Sophie Uliano

I am putting this one in the recycling bin, with a warning for those who may fish it out: this book contains inaccurate information, therefore I cannot in good conscience pass it on.

This is not to say it is all inaccurate. There is a lot of accurate information in there likely. However, once you find inaccurate information, you now have to verify every piece against other sources to see if this is the accurate or inaccurate information, which is just too much work when there are plenty of accurate books out there.

It is not a case of outdated research in the examples I found, but genuine mistakes. For example, Uliano explained the problem with the word "unscented" - how it means chemicals have been added to "take away" the scent, therefore it is full of even more chemicals - and applied it to "fragrance-free" despite that the terms are not interchangeable. In fact, the latter term means a fragrance has never touched the product, the very thing she searches for! This is ignorance from poor research and understanding of regulations regarding terminology.

And I can't believe she is dangerously repeating the asbestos in tampons urban legend. Why is there no disclaimer in the beginning of the book to save HarperCollins from erroneous advice?

This poor research is matched by poor editing. Of course, her editor did poorly with the writing style but what really stands out is mistakes that were missed at either the copy editing or, more likely, the proofreading level: while there were grammatical errors to debate, there were spelling errors, e.g. "bottlei", and missing spaces between words that cannot be debated as errors and could have been caught by the most basic of software spellchecks. It looks untouched by anyone at HarperCollins or even a competent agent. It takes away from the authority of being published by a major publishing house.

This is not to say there is not anything positive about the book. Uliano tries hard to make the topic approachable, palatable and digestible. At its best, the book is friendly; at its worse, it reads like a memoir of her shopping as she lists everywhere she shops for every topic (even her favourite item). It just gets old really quick. To boot, her choices do not ship to all areas, so it makes you question what is the point?

A lot of her links are dead (the book is quite old, it happens). In particular, her own site has died: "gorgeously green" now forwards to her personal site that does not have the same features listed in the book. It is time for the book to do what the sites have: die. That is why it gets my first 1 star and why, when I am normally so committed to passing on books - even if I hate them- recycling a book for the first time too.… (plus d'informations)

I am putting this one in the recycling bin, with a warning for those who may fish it out: this book contains inaccurate information, therefore I cannot in good conscience pass it on.

This is not to say it is all inaccurate. There is a lot of accurate information in there likely. However, once you find inaccurate information, you now have to verify every piece against other sources to see if this is the accurate or inaccurate information, which is just too much work when there are plenty of accurate books out there.

It is not a case of outdated research in the examples I found, but genuine mistakes. For example, Uliano explained the problem with the word "unscented" - how it means chemicals have been added to "take away" the scent, therefore it is full of even more chemicals - and applied it to "fragrance-free" despite that the terms are not interchangeable. In fact, the latter term means a fragrance has never touched the product, the very thing she searches for! This is ignorance from poor research and understanding of regulations regarding terminology.

And I can't believe she is dangerously repeating the asbestos in tampons urban legend. Why is there no disclaimer in the beginning of the book to save HarperCollins from erroneous advice?

This poor research is matched by poor editing. Of course, her editor did poorly with the writing style but what really stands out is mistakes that were missed at either the copy editing or, more likely, the proofreading level: while there were grammatical errors to debate, there were spelling errors, e.g. "bottlei", and missing spaces between words that cannot be debated as errors and could have been caught by the most basic of software spellchecks. It looks untouched by anyone at HarperCollins or even a competent agent. It takes away from the authority of being published by a major publishing house.

This is not to say there is not anything positive about the book. Uliano tries hard to make the topic approachable, palatable and digestible. At its best, the book is friendly; at its worse, it reads like a memoir of her shopping as she lists everywhere she shops for every topic (even her favourite item). It just gets old really quick. To boot, her choices do not ship to all areas, so it makes you question what is the point?

A lot of her links are dead (the book is quite old, it happens). In particular, her own site has died: "gorgeously green" now forwards to her personal site that does not have the same features listed in the book. It is time for the book to do what the sites have: die. That is why it gets my first 1 star and why, when I am normally so committed to passing on books - even if I hate them- recycling a book for the first time too.… (plus d'informations)

This would have scored higher except the "girls" comments started to wear on me. Environmental issues aren't gendered and a lot of the "us girls" stuff was actually heternormative (there are some women who don't follow cliche) and disempowering. It was also very amero-centric (the environment is a universal issue) and "further information available on my website if you use the special password".

I'm not part of this books demographic, and at the same time I am. It left me feeling annoyed and inadequate and not for my environmental lacks.… (plus d'informations)

This book is a little bit of everything - homemade skincare products, cleaning products, petcare products, even homemade paint (like the kind for painting a room in your home). There's a daily exercise plan and instructions for meditation, as well as simple sewing projects. Ms. Uliano makes the business of daily living seem like simple art, where a little bit of effort can result in a healthier and less expensive life. I became overwhelmed at the skincare recipes and all the various essential oils, but other ideas got me thinking about what I could incorporate into my life. A fun handbook for living.… (plus d'informations)