Silent Spring – Book Club starts here on July 9th!

A 2012 discussion of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring."
Book Club Host
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Silent Spring – Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by Book Club Host » Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:52 am

Welcome to the Silent Spring Book Club! In honor of the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring we will read and discuss it here.

To get started:

1. Get your hands on a copy Silent Spring and start reading.

2. Register a user name to participate on the forum. (See "register" upper right.)

I'll start posting details – an introduction and a schedule – in the coming days. Your thoughts are warmly welcome.
Last edited by Book Club Host on Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:42 am, edited 3 times in total.

donstu
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Re: The Silent Spring Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by donstu » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:31 am

Successfully registered. I am here. Still tracking down a copy of the book. ... dons

Book Club Host
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Re: The Silent Spring Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by Book Club Host » Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:22 pm

Welcome!

Book Club Host
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:29 am

Re: The Silent Spring Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by Book Club Host » Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:53 am

Today is the day we start discussing Silent Spring in earnest! I have read the Introduction and Chapter One and look forward to posting a few thoughts when I have a moment (either later today or tomorrow). You're wholeheartedly encourged to start start new threads of your own by clicking the "New Topic" button when you're on the main "Book Club" page.

viewforum.php?f=5

I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

donstu
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Re: The Silent Spring Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by donstu » Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:59 pm

Yet another example of spirit at work ...

It turns out that I am also reading a book called Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein in parallel with reading Silent Spring. Here's what I just read in that book today:

"For someone entering adulthood in the 1960s or 1970s, it was still possible to believe in the project of ascent; it was still possible to fully participate in the Story of the People: conquering space, conquering the atom, mastering the universe, onward and upward. I imagine that if I’d been born in 1957 rather than 1967 (or if my father hadn’t given me Silent Spring, 1984, and A People’s History of the United States to read as a teenager) I would have followed the Program and would be a math professor at a university somewhere today. But it was not to be."

What are the chances that I would read his reference to Silent Spring today? Wierd, but enjoyable. ... dons

Book Club Host
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Re: The Silent Spring Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by Book Club Host » Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:53 pm

Interesting!

Book Club Host
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Re: Silent Spring – Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by Book Club Host » Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:07 pm

How's everyone doing with their reading this week? I finished Chapter Three last weekend but didn't make much progress durning the work week. Will kick it up a notch over the weekend. I'm finding Carson's writing readable but intense and have so far enjoyed the slow pace. How about you?

DavisChurches
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Re: Silent Spring – Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by DavisChurches » Sat Jul 21, 2012 7:55 am

I've enjoyed her style of writing - but I feel like this IS intense. I feel like I must give it my time and attention - even though she's saying things I don't want to hear. I keep thinking - if all of this was going on in the early 60's - it must be SO MUCH WORSE now...and is there anyone who is currently writing books about what the situation has evolved to?
Sandra Steingraber came up in conversation...

Book Club Host
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Re: Silent Spring – Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by Book Club Host » Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:51 pm

Thanks for mentioning Sandra Steingraber. Her work looks interesting.

http://steingraber.com/

Book Club Host
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Re: Silent Spring – Book Club starts here on July 9th!

Post by Book Club Host » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:59 pm

It's Week Three and the door has opened on Chapters Seven through Ten!

Week Three, July 23 - 29
Chapters 7 - 10
Needless Havoc
And No Birds Sing
Rivers of Death
Indiscriminately from the Skies

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