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A review by tangleroot_eli
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
slow-paced
I am too cynical for this book.
As I started, I kept skimming through sections and skipping ahead, wondering when the “scary parts” would start. I was almost halfway through before I realized: these are the scary parts.
When Silent Spring was published in 1962, complete environmental collapse probably sounded like dystopian fiction to most people. Carson’s page after page of horrific examples and statistics sounded an alarm sufficient to move laypeople and leaders alike to demand, and when possible make, change.
Now here I am in 2024. DDT use has been significantly curtailed worldwide, but environmental disasters Carson couldn’t’ve dreamed of threaten us every day. At most, this book made me feel a slight, melancholic hopelessness: yeah, we’re all doomed. Now what?
As I started, I kept skimming through sections and skipping ahead, wondering when the “scary parts” would start. I was almost halfway through before I realized: these are the scary parts.
When Silent Spring was published in 1962, complete environmental collapse probably sounded like dystopian fiction to most people. Carson’s page after page of horrific examples and statistics sounded an alarm sufficient to move laypeople and leaders alike to demand, and when possible make, change.
Now here I am in 2024. DDT use has been significantly curtailed worldwide, but environmental disasters Carson couldn’t’ve dreamed of threaten us every day. At most, this book made me feel a slight, melancholic hopelessness: yeah, we’re all doomed. Now what?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Terminal illness
Graphic: Environmental degradation