldn't understand if it did. If you want ideas, buy this book. If you want a chemistry textbook, buy one.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking...not without shortcomings
Review: McDonough & Braungart are obviously very talented guys. This book is harshly honest as they don't spare the rod in respect to either full-out industrial capitalists or eco-efficiency proponents. However, I had three issues with this book: 1) It could have been a lot more throught-provoking if the authors had organized the book better. Seriously, it takes 80 or so pages before you get a handle on the author's true point of view. They spend every single word until that point debunking all other approaches in the field. I wish they had interspersed it with their ideas. But they keep their hand hidden until that point. I found it frustrating. 2) There's a big deal made of the book itself, and its 'upcycle potential.' All well and good, but can I point out a rather annoying side-effect? This is a difficult book to read...I mean from an ergonomic perspective. You just can't keep the thing open. And as far as reading it on a bookholder when you're working out: forget it. It will not lie flat. I realize this is an insipid criticism, but this technology is not yet ready for prime-time, in my opinion. 3) The book needs to be more quantitative. Only in the last chapter do we get any hint of realism, when the authors tell you about their work with Ford's River Rouge plant. Up until that point, there were some hints dropped here and there, most notably about the Herman Miller office the duo built. I'm sure they've got reams of quantitative evidence to support their theories. For some reason, they made a decision not to present it, and I think it hurts the book. Still, depsite these comments, I think 'Cradle to Cradle' is worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking...not without shortcomings
Review: McDonough & Braungart are obviously very talented guys. This book is harshly honest as they don't spare the rod in respect to either full-out industrial capitalists or eco-efficiency proponents. However, I had three issues with this book: 1) It could have been a lot more throught-provoking if the authors had organized the book better. Seriously, it takes 80 or so pages before you get a handle on the author's true point of view. They spend every single word until that point debunking all other approaches in the field. I wish they had interspersed it with their ideas. But they keep their hand hidden until that point. I found it frustrating. 2) There's a big deal made of the book itself, and its 'upcycle potential.' All well and good, but can I point out a rather annoying side-effect? This is a difficult book to read...I mean from an ergonomic perspective. You just can't keep the thing open. And as far as reading it on a bookholder when you're working out: forget it. It will not lie flat. I realize this is an insipid criticism, but this technology is not yet ready for prime-time, in my opinion. 3) The book needs to be more quantitative. Only in the last chapter do we get any hint of realism, when the authors tell you about their work with Ford's River Rouge plant. Up until that point, there were some hints dropped here and there, most notably about the Herman Miller office the duo built. I'm sure they've got reams of quantitative evidence to support their theories. For some reason, they made a decision not to present it, and I think it hurts the book. Still, depsite these comments, I think 'Cradle to Cradle' is worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking...not without shortcomings
Review: McDonough & Braungart are obviously very talented guys. This book is harshly honest as they don't spare the rod in respect to either full-out industrial capitalists or eco-efficiency proponents. However, I had three issues with this book: 1) It could have been a lot more throught-provoking if the authors had organized the book better. Seriously, it takes 80 or so pages before you get a handle on the author's true point of view. They spend every single word until that point debunking all other approaches in the field. I wish they had interspersed it with their ideas. But they keep their hand hidden until that point. I found it frustrating. 2) There's a big deal made of the book itself, and its 'upcycle potential.' All well and good, but can I point out a rather annoying side-effect? This is a difficult book to read...I mean from an ergonomic perspective. You just can't keep the thing open. And as far as reading it on a bookholder when you're working out: forget it. It will not lie flat. I realize this is an insipid criticism, but this technology is not yet ready for prime-time, in my opinion. 3) The book needs to be more quantitative. Only in the last chapter do we get any hint of realism, when the authors tell you about their work with Ford's River Rouge plant. Up until that point, there were some hints dropped here and there, most notably about the Herman Miller office the duo built. I'm sure they've got reams of quantitative evidence to support their theories. For some reason, they made a decision not to present it, and I think it hurts the book. Still, depsite these comments, I think 'Cradle to Cradle' is worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: The proof is in your hands
Review: Proof that our technologically advanced, high-consumption industrial system can make environmentally sound and sustainable products. We can manufacture a whole range of goods that are ecologically efficient in that they reduce waste and yet are less expensive to make than traditionally manufactured items. Pick up CRADLE TO CRADLE and the proof is right there in your hands. "This book is not a tree" the authors tell us. Its slightly heavier than your average paperback, the pages are whiter and they're also waterproof (I took the authors word on that one and am happy to say I was able to read on). The pages are made from plastic resins and fillers and in keeping with the message of "eliminating waste", the book is 100% recyclable. McDonough and Braungart's vision of "Remaking the Way We Make Things" goes way beyond books. Why not buildings that produce more energy than they consume? Or "green" roofs that give off oxygen while cooling the occupants? How about factories that produce drinkable effluent? or products that when their useful life is over can be used as nutrients for soil? What sounds like science fiction is convincingly shown to be quite feasible by the authors. They offer numerous examples to prove it. "We see a world of abundance, not limits" they say. As an architect (McDonough) and chemist (Braungart) they don't have any special qualifications for this re-thinking and re-doing. What they simply have done is re-imagine the whole manufacturing process beginning with the design elements. Sometimes it's simply a matter of asking the right questions and looking at things differently. They are not talking about smaller-scale industry or limiting themselves to the "four R's" of traditional environmentalism - reuse, recycle, reduce, and regulate. With their intelligent designs, "bigger and better" is possible "in a way that replenishes, restores, and nourishes the rest of the world." McDonough and Braungart cover topics such as the history of the industrial revolution, new business strategies that emphasize eco-efficiency, the relationship between man, nature, and science, and the importance of design and planning. Hopeful, well written, thoroughly researched, and packed with practical examples, this refreshing book offers an alternative to our current industrial system that "takes, makes and wastes". We have the talent, technology, and with the enthusiasm of these authors, we have the capability to achieve economic and ecological sustainability.
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