Silent Spring Book Review

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is a classical American book that helped push forward the spread of awareness about harmful chemicals we use on nature. Being a woman in the 1950’s, Carson wasn't taken very seriously, but she never lived to see the great impact her book had on the world in a positive way. She opens with a scenario that describes a perfect town that turns to the complete opposite simply because of the way it’s residents treated the surrounding nature. She proposes a question in hopes that her heavily researched book will answer: “what has already silenced the voices of spring in countless towns in America?” (Carson, 3). Throughout Silent Spring, Carson informs readers about the harmful chemicals we continue to spray all around our planet and how we must end our actions that can and will eventually ruin our home.

As a form of providing precise and helpful information about the topic, Silent Spring truly does an exceptional job. Carson put in great efforts in regards to her research that is used to teach us the harms we are committing to Earth and how unethical it is. According to a review by Melanie Steele, “Carson argues that science and ethics go together” (Steele). She continues on by saying that Carson helped in people considering where there food comes from, where their beauty products are tested, and much more. Carson started the movement that led to people to stop and take a second thought about the everyday things in their lives that are influenced by nature. And this was just the start to the influences Carson’s book had. Over the past 50 or so years, her words have sparked a concern in not only everyday people, but the government in hopes to make a difference in our ways of treating the Earth as the chemical, DDT has become banned in many different places throughout the world. This just comes to show the power held within Silent Spring and how her piece of literature really did ignite the urge to change our ways.

I personally did enjoy the book as a whole. It tended to get a little repetitive at times, but for the most part, I felt like Carson’s messages were powerful and inspirational due to her situation as a woman in the 50’s trying to be heard. I believe that anyone who continues to abuse the chemicals used on nature should read this book in order to understand the harm that can be done over time. I also think that anyone interested in the topic would very much enjoy Carson’s Silent Spring as a good read.