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Summary: No longer a classic, read the truth
Review: Read about the scourge of Malaria and people who could've been saved by DDT. A plague on the Africans from this book.
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Summary: Rachel Carson Drives Her Point Home
Review: Suppose an individual is in a time machine that is stopped during the period of the release of Carson's book "Silent Spring." The environment is headed in a downward spiral, and any voice that speaks out against new methods of chemically destroying pests is suppressed by the strength of the government and its scientists. But in this moment, Carson defies the odds and strikes against these giant foes by releasing her literary arsenal upon the scientists and their chemical pesticides. By using specific examples, overwhelming amounts of facts, and well thought out scenarios, "Silent Spring" powerfully assaults the use of chemical pesticides on farms in the world.
Carson, one who had her M.A. in zoology and was chief editor for all publications of the United States Fish and Wildlife Services, was the perfect individual to speak out against pesticides such as DDT in this "David and Goliath" match-up. Carson begins her book by playing out a scenario, one that could have occurred if the effects of DDT had not been exposed. By using vivid diction and a foreboding tone, Carson effectively portrays to her worldwide audience the horrifying effects that some chemical pesticides have on the environment. Carson then breaks the book down into sections that give specific examples of chemical pesticides harming nature, and then produces many facts and figures related to the use of these chemical pesticides. She also goes on to offer possible solutions to the problem, and gives possible outcomes in a manner that reflects Robert Frost's work "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." She explains that the road "less traveled by" is the one that consists of a pesticide free world, where nature can continue to grow and expand. She explains the well-beaten path as the one that may be easy at that time, but would eventually lead to death and destruction in the world. This very powerful comparison helps to strike fear into the hearts of people in the world, which helped to create an outcry against DDT and other harmful chemical pesticides.
This very inspirational work was one of the main reasons that harmful chemical pesticides such as DDT were removed from farms all around the world. Her work just may have saved the world from almost certain natural destruction. Individuals all around the world owe Rachel Carson a great debt for her efforts in writing this book. Thank you, Rachel Louise Carson.
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Summary: people dead from malaria
Review: People have died from malaria because of this book. DDT could've helped those in dire need.
Rating: 
Summary: Silent Spring Blew My Mind
Review: I found this book to be very, very informative. It brought up many points that alot of people have probably never even thought of. The concept of humans doing such unspeakable and irreversable things to our environment is a scary reality.
The way that Rachel Carson used real examples and incedents made me realize that these kind of things are real, and that no matter how much we ignore these problems, they will persist. Many of these issues could be easily resolved, or at least the results of our misconduct lessened, if we realized the severity of these actions and did a few simple things to reduce such misconduct.
As far as the actual writing was concerned, I was a little lost at first. Carson's language was written differently than I'm used to reading. However, as I read more of the book, I found it easier to understand what she was saying. The book had a good structure and I found it easy and very interesting to read once I understood.
The author must have conducted a vast amount of research before writing this book. There is an absolutely tremendous quantity of information in its pages.
If nothing else, you should read this just to learn about what is really going on out there. Its kind of scary to find out what we are getting ourselves into without even fully understanding the consequenses. Hopefully, we will realize what we are doing to our earth before it's to late. This book does an excellent job of making you realize that we are eventually going to regret what we have done, and what we continue to do. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the earth, conservationism and to anyone who wants to find out what kind of world their children will be living in.
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Summary: Silent Spring
Review: Overall, I thought the book was very informative. Even though it was extremely repetative. The book talked about pesticides and their effect on the environment. Pesticides seap into the earth's biogeological cycles and disrupt all life. Often the organisms intended to be eradicated are not the only ones harmed. Pesticides harm everything. The use of natural controls would be better because the cost less, are more effective, and are safe to human life. Unfortunately this book could have gotten its point across in half the chapters. Rachel Carson wrote this book a long time ago and it is amazing how much she changed the public's view on pesticides. Overall, pesticides are bad. I recomend this book to anyone interested in environmental science.
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Summary: It's good at scaring you, but states little real facts
Review: The book is very emotional and is an interesting read, I'll give it that. Carson is a good writer presents a compelling case, but it is supported by lies and half-truths. I'll mention a couple of them below...Carson wrote, "Dr. DeWitt's now classic experiments [on quail and pheasants] have now established the fact that exposure to DDT, even when doing no observable harm to the birds, may seriously affect reproduction. Quail into whose diet DDT was introduced throughout the breeding season survived and even produced normal numbers of fertile eggs. But few of the eggs hatched." But Dr. DeWitt's actual article yielded different conclusions. Quail that were fed DDT hatched 80% of their eggs, while the control group that wasn't fed DDT hatched 83.9% of their eggs. Hardly a significant difference. Carson also "conveniently" forgot to mention that DeWitt's control group of pheasants hatched only 57% of their eggs, while those fed DDT in high levels for an entire year hatched more than 80% of their eggs. Carson seemed to believe that DDT was responsible for declining bird populations. Yet somehow she forgot that the bald eagles were threatened with extinction in 1921, 25 years before widespread use with DDT. The peregrine falcon and brown pelican populations also declined significantly before widespread use of DDT. So don't blame DDT for that. Yet another thing she forgot was the millions of humans saved, with little real damage to the environment. DDT was only shown to be harmful in HUGE doses; i.e. doses that are many, many times higher than could possibly be encountered through normal usage. In summary, read this book if you like to be scared, but don't take it too seriously. It's kind of depressing that this piece of trash was taken as fact and started a movement, at the expense of millions of human lives due to insect-carried diseases. There are problems with the environment, sure, but DDT is not one of them. This book was written with an agenda, and it succeeded in that regard. So we have wonderful Rachel Carson to thank for many of our pest and disease problems we have today. Give her a round of applause.
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Summary: DDT Doesn't Taste Good
Review: Rachel Carson sent tremors through American society with the publication of her 1962 book "Silent Spring." Carson, a marine biologist who died two years after publication of the book, wrote "Silent Spring" when she received a letter from a concerned citizen lamenting the mass death of birds after a DDT spraying. Carson continues to serve as a touchstone for both mainline and radical environmental groups, from the Sierra Club to Earth First!. It is not difficult to see why; Carson's call for active involvement in our environment is still an absolute necessity today as the industrial system continues its rapid march across the landscape. If we do not want our children born with gills and fins, keeping Carson in mind is important. Carson's analysis of DDT and other synthetic chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides resulted in a deeply ominous conclusion-pesticides destroy the environment and threaten everything within the ecological system. Carson examined the composition of pesticides, revealing that synthetic pesticides have the ability to not only kill their intended targets, but they also move right up the food chain, eventually reaching the human population. The pesticides then build up in the tissues of the body, rarely breaking down but often building in intensity through continued exposure or changing into forms that are even more toxic by interacting with other ingested chemicals. Even worse, these chemicals cause tremors, paralysis, cancer, and a host of other unpleasant ailments. Carson cites numerous stories about exposed people falling ill and dying shortly after spraying these toxic chemicals. Carson also shows the biological process these poisons take when they enter the body, when they cut off oxygen to the cells and raise the metabolic rate to unhealthy levels. Carson proves these chemicals move on to succeeding generations of offspring through mother's milk and other biological processes. Most of the book deals with the effects of chemical spraying on wildlife in the environment. Separate chapters deal with birds, insects, fish, and plant life. Needless to say, the picture painted here is not pretty. Too often, spraying chemicals in the 1950's and 1960's brought into play the full ignorance of the human race. Carson's book shows how farmers applied pounds of poisons to their land, far exceeding the recommended application levels. Spray trucks moved through neighborhoods, hosing down the community with poison while the kiddies played outside in the yard. On several occasions, planes sprayed poison on cities. This reckless disregard for life in any form ruined landscapes, created mounds of animal corpses, and gave us tasty water that can melt your teeth. What is surprising about Carson's book is that people knew all about the effects of these poisons. "Silent Spring" made a difference because it puts it all together, showing how a series of localized incidents is, in fact, a national problem. Carson also wrote her book in a style where even the densest yokels in the herd could figure out the dangers of the problem. Since I am a science idiot, I appreciated Carson's clear articulation of the problem without sacrificing the hard data behind the examples. Carson delivers a stinging rebuke to our conception of mankind as the dominant force in the universe. If humanity truly rules the roost, so to speak, why are we such idiots about sustaining the very environment that feeds us? The ignorance of man in this book is astounding. Repeatedly, we destroy and destroy again even in the face of overwhelming evidence of the damage we are causing. Local governments kept spraying even when evidence showed it was a failure. Birds literally fell out of the sky while the trucks went out for another pass through the neighborhood. Dumb, dumb, dumb! "Silent Spring" concludes with a call for sanity. Carson's answer to the insane escalation of chemical spraying is to seek out biological control methods. Many insects have natural enemies that, if introduced into a problem area, will keep down pest populations. Even localized spraying will work better than mass, indiscriminate spraying. Carson argues that biological control methods are increasingly important because insects are building up resistance to pesticides, requiring the creation of even more virulent poisons in a never-ending cycle where nobody wins. "Silent Spring" is required reading for anyone concerned about the environment. Carson's book led to significant changes in environmental law (some would say not enough change) and resulted in the outright ban of DDT. My only problem with the book is the introduction written by Al Gore, as the publisher marketed the book with that fact in mind. Gore's name seems to merit equal billing with Carson's on the cover. One must remember Al Gore is a politician and is in league with the destroyers because he needs their money to run his expensive campaigns. Carson would be appalled.
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Summary: Useful but Boring Content
Review: This book will explain to you why and how pesticides affect the enviroment, you and your family. It opened my eyes on the importance of organic agriculture to my health. I read one of the reviews, and it pointed out that someone drank DDT and didn't get affected... Well, in the book, a scientist drank DDT, and died immediately. The negative affects of pesticides have been widely documented, and not just in this book. One big draw back of this book! It's excruciatingly boring. The bottom line:
this is a classic book;
if you don't believe in why organic is important, read the book;
if you believe that pesticide/chemical environment is bad for your health, read it if you want to know the scientific explanation.
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Summary: One of the most important books of our time.
Review: I recently re-read Silent Spring. I had read it years ago, around 1970.
I have an MS degree in Agriculture and in Ag we were swamped with input from the chemical companies. In Ag school the chem. companies sponser all the clubs, the crop science clubs, the dairy science clubs, the horticulture clubs, and so on. They buy the ribs for the barbeques, often the beer too. They wrap the new Ag students up tight.
But I was always interested in organic farming, organic gardening, sustainable agriculture, and I, unlike so many in Ag., was always interested in what Rachel Carson had to say.
What I found so interesting on re-reading this book many years later was that it was still so readable, so to the point, and most of all, that in all this time, so many of the things she warned us about back in the 60's, had not changed, were still here.
I am a horticulture writer (author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden,(Ten Speed Press) & other books) and I keep a large supply of important reference books on hand. Silent Spring is one of them.
To anyone who happens to read this review of mine, I want to say that if you haven't already read Silent Spring, read it. It will open your eyes. If you too, like me, read it a long time ago, try it again. You'll be surprised.
Rachel Carson was way ahead of her time. She was a true naturalist and a very excellent biologist, and actually all of her books are well worth reading and owning. I am reviewing this book now, simply because I want to encourage more people to read or re-read it. It is a classic, and what she found about man- made toxins in our environment, is as true today (unfortunately) as ever. A great book.
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Summary: Outmoded, outdated, obsolete.
Review: This "work" is out of sync for today's challenges. It should be retired from print in favor of the more active environmentalists who can make a case for Century 21!
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