Silent Spring Book Evaluation

The creator of the novel that changed history is proudly named Rachel Carson. Her influential and non refutable collection of data and arguments started a movement in her generation, and to this day still impacts its readers. Despite its publication being slightly outdated compared to modern reads, the dense amount of knowledge one can absorb from her thoughtful words are sure to change just about any reader's perspective about our Earth and how we go about treating it. According to Blue & Green Tomorrow “Carson successfully demonstrates the fragility of the biodiversity on the planet and emphasizes how chemical use can have large repercussions.” What this is saying is, throughout the novel Carson dedicated chapters to specific species linked to pesticide and chemical use and supplies the reader with vast amounts of collected data to support her claims. Upon her many other novels this nonfiction collection of sources was by far the most influential because of her dedication and display of knowledge evenly distributed throughout the books pages.

Carson discusses the catastrophic losses many species faced and the simply baffling amount of chemicals that were dropped through that decade. In her novel Carson mentions how even as people became aware of the repercussions due to chemical spraying it continued. If nothing else spraying was increased in volume and toxicity while species suffered and chemical companies profited profusely. Although some chapters face gruesome amounts of illnesses, impairments and loss they are nothing to simply skip over. Rachel wrote these chapters with a purpose; and that is to educate the readers and warn them to what chemical companies were keeping stowed away from public knowledge.

However not everything was so black and white. Rachel herself was not only fighting a battle for all living creatures, she was also fighting a more personal and fatal battle herself. Rachel Carson shortly after publishing her book in 1962 succumbed to cancer. This is truly heartbreaking because her hard work sculptured a path to a brighter future that involved alternative; and more environmentally friendly pest control options. While writing the novel she faced several complications and setbacks however that didn't stop her from achieving her goal.  

Silent Spring  is a hit home novel that I highly recommend to any adult. This read is engaging and highly factual. It will definitely provide you with an at the table dinner topic, but also a new sense of appreciation for nature and its beauty. Go grab a copy of Silent Spring, because you have the power to control the world you live in.

Works Cited

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. N.p.: Penguin , in Association with Hamish Hamilton, 2015. Print.

Tomorrow, Blue & Green. "Book Review: Silent Spring – Rachel Carson (1962)." Blue and Green Tomorrow. N.p., 18 Oct. 2013. Web.