Reviews for Silent Spring

The average rating for Silent Spring based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-08-30 00:00:00 Darren John Harvey-beswick A must read book for the concerned. Carson brings forth, without ever putting on alarmist garbs, all the horrors of the warfare that we have undertaken against ourselves. The book is of course outdated and most of the bigger concerns have been, if not addressed, at least taken seriously. But the true value of the book is in understanding how long a time frame has to elapse before such matters of truly catastrophic nature follows the process of scientific suspicion, investigation, verification, then the slow seepage into public consciousness, then the denialism and finally the first baby steps of public policy. Reading the book so many years after its intended audience we have to go beyond the book and apply the concern to the current issues that we face. It is not the facts or the issues that is important, it is the attitude that Carson endorses. With the potent weapons in our hands, can we still afford to be so lax in our reaction to life threatening dangers sneering in our face? Will nature be so forgiving next time around? As crude a weapon as the cave man's club, the incomplete human knowledge has been hurled against the fabric of life without any consideration of the risks which is beyond our current understanding or technology to calculate.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-06-13 00:00:00 Steve Chandler This is a classic. It has not lost its validity. It has an important global message still today, 54 years after publication. Everyone should read this at least once. This reads as a horror story, but it is true. -The scientific studies are numerous, clear and to the point. -The demise of habitats and living creatures are lyrically depicted. -The author expertly alternates between poetic expression and scientific accuracy. -Eloquent prose. That's the essential. Carson shows through carefully identified and quantified examples the inherent danger of pesticides, that they not only do not work and that they have serious side effects. She goes one step further and identifies better alternatives - biotic controls. Here is what I wish. I wish another author would follow up her analyses and describe how pesticides and herbicides are used today. Furthermore it would be interesting to know whether her suggestions concerning alternative methods have come to fruition. The audiobook narration by Kaiulani Lee was superb! Perfect speed, perfect intonation and performed with a poetic lilt when the lines so demanded. Beautifully and masterfully performed.