Rating: 
Summary: Compassionate logic
Review: The themes woven throughout this collection of personal perspectives on human living are passion, compassion, and extraordinary logic. Barbara Kingsolver plunges into her convictions convincingly with a style at once unabashed yet charmingly self-effacing. With every page turned, I felt as though she had somehow read my mind and heard my heart, having captured the essence of her own living so eloquently well that I was consistently left resonating with the truth of her words, and breathing deeply with fulfillment. Alternately in tears then laughter, I lost count of the number of passages that I mentally bookmarked to return to, again and again and again, for solace and wisdom and encouragement. Kingsolver does not shy away from the essential inseparability of living our human lives by immersing ourselves in the political, reminding us that democracy is a participatory lifestyle, and not a spectator sport. By the conclusion of "Knowing Our Place," I found myself wishing that Kingsolver would run for public office. By the conclusion of "And Our Flag Was Still There," she was in the presidential primary, 2004. Perhaps her intention was merely to share insight into her single human heart, and she has done so admirably. Yet Kingsolver's words cut to the quick of our common humanity and collective human soul, capturing the awesome spirit of the human animals we really ARE, as in "A Fist in the Eye of God." Consistently, she provides enlightenment on how to pass each moment with the intent of living with reverence for all life, and without capitulation to the knee-jerk, destructive, and mean-spirited frailties so common to our machismo-saturated culture. Her words are lessons that provide hope, inspiration, and resolve for a brighter world. What a splendid departure from the status quo cynical "leadership" we currently suffer! This book should not only be read, but taken to heart, by every single human citizen of this planet: it is a manual drawn from the experiences of learning about what really matters. In describing her own awkward turns and how they have moved her ever onward toward the light, Kingsolver provides a living example of the inseparability of conscience and consciousness, both in the human world and the natural one. I closed this book with great satisfaction, deeply grateful that these are words that truly speak of, and for, humanity.
Rating:
Summary: SMALL WONDERFUL
Review: I am a HUGE fan of Barbara Kingsolver! I enjoy reading her writing style, along with hearing her message. What good is an author without something to say? Whether an author is writing fiction or non-fiction, good authors & good books contain messages. Of course there are messages from the author to the readers in short essays. What's the point of writing if you have nothing to say? An author cannot worry about whether or not the reader is ready for messages presented. This is a beautifully written collection of short essays. These essays contain important messages that must be heard. Write on Barbara!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Ultra left wing socalist.....................
Review: I wish Barbara would stick to being an author, as I enjoy her novels. However, I made the mistake of listening to her collections of short stories/essays/propaganda and understood
more of her than I cared to. All authors (and their readers) would be better served if they stuck to their genre.
Barbara, please keep the political statements to the op/ed pages
of your favorite liberal newspaper................
Rating:
Summary: If I want sermons I'll go to church!
Review: As a lover of all Kingsolvers novels, short stories and other essays, I was fully prepared to love Small Wonder as well. Much to my dismay, I HATED it. I understand in essays people often give opinions, but BK is so excessively preachy on her pet subjects, (environmentalism,. etc) that I could not finish the collection. I felt like she was putting me down because I watch TV and carry a cell phone. Well excuse me! I have never read anything so nauseatingly self-righteous in my life. Thank goodness I got it from the library.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful!
Review: Barbara Kingsolver, a biology graduate and author, ends her first story in "Small Wonder" by writing, "I'd like to speak of small wonders and the possibility of taking heart."
Instead of having a dangerous nationalistic attitude by saying, "Hey, America's the best!" she shows her patriotism for her country by celebrating the good and shining light on the bad so that we as a country might heal.
With great insight and compassion Kingsolver gently helps us become more knowledgeable about our country's challenges and eloquently puts into words what many of us think and feel.
About conservation she says the U.S. citizen's compromise 5% of the world's people and uses a quarter of its fuel. The U.S. belongs to the 20% of the world's population that generates 75% of its pollution. Although we are the world's biggest contributors to global warming we walked away from ratifying the Kyoto agreement with the 178 other nations in 2001. Instead of eating local produce the average American's food travels 5 million miles by land, sea and air. Yet our country possesses the resources to bring solar technology, energy independence and sustainable living to our planet.
About the Government she says we live in the only rich country in the world that still tolerates poverty. In Japan, some European countries and Canada the state assumes the duty of providing all its citizens with good education, good health and shelter. These nations believe that homelessness simply isn't an option. The citizens pay higher taxes than the U.S. and so they have smaller homes, smaller cars, and appetites for consumer goods. They realize true peace is not the absence of tension but the presence of justice.
About wars she says, "The losers of all wars are largely the innocent." Seventy thousand people died in one minute when we bombed Japan in World War II. Then twice that many died slowly from the inside. "Vengeance does not subtract any numbers from the equation of murder, it only adds them." In the last 30 years our government has helped finance air assaults in Afghanistan, Chile, El Salvador, Grenada, Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Panama, the Sudan, Vietnam and Yugoslavia. Most wars and campaigns are to maintain our fossil-fuel dependency and our wasteful consumption of unnecessary things. We need to stop being a nation who solves problems by killing people and to "aspire to waste not and want less."
About global commerce she says we have a history of overtaking the autonomy and economy of small countries with our large corporations. For example, U.S. corporations and the World Trade Organization are placing pressure on farmers of other countries to buy genetically altered seeds that kill their own embryos. This means the farmers will always have to buy new seeds and pesticides from these companies. The pesticides and insecticides not only kill the unwanted bugs but also the beneficial insects and microbes that sustain, pollinate or cull different species. Kingsolver does not advocate the transfer of DNA genes between species to form genetically altered seeds. We need the checks and balances of genetic variability-it's nature's sole insurance policy. Without genetic variability entire crops are wiped out when environments change or crop strains succumb to disease. Our canceling the insurance policy of genetic variability is "a fist in the eye of God!" A few large American agricultural corporations control these genetically altered seeds and crops.
Kingsover's essays are parables for a gentler, kinder country and world.
Rating:
Summary: A book for everyone
Review: I learned more from Barbara Kingsolver's "Small Wonder" than I have
from any single book in a very long time, and think it ought to be
required reading in every high school, college, and university
classroom and, if life were just, top all the bestseller lists.
Kingsolver, a biologist whose scientific understanding of biology
is deep and passionate, makes available to us clear and compelling
answers to questions like, "Why is it worth worrying about genetic
engineering of crops?" and, "What does sustainable agriculture and
living mean, and why is it important to our survival as a species?"
I love Kingsolver's novels, even though I find them preachy at
times, but these essays combine persuasion and fine writing to
produce what I think is her best book yet.
Rating:
Summary: Rare Courage
Review: Today is September 11, 2002. Coincidence has it that last night I completed Small Wonder, which addresses our nation's profound sense of sorrow over what happened a year ago today. It matters not whether I agree or disagree with the stands that Ms. Kingsolver takes, but rather that she has reached me with her impassioned caring over issues that impact us all. In order to illustrate her points, she lets us in to her private world with deep and touching honesty. This takes guts. As I sit here today, struggling with bewilderment and bereavement over all that September 11th signifies, I am strengthened by the hand that Barbara Kingsolver, as a warrior and as a comrade, has extended out into this precious if treacherous world of ours.
Rating: 
Summary: Reflection or mirror-gazing? A lot of both.
Review: The themes of the book are truly important and the opinions expressed are compelling, but from the first chapter onward I found the writing to be marred by a preachy and self-congratulatory tone and a tendency for the author to inject herself intrusively into otherwise fascinating narratives. (Ms. Kingsolver occasionally seemed to recognize the preachiness, but only to deny it explicitly.) I would highly recommend this book for its content, but as the first example I've read of Ms. Kingsolver's writing, it leaves me with no desire for further acquaintance with her work.
Rating:
Summary: A thought-provoking collection of personal/political essays
Review: I am a long-time fan of all of Barbara Kingsolver's novels (The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, Animal Dreams, The Poisonwood Bible, Prodigal Summers), so I was interested to hear more about the person and the views behind the stories. Small Wonders did not disappoint. Kingsolver makes it clear that for her, the personal is political, meaning that the choices that we make as individuals have political impact. So, the essays are wide-ranging, from her family life and her garden, to her concerns about the natural environment and thoughts about the U.S.'s reaction to Sept. 11. The essays are well-written, interesting, and thought provoking. I found myself agreeing with most of the points that she makes, and many of her ideas linger afterward; for example, she asks us to consider the environmental costs of shipping food all over the world, instead of eating what is grown locally. Or what it means to have TV streaming into your home every day. Or what the consquences of genetically engineering food might be, not just for our health, but for the environment. I recommend the book highly to fans of her novels as well as to people interested in a thoughtful read. Some may disagree with her post-Sept. 11 analysis -- her concern about our country's agressive response. To those I would say, all the more reason to read the book, and hear her side of it, even if you ultimately disagree, exactly because voices such has hers have received little airplay. Here, her own words say it better than I could: "Questioning our government's actions does not violate the principles of liberty, equality, and freedom of speech; it exercises them, and by exercise we grow stronger. I have read enough of Thomas Jefferson to feel sure he would back me up on this. Our founding fathers, those vocal critics of imperalism, were among the first leaders to understand that to a democratic people, freedom of speech and belief are not just nice luxuries, they're as necessary as breathing. The authors of our Constituion knew, from experience with King George and company, tha governments don't remain benevolent to the interests of all, including their less powerful members, without constant vigilance and reasoned criticism. And so the founding fathers guarenteed the right of reasoned criticism in our citizenship contract--for always. No emergency shutdowns allowed. However desperate things may get, there are to be no historical moments when beliefs can be abridged, vegetarians required to praise meat, Christians forced to pray as Muslims, or vice versa. Angry critics have said to me in stressful periods, "Don't you understand it's wartime?" As if this were just such a moment of emergency shutdown. Yes, we all know it's wartime. It's easy to speak up for peace in peacetime--anybody can do that. Now is when it gets hard. But our flag is not just a logo for wars; it's the flag of American pacificists, too. It's the flag of all of us who love our country enough to do the hard work of living up to its highest ideals."
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Kingsolver has found her voice with this book. Her novels have been great to greatest but now she has come out from behind her desk and leveled with us. No more metaphors or analogies, story twists or hinden meanings. And what we see and hear is a sincere, caring, reasonable, articulate and intelligent human being. At least two of her essays, Saying Grace and Lily's Chickens, should be required reading for every literate person in the country or chipped in stone at the base of the monument that should be erected to her and placed on the mall facing the Capitol. This book could change the world. Shrill confrontration hasn't. Maybe the reasonableness of this beautiful wife, mother and citizen will reach into the corners of our hearts and inspire us to change. We can start by telling everyone about Small Wonder!
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