Rachel Carson did a massive amount of research to study the effects that pesticides like DDT had on the environment. Her chapters are filled with highly-documented scientific facts, but they also possess a poignant element which helped stir the nation into doing something about it in the late sixties-early seventies after the book's release.

Al Gore's introduction eloquently details the sentiments and actions that this book prompted and it compliments the text very well.

This book is high on my list of recommendations.


Talk about a waste of natural resources...   April 14, 1998
 11 out of 35 found this review helpful

I am sure that The Silent Spring is now only printed on recycled paper. Even so, it is one of the biggest wastes of a supposedly precious natural resource, paper. None of the claims she put forth in this book were really ever proven true, and the only thing that has come of it is an expansion in government at both the state and federal levels in this country and other countries as well. the Earth is not fragile; its "ecosystem" was created by God, and Ms. Carson, judging from this book, seemed to completely disregard this fact. The senseless fury ignited by this book (and carried on in our day by well-meaning and otherwise intelligent people) has been of tremendous hurt to both individual freedoms and to businesses both large and small (though the small businesses certainly take the bigger hit, and some businesses that would have thrived before this book was published can't even get off the ground). There is a watershed in Brookeville, Maryland-not far from my home- named after Ms. Carson. I shudder every time I pass by it, and I feel no desire to thank her for the fact that I can breath cleaner air or drink cleaner water than I would have five decades ago. The "cleanup" of the environment was due to technological advancements, and not to the strict regulations that have been piled up on businesses, communities and individuals over the last three decades. The best place for this book is---followers of Ms. Carson will hate this---the recycling bin.


An absolute classic   May 22, 1996
 3 out of 9 found this review helpful

Carson foretells the future in this book. Scientific theoryis introduced without being boorish or cumbersome.This is a book that can be appreciated on a lasy Sunday or as reading requirnment for an Environmental Science class. No person at all interested in the environment should miss this treasure!