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Silent Spring
An alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780618249060 can be found here
Silent Spring is an environmental science book. The book documents the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting the industry's marketing claims unquestioningly.
The book appeared in September 1962 and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement.
Silent Spring is an environmental science book. The book documents the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting the industry's marketing claims unquestioningly.
The book appeared in September 1962 and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement.
378 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 1962
About the author
Rachel Carson
59 books1,965 followersRachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.
Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.
Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides, and it inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A variety of groups ranging from government institutions to environmental and conservation organizations to scholarly societies have celebrated Carson's life and work since her death. Perhaps most significantly, on June 9, 1980, Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. A 17¢ Great Americans series postage stamp was issued in her honor the following year; several other countries have since issued Carson postage as well.
Carson's birthplace and childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania — now known as the Rachel Carson Homestead—became a National Register of Historic Places site, and the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead Association was created in 1975 to manage it. Her home in Colesville, Maryland where she wrote Silent Spring was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991. Near Pittsburgh, a 35.7 miles (57 km) hiking trail, maintained by the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, was dedicated to Carson in 1975. A Pittsburgh bridge was also renamed in Carson's honor as the Rachel Carson Bridge. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State Office Building in Harrisburg is named in her honor. Elementary schools in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, Sammamish, Washington and San Jose, California were named in her honor, as were middle schools in Beaverton, Oregon and Herndon, Virginia (Rachel Carson Middle School), and a high school in Brooklyn, New York.
Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (3 km2) near Brookeville in Montgomery County, Maryland were acquired and set aside as the Rachel Carson Conservation Park, administered by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In 1969, the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge became the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; expansions will bring the size of the refuge to about 9,125 acres (37 km2). In 1985, North Carolina renamed one of its estuarine reserves in honor of Carson, in Beaufort.
Carson is also a frequent namesake for prizes awarded by philanthropic, educational and scholarly institutions. The Rachel Carson Prize, founded in Stavanger, Norway in 1991, is awarded to women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental protection. The American Society for Environmental History has awarded the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation since 1993. Since 1998, the Society for Social Studies of Science has awarded an annual Rachel Carson Book Prize for "a book length work of social or political relevance in the area of science and technology studies."
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_C...
Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.
Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides, and it inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A variety of groups ranging from government institutions to environmental and conservation organizations to scholarly societies have celebrated Carson's life and work since her death. Perhaps most significantly, on June 9, 1980, Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. A 17¢ Great Americans series postage stamp was issued in her honor the following year; several other countries have since issued Carson postage as well.
Carson's birthplace and childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania — now known as the Rachel Carson Homestead—became a National Register of Historic Places site, and the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead Association was created in 1975 to manage it. Her home in Colesville, Maryland where she wrote Silent Spring was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991. Near Pittsburgh, a 35.7 miles (57 km) hiking trail, maintained by the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, was dedicated to Carson in 1975. A Pittsburgh bridge was also renamed in Carson's honor as the Rachel Carson Bridge. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State Office Building in Harrisburg is named in her honor. Elementary schools in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, Sammamish, Washington and San Jose, California were named in her honor, as were middle schools in Beaverton, Oregon and Herndon, Virginia (Rachel Carson Middle School), and a high school in Brooklyn, New York.
Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (3 km2) near Brookeville in Montgomery County, Maryland were acquired and set aside as the Rachel Carson Conservation Park, administered by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In 1969, the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge became the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; expansions will bring the size of the refuge to about 9,125 acres (37 km2). In 1985, North Carolina renamed one of its estuarine reserves in honor of Carson, in Beaufort.
Carson is also a frequent namesake for prizes awarded by philanthropic, educational and scholarly institutions. The Rachel Carson Prize, founded in Stavanger, Norway in 1991, is awarded to women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental protection. The American Society for Environmental History has awarded the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation since 1993. Since 1998, the Society for Social Studies of Science has awarded an annual Rachel Carson Book Prize for "a book length work of social or political relevance in the area of science and technology studies."
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_C...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 13, 2026
Rachel Carson respòn, sota certs requeriments, a l'eterna pregunta de per què escriure –o al desig d'escriure un llibre que esdevingui màquina de guerra. Què atorga a un llibre un poder pragmàtic sobre el món? En un moment històric on el desig de revolució i les seves demandes és continuament minat per un nou apropament filosòfic que fa de petits actes inocus actes revolucionaris, Carson aporta una alternativa autènticament revolucionària al somni violent de la revolució armada. Carson parla en nom d'una geoclasse que encara no havia estat expressada –Latour–, però que existeix des de fa segles. Podem afirmar que Silent Spring és el paral•lel ecològic d'El Capital de Marx, en la seva dimensió discursiva científica de denúncia; el que trobem a faltar és un paral•lel ecològic al Manifest comunista que, per contra, podem inferir d'aquesta obra –com la crida a la classe obrera s'infereix de l'obra analítica marxiana.
En definitiva, si bé aquest llibre és -per què no dir-ho?- en moltes fases tediós, gaudeix també d'una intensitat i d'una força disruptiva de l'ordre, un ordre no sols capitalista sinó també irracional, en tant que fa de l'ecologia un saber minoritari mentre traça el camí cap a la seva fi. Potser, al cap i a la fi, la destrucció del capitalisme tindrà lloc a través de la destrucció del sistema-Terra, i tot el que en quedarà serà un vell món, considerablement empobrit, però finalment d'una humanitat gaiana, d'una humusitat.
En definitiva, si bé aquest llibre és -per què no dir-ho?- en moltes fases tediós, gaudeix també d'una intensitat i d'una força disruptiva de l'ordre, un ordre no sols capitalista sinó també irracional, en tant que fa de l'ecologia un saber minoritari mentre traça el camí cap a la seva fi. Potser, al cap i a la fi, la destrucció del capitalisme tindrà lloc a través de la destrucció del sistema-Terra, i tot el que en quedarà serà un vell món, considerablement empobrit, però finalment d'una humanitat gaiana, d'una humusitat.
April 20, 2022
Primavera silenciosa, és un llibre de ciències mediambientals. Documenta els efectes que tenien l’ús indiscriminat dels pesticides als Estats Units d’Amèrica. Alguns conceptes han avançat més del que aquest llibre dels anys 60s descriu, especialment el capítol de càncer. De totes maneres un llibre que va obrir els ulls a la societat i educar sobre els problemes dels pesticides especialment els DDTs. Es un trosset d’història que cal llegir. Per mi, una lectura obligatòria. Classificada al mateix sac de llibres que van marcar un punt d’inflexió tal com The feminine Mystic de Betty Friedan, o bé An incovenient Truth de Al Gore com molts d’altres que han despertat la societat per tal de construir un futur millor.
May 22, 2026
M'ha encantaaat, lectura obligatòria x thothom, x ser una mica més conscient dels enormes perills i contaminacions als que estem exposats diàriament i les seves conseqüències.
July 7, 2014
Més endavant en faré crítica al blog. En resum: un llibre imprescindible, que en gran part no ha perdut vigència però que en altres qüestions ha estat sobrepassat pes esdeveniments. La lectura, tot i la frescor de Carson i l'esperit divulgatiu, arriba a ser farragosa en algun passatge. I tot i això, un llibre imprescindible, peça clau del segle XX i, per suposat, del moviment ecologista. L'edició de Crítica, això sí, és lamentable i està trufada d'errades tipogràfiques i de traducció (i és que ni tan sols diuen qui ho ha traduït!).
June 23, 2022
llibre llegit quan començava a treballar en el mon de l'ecologia. Després coneixent l'origen i la història de la rachel i del llibre, encara va guanyar més importància. Una descripció, abans de la crisi actual, del risc de treballar d'esquenes a la natura i de trencar-ne els equilibris
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews