Silent Spring Evaluation

              Silent Spring: A Tough But Necessary Read

A well-known classic by many’s standards, Silent Spring, is an environmentalist book authored by Rachel Carson, and a closer look at the reality of pesticide use in America in the 1950s and 60s. She takes her magnifying glass and highlights the glaring truth that was too often buried away from the public, or turned a blind eye towards in favor of ignoring the issue. Throughout the chapters, Carson thoroughly details hundreds of cases of pesticide use harming local ecosystems of where it was applied, how it affects humans, and how ironically useless its affect on its targeted insect generally was. Towards the end, of the work, however, she does focus on the light at the end of the tunnel, and provide a whole multitude of alternative ideas that have shown to be effective in the control of certain “pest” species.

One thing I did find enjoyable about the book was its blunt and tell-all nature, there was no sugar-coating of things. As precisely worded in a review of the book by Rob Koch on unalionsden.com,

The tone of Carson’s text is somewhat dark, but human degradation of planet earth is never a light topic. The topic is difficult to discuss, and certain selections of this book can bring about feelings of guilt and remorse while reading. However, this is sometimes necessary to help society realize the necessity of sustainability.

This take on the book is completely true, as the subject is not one to be taken lightly, but gives the subject the serious tone it warrants. Furthermore, as stated previously, the book is filled with thorough, detailed examples and explanations as to why things are the way they are, and I personally find that this is both a pro and a con. While this does show the countless hours of careful research that went into everything, it can definitely be overwhelming. To read pages and pages of it is relatively mind-numbing, and I often found myself resorting to skim reading more and more until a new point was made. This was also a large factor when I came upon chapters of strictly sciencey-jargon. These things aren’t necessarily bad, but as someone who doesn’t go out of their way to scientific thesis papers, it was a bit daunting.

A suitable audience for Silent Spring isn’t one that could just come upon the book by chance, not everyone who would pull the book out from a library shelf would understand the magnitude of the text. The book can be relatively dry, full of information, scientific anecdotes, and data that can be taxing to plow through as an average reader. The best reception would be from an older and more crowd with a background in a scientific field, as the book can rely very heavily on that sometimes. It is, however, a classic and ground-breaking work that changed a lot of practices in the past and touches on facts that influence every person’s life. Due to this, it should be put on a list of must-reads, even if it does mean skipping some of the more science heavy chapters and skim reading some passages.

The concept Carson illustrates the entirety of the book about humans creating deadly weapons, and how, “in turning them against the insects it has also turned them against the earth” (297), is one we must all realize. All too often, our attempts to selfishly eradicate a bug that irritates us are ill thought-out, and actions taken against the creature are harmful and rarely work in the way intended. There’s no doubt that after reading Silent Spring, one will actually consider the possible outcomes of their actions, and heed some of the warnings laid out by Carson.

Works Cited

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. First Mariner Books, 2002.

Koch, Rob. “Review: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.” Journal of Sustainability Studies, University of North Alabama, 1 June 2016, www.unalionsden.com/jnlsustainability/2016/06/johnson-review-carson/.