Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (The Manifesto Series)

Alright! So my next book is a mini novel I had to read for my APES (Advanced Placement Environmental Science super exciting right?) awareness hours. My awareness hours involve learning more about the environment through classes, lectures and other environmental experiences. I understand why we have to do it, but it does seem to take up a lot of my time however, I did get to read an interesting book which is part of Manifesto's Words that Changed the World series. So here is my review of Manifesto's Words that Changed the World, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

Characters: Again, like the previous book I reviewed, this book isn't much of a narrative so it has no real "characters".

The Plot: Not many people had ever heard of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. At least not in today's world. But forty years ago in the 1960's and 1970's Rachel Carson was changing the way the world looked at the environment. Starting from Rachel Carson as a child and following her life as she was thrust onto a national stage, this book follows Rachel Carson on her amazing journey to save the world. It offers a personal and chilling glance into Carson's life as she furiously combats the DDT companies while battling her own demons, namely a cancer that would plague her for the last years of her life. This book not only exposes the tactics the companies used to try to keep the American public in the dark, it brings to light the journey all of us must take in some form or another to push away the ignorance and see what is really before our eyes.

What I liked: I have to admit, this Manifesto series is pretty awesome. My word choice is astounding right? Such a high intellectual capacity being displayed by yours truly. I'll be the first to admit while it is not the most beautiful of phrases, it works well enough. What other series takes books that have changed the very fabric of society and gives them to us in a form that can give the average reader a taste of what these books did to change society. While it is probably because I love books so much that this book appealed to me in the first place, any book that looks at literature critically and examines its effect on society is automatically a winner in my eyes. And Rachel Carson's Silent Spring Manifesto special was no exception. It was very well written, as opposed to An Inconvenient Truth, and also offered up hard details. This book was not catered to the masses, rather it catered to a select group. This is a group that would actually pick up this book in the first place - a more intellectual group that was looking for that kind of knowledge in the already. This is different from An Inconvenient Truth because it catered to the masses and as a result fell short because the masses didn't want to read the book and could not relate to it. Manifesto's book did not leave us disappointed. What I loved was the fact that Rachel Carson was the hero. Obviously she was because she actually wrote the book, but for me anytime I see a woman changing the world completely, it is something to be happy about. Rachel Carson completely changed the world of environmental science while battling against death threats and breast cancer, and that makes me feel like anything in the world is possible and that is truly magical. Also, I really liked the format of the book. The authors started out with a basic introduction into Carson's life which really gave you a basic understanding of who she was and how she became the person she was. For me, this is essential in any good book. You can ask my family anytime I read or watch TV, I always want to know the background. It gives life to the book and creates a realism that nothing else can. It drops you right into the characters world and makes you believe as if they are a close family friend and you are watching the characters like you have always known them. Then the book jumps into Carson's journey to writing the book and then the effect Carson had on the world. This kind of format paints you a complete picture that doesn't leave out any information and yet leaves you wanting to know more at the same time.

What I didn't like: Rachel Carson died at the end. A part of me was crushed inside. But like almost all great leaders, few see the fruits of their labor accomplish the goals they were set out to achieve. Perhaps that is the curse of greatness.

Overall: 10 out of 10. This book showed us a world that is not unlike our own, and the parallels that were drawn between our situation and the problems of Rachel Carson's world cannot be missed even on the most absentminded of readers. I am extremely interested in reading more of the Manifesto series and congratulate the authors on a job well done on a fantastic book.