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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5571.Cradle_to_Cradle_Remaking_the_Way_We_Make_Things?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1165539278m/5571.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5571.Cradle_to_Cradle_Remaking_the_Way_We_Make_Things?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3776.William_McDonough">William McDonough</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13164232?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>What's so appealing about Cradle to Cradle is the sheer optimism and creativity that guides each of the pages. McDonough and Braungart talk about how reading should be 'fun,' not in the schoolmarm-educator way, but in the tactile experience of flipping pages, holding a book in your hands, reading it in the bathtub or on your beach towel...and that's exactly what they've done with this durable bound, waterproof and biodegradable creation. <br/> <br/>Such innovative design is the exact aspiration of the architect-cum-chemist team and their coined 'eco-effectiveness' paradigm shifting. Reduction, minimization, curbing, and avoiding are all acts of postponement under the 'eco-efficient' rubric, delaying the inevitable environmental, health, and social decay of products designed with no intention of sustainability. After all, virgin material was not constructed for recycling/downcycling and the processes employed and chemicals applied to turn those products into something reusable may be even worse than creating a brand new product. What they propose is a radical rethink in how we develop products - from cars to upholstery to shoes - such that 'waste becomes food' for a new product, or what they term 'upcycling.' <br/> <br/>This book is elegant in its simplicity and inspiring in its imaginativeness. While their selected examples of eco-effective design don't indicate that all of their suggestions are realistic or actionable (let alone economically feasible), what they do accomplish is encourage consumers and producers to think more critically about what we take from our ecosystems, what chemicals we expose to ourselves, and what legacy we will leave for our children. Is it a toxic one full of carcinogens and mutagens, or is it a healthy one in which products are designed for easy biodegradation and return to the environment? Obviously the choice is up to us. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/154132?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>