In 1962, a scientist named Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring detailing the hazardous environmental effects of pesticides and herbicides being used in the United States. She wrote with factual accuracy that urgently detailed the horrific implications of prolonged chemical use, and with beautiful prose that framed this work in her undeniable love of nature. And the kicker is that people actually listened to her. Reading this book in 2019, it seems sadly nostalgic to look back at a time when the general public actually gave credence to the work of researchers and scientific fact. Wacky.

Rachel Carson undeniably succeeds in reporting objectively unromantic evidence (scary stuff really), with an execution conveying a soft aesthetic style rarely seen with popular science authors. She expresses beautiful sentiments such as, “in nature nothing exists alone,” (51) that will appeal to anyone’s inner hippie. Then in the same paragraph, she will also account how arsenic leached in the soil and water will have detrimental effects the public’s health for generations to come (aka: cancer). All things are connected, which is both beautiful and horrifying when you think about it, and Rachel Carson will really make you think about it.

Overall, this book is pretty great, I definitely recommend it.