it was interesting to read this both in an historical context, and to realize how much still needs to be done. but seeing where we were when this was written, and how brutal the effects were on the insects, birds, fish, etc, and how long it took them to do anything was honestly astounding (while also not being surprising at all). i can see why this was so necessary and world shifting/changing.

This book should be required reading in all high schools before graduating, if just to keep generations from repeating the same mistakes. I'm sure students would get more out of this reality book over any other required fictional story any day. It is definitely a classic, written in 1962, the author brought together all deadly and lethal facets of broad-spectrum chemical sprays on this earth, in regards to all living creatures, great and small. She’s very plain spoken and easy to follow and understand.

Unfortunately, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, didn’t live long enough to see just how important her book was going to be to the world, and to see it jump-start a social revolution against broad-spectrum spray programs, and against all insecticides and herbicides being used so haphazardly throughout the world. She died in 1964, at age 56, of breast cancer, just 1-1/2 years after this book was published. The front cover states: “The Classic that Launched the Environmental Movement”. Silent Spring was definitely the catalyst that created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 1970, to which the Department of Agriculture would rightfully pass over their so-called job of “pesticide oversight”, and the Food Safety Inspection Service would also be transferred to be regulated by the EPA. Read this book SLOWLY! You might want to purchase this as an eBook to highlight and mark it up with notes. Unfortunately, mine was a library book.

Although, hopefully, most of these earlier highly toxic insecticides and herbicides have since been banned, every word written still applies today because we have only moved onto more "new and improved"…different chemicals, still spraying the crap out of everything, if it doesn’t eat us first, and still trusting the word of the federal government that all pesticides are “safe”, if applied in small doses.

You will be astounded with the liberties our government has taken with the use of hazardous chemicals over the years. The number of times they have used broad-spectrum spraying techniques to try and eradicate an infestation of just a single insect at times all across America, only to have it completely fail. The chemicals would end up only killing the enemies of the pest, and not the pest, themselves, opening the door for them to multiply beyond imagination, doubling and tripling the damage that was being done before. And not to mention the total disregard to the devastation to the wildlife and fish across America. This will really get your attention! She includes an extensive list of quality sources used, 54 pages worth, at the back of the book, organized by chapter (p. 301-355).

I’m not sure where we are at today, but even before the 1960’s, scientists were already beginning to find out about and test more biological controls, using parasites that are the enemies of the pests. They absolutely worked in most areas tested. Chemicals provide a temporary comfort, but, as we see and hear about even today, we lose out to even more resistant strains of weeds or other insects that are now free to move in and devour, when previously they were held in check by the balance of nature's system. ( )

One of the most important books of the 20c. Because I had a science background, friends would ask me if it was real, and of course I said yes. It only seemed overwrought at the time because we as a society had not yet realized all the damage we were doing to our home. ( )

I'm writing about this book for one of my favorite websites. Stay tuned! ( )

I wish the book had lost all of its relevance and ended up on a dusty shelf somewhere, and people would look at it and say "Can you believe people used to live like that?" Unfortunately, that's not going to be the case. I found the part where regular citizens noticed that there were no birds singing on spring particularly disturbing. As I read, I googled various chemicals, insecticides, etc. and was shocked to see how many are still just as big a part of society now as then, in some cases worse. ( )