Environmental-Health Books

This book was more about Jane's views on food than on food itself. Good book if you are a fan of her work. Bad choice if you are buying it for any insight regarding the culinary industry.

This is a good book, but my copy arrived kind of beat up looking. Since it was going to be a gift for my niece, I had to send it back. Beware of the books labeled BARGAIN. They are not first quality copies like the description states.

Jane Goodall, the chimpanzee lady, gives an overview of the issues with food, water, transportation of the food, etc. in this book. She does a good general job of explaining the issues. She discusses how crops are raised and used, how animals are raised and treated, genetic engineering, organic growing practices, how food is distributed, fast food and water! She uses an anecdotal style with facts and studies to back the stories up. However, the facts are not always referenced in a way the one could easily follow up. Overall, I liked the amount of information she conveyed in a very readable way.

As a huge fan of Ms. Goodall, I was delighted to discover this book just recently. I purchased it right away and read it over a weekend. I have always respected her opinions and was prepared to learn. This book changed my life!

As an environmentalist, I have always wanted to reduce my impact on the planet but thought buying organic was too expensive. Ms. Goodall's expose' showed me that it was not expensive in the long run. After reading about factory farming and its use in the fast food industry, I cut out fast food and was able to purchase organic. Not only does one get the satisfaction of doing something good for themselves and the Earth, but the food taste SO MUCH BETTER! This is how we were meant to nourish our bodies - without chemicals, fertilizers, or frank o foods!

Her coverage of genetically modified foods that bombard the grocery aisles was extremely eye opening. I now find myself shopping only at EarthFare (our regional version of the Whole Foods grocery chain), farmer's markets, and local co-ops for certified organic products.

I loved the reference section which gives the reader website links to learn more about the topics Ms. Goodall covers in the book. I spent two whole days reading more in depth about a variety of topics.

I highly recommend this book to everyone! The reader will walk away realizing that we are but a thread in the web of life and that in our quest to receive nourishment, we shouldn't destroy our natural world.

This book is always next to my chair. I review it always. I have bought and given this wonderful book to friends and family. My why of passing the word. This book is an Eye opener for what we put in our mouths & how we are hurting our selfs and our plant.

The inside cover of Our Stolen Future says: "...by two leading environmental scientists and an environmental journalist, is the first book to piece together the compelling evidence from wildlife studies, laboratory experiments, and human data and to lay out the emerging scientific case regarding this largely unrecognized threat. Picking up where Silent Spring left off, it reveals the underlying causes of the symptoms that had so alarmed Carson."

In this book, I got a look at the role that certain chemicals that have been put out into the environment since the 1950's might be affecting plants and animals, including human beings, specifically as "endocrine disruptors" and "hormone imposters." I know there has been some review of Our Stolen Future that call into question the validity of the study that the core ideas in this book are built upon...I honestly don't know enough about the subject to make my own decision about that, YET.

What I can say, is based on previous reading on loosely related subjects (The Crazy Makers, Eat Here, The Omnivores Dilemma), is that I believe that this is entirely possible and if so, it is also deeply disturbing. I did enjoy reading it, though it took me six days to work my way through it because it is fact intensive and books of this nature are, for me, harder to absorb in general (compared to fiction). The information contained here is both enlightening and disturbing...ranging from problems like decreased sperm count and motility in males over the last thirty years, to birth defects, sexual abnormalities, reproductive/fertility issues, the increase of certain types of cancer, and even touching on aggression, attention deficit disorders, and similar concerns. I am glad to have read this one and will read more on the subject to gain a great understanding of the issues touched on in Our Stolen Future. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

This book was a great read. It was very informative and credible. I learned alot of things I did not know in this book.

This true detective story has been favorably compared to Rachel Carson's SILENT SPRING by writers including Al Gore and Donella Meadows. It is a highly readable documentary of the scientific sleuthing that has linked birth defects, infertility and intelligence deficits to persistent chemical products which are poisoning our planet. From falling human sperm counts, to crashing bird populations, marine mammal die-offs and alligator sexual mutations, the authors demonstrate that we are performing a planet-wide experiment in which all life forms are unwitting subjects. The chemicals now impacting the whole biosphere have caused the same effects in laboratory animals for years -- and, surprise, surprise, nobody listened to the few small voices of alarm. This work may be the definitive and ominously final answer to the famous line from THE GRADUATE, "Plastics, there's a great future in plastics." No. There may literally be no future at all.

This book is both fantastic and worrisome in its import. Painstakingly documented, it sounds a warning call that must be heeded. As well-read as I consider myself to be, I was surprised at how much I didn't know about the extent to which we've ALREADY messed up this Earth, biologically. Knowing how seriously we've messed up other species, one wonders to what extent the lessons also pertain to us. That is: it makes you realize that a lot of what we see going on today might have been the results of the seeds we've been sowing. Very thought-proviking.

Reading this book is like reading a scientific paper...boring! I think the idea of collaborating and telling a story could be a good idea, but this one doesn't work and is a real snooze-fest. There was too many incidents cited (yes, we get it, DDT is bad)that it took too long to get to the conclusions. It also didn't help that the type was fairly small and difficult to read.

This would be a good book if you wanted to write a term paper and needed a source for your topic and bibliography.

Being both a doctor and having ADHD I found this book both informative and insightful. The concepts of both nature and nurture are seemlessly interwoven to provide an excellent perspective on causality as well as direction for treatment.

Having a past personal interest in child psychology lent me familiarity to many of the concepts the author brought forth in his book. If his ideas seem 'cooked up' you are mistaken. The author is quoting cornerstone teachings of well known developmental psychologists.

One must realize that research into ADHD is still evolving. Whether or not causality can be determined in each specific case, it does not detract from the author's direction in treatment (whether through family therapy, psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy). More specifically, ADHD may in fact arise in 'functional families' but the requirement for ongoing support/'unconditional positive regard' remains pivotal.

But one should realize this is not a 'How to Book' nor a brief synopsis. With all that aside...... an eloquent book which made me laugh, cry and take heart.

This is the first book on the subject that explains some of the newest research regarding ADD. The author, despite being a doctor, writes with the individual affected by the disorder in mind. It's easy to understand and finally gives the ADD person some real insight and background on the origin of the disorder. His personal experiences including his family history help the reader see a full picture of the affects of ADD.
This book should be a must read for any person newly diagnosed or affected by someone close to them affected.

Five years ago, I picked up this book and, mesmerized, read it in one sitting. With content so rich and insightful, I felt perhaps I should stop and absorb each chapter before continuing. Yet Mate's elegant writing was too captivating and flowing to put down.

Today, it is the book in my extensive ADHD library that I turn to when I need reminding of some core concepts, such as "counterwill," Mate's term for oppositional defiance. So many other books about ADHD float on the surface or focus on medical treatment options. While I would be the last person to minimize the importance of medication -- I've seen in too many people medication's dramatic effects and their immense gratitude -- there is so much more to understanding ADHD.

For example, here is an excerpt on Counterwill:
"Children with attention deficit disorder are often characterized as stubborn, oppositional, cheeky, insolent, spoiled. "Wilful" is a description almost universally applied to them.... ADD children can hardly be said to have a will at all, if by that is meant a capacity which enables a person to know what he wants and to hold to that goal regardless of setbacks, difficulties, or distracting impulses....

"...Counterwill is an automatic resistance put up by a human being with an incompletely developed sense of self, a reflexive and unthinking going against the will of the other. It is a natural but immature resistance arising from the fear of being controlled. Counterwill arises in anyone who has not yet developed a mature and conscious will of their own. Although it can remain active throughout life, normally it makes its most dramatic appearance during the toddler phase, and again in adolescence. In many people, and in the vast majority of children with ADD, it becomes entrenched as an ever-present force and may remain powerfully active well into adulthood. It immensely complicates personal relationships, school performance, and job or career success."

[...]

Passages such as that completely unlocked the door to understanding for me. When it comes to ADHD, I've learned, what's "obvious" on the surface seldom holds water under close scrutiny. Despite having read dozens of books and articles on ADHD, I've not seen this perception on counterwill expressed and yet, from my observation, it is bedrock truth. And, it is only one of the profound concepts Dr. Mate exlains.

As for the nature/nurture issue, we know so little about genetic expression. Last time I looked, at least 7 genes, in various combinations and subsets, are thought contributory to ADHD. Perhaps it will be 10-20 years or more before we understand this highly heritable condition. I do know many mothers of children with ADHD who say that, even in utero, the child was clearly hyperactive. Some cases are less clear-cut. There are no hard and fast answers here.

That said, recent genetic studies reinforce Dr. Mate's theories, showing that the presence of a "behavior"-related gene does not guarantee its expression. For example, the recently discovered "shyness" gene seems to express in children who have it only under stressful conditions. (You can read more about this in a Jan 2006 Wall Street Journal's "Science Journal" column.) The idea is not to make parents feel guilty, as some have suggested, but to expand our knowledge and help future generations of children as much as possible. For instance, the epigenetic factors are good reason to encourage parents of children with ADHD to undergo screening for ADHD themselves. Studies have shown the often deleterious effect of living with a parent's untreated ADHD.

Mate offers a very fresh, insightful interpretation of ADD as a cognitive vulnerability that may or may not manifest itself, or manifest itself in varying degrees depending on one's environment. In this sense, the book takes a ecological approach to the problem; ADD, according to the author, is not biological determinism and it's not cultural construct and it's not some conspiracy to keep certain children in their place and it's not a pharmaceutical ploy for more business. Anyone who has taken prescribed Ritalin knows it's about the cheapest prescription drug on the market (and has been around nearly the longest). The author simply points out that according to current and provisional informed research (and research can only be provisional unless we can stop time), the idea that symptoms of ADD are a result of many forces--chemical, environmental, cultural, and developmental--just makes sense. Since Mate's analysis is moderately complex in comparison to most analyses in most popular ADD books, it may turn off those who want a quick pat explanation to the "disorder." The author is a doctor with ADD; so his analysis is both research oriented and phenomenological. He is also smart enough not to use the word "prove" in his book because he knows he isn't proving anything: he is simply making his own best inferences based on current knowledge. He makes sense; and he adds to the current literature on the subject. If you have been diagnosed with ADD, you will nod your head in agreement through much of the book. The author also has a gift for writing, having been a former English teacher. Thus, his language is on a level of sophistication which does justice to the subject, and lends his observations authority. This is far different from the "cookbook" breezy style of so many other authors who address the subject.

Dr. Mate provides an interesting thesis, but it just doesn't ring true. We have counseled thousands of children with ADHD, including hundreds which came from stable, two-parent homes where the parents were very in tune with their child.

Parents don't need this guilt trip. What they do need are practical solutions and steps to cultivate their child's natural gifts, talents and passions. This is what breeds confidence.

We use Kirk Martin' Celebrate!ADHD paradigm in our practice, and it has worked wonderfully for both parents and children. Kirk Martin has been called the "ADHD Super Nanny" and we'd recommend his E-Courses and Book, "Celebrate!ADHD" before you read "Scattered." You can find free tips and a newsletter at the celebrateADHD website.

It's difficult to endorse Dr. Mate's work when his underlying premise has so many flaws.

great tips. I can't wait to start cleaning green. The one thing that would be great is if the book had a list that summerized the cleaning supplies that were needed to clean each room. How many spray bottles do I need and what is in each bottle? I have started to go through the book again and write down my own list, but it is a bit scattered. Does anyone have their own list?

If I could only own one book on keeping a greener home, this would be it. There are tips on everything from opening a clogged drain to homemade beauty products. This book is never out of reach at my house now!!

Buy this book!!! Seriously a must have for any household. From basic household and personal organization to step by step guidance on how to make your home an organic and chemical free one!!! Plus her writing style is fun to read, I want to be her friend.

I was so excited about the changes brought about in my house by using the tips in this book, that I ordered a three pack of the Dutch Rubber Broom she describes in the text (a garage broom, a kitchen broom, and a hand broom for the car, for 9.99 plus S&H). The company overcharged me (19.99 instead of 9.99), and then messed up my order (just gave me the garage broom). When I confronted them with this, they first stated that they didn't have a three broom offer, then when I forwarded them their own web page, they still refused to correct the error, stating that the error was on my part, because that isn't what is reflected on the order.

The gal on the email and phone argued with me rudely. She admitted that others have had the same issue, but it was because they were, like myself, incapable of reading a web page correctly. I have been reading since the age of three, and I'm a computer programmer, so I think I have a firm grasp of how to navigate a web page.

My option, at this point, is to pay to ship the garage broom back to them unused and get my twenty dollars back (roughly the price of shipping), or to give them another $20 and have them graciously ship me the rest of my order. Their adamant claim, of course, is that they had fulfilled my order, and it isn't their issue in the first place to even address this. The route to speak with someone higher on the food chain was short-circuited by this same rude person. Just a warning, in case you wanted to give that broom a try. The book: fabulous! The broom company: leaves much to be desired. I wish I'd never bothered.

UPDATE: I was fortunate enough to be able to contact the book's author (WOW), and she actually fixed the problem with the company. Can you believe it? I couldn't have even dreamed of a better response from an author. It's unfathomable to me. For the fact that she really cares enough to go the extra mile for a complete stranger who is willing to listen to her advice, I'm profoundly grateful, and would give her more than the five stars her writing has earned her, if it were possible. Neat! If you're deliberating whether you'll buy this or not, just do it for the sake of giving your greenbacks to a real person with real compassion and real action in her intentions. I'm floored and am ready to check out her gardening books, just for this reason!

I found a lot of helpful tips for cleaning one's home in a less enviromentally destructive (and often less expensive) way. There was also a lot of not so useful material in there, but it was easy enough to find what applied and skip over the rest.

I think that the point of the book is to make changes wherever you can; if everyone did just that, the environment would be in a much better place.

new zealand is a beautiful place

The Guide is very informative, but there is a new edition that has come out in October, so wait to buy the new one!!

This book is a lot better than the other Lonely Planet books in that it is the same size as the others but as it is only about one small country, it can fit most (not all there's still work to be done) of the towns and attractions backpackers want to see in New Zealand.

The main difference between this and Let's Go is that this is written for a North American audience whereas Let's Go is more for your British, European, Australian, South African and the like markets. This means those not from North America may find a lot of the information as common knowledge, especially historic things and would prefer to have more further detailed information which is contained in the competitor Let's Go. Since the American education system doesn't teach this stuff American audiences will find it fascinating and will have a need for it maybe.

A fair amount of the hostels in New Zealand actually do appear in this book which is very surprising for a Lonely Planet as they usually miss about 75 per cent of them. Be aware that there are other hostels out there though, so don't completely rely on the book and use the best method word of mouth from other backpackers as well. Of course the price information is out of date as usual.

If only Lonely Planet could achieve as good a book for their other country/continent versions then they might be a worthwhile purchase. I'd say buy this if you're a North American but get Let's Go if you're not. Well actually I'd say don't bother with either as you're just reliving someone else's experiences and it's better to explore for yourself but for hostel listings and background info if you don't know much about New Zealand then this is useful.

If you're going to New Zealand - and want to enjoy the country to the fullest - DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT THIS GUIDE! I embarked on a 6-week long trip last June with this edition of 'Lonely Planet New Zealand' and fate as my only guides. I was impressed to the max! The only other guide I needed was a road atlas I picked up at the airport in Auckland (and since I was touring some of the Lord of the Rings film locations, Ian Brodie's lovely 'Lord of the Rings: Location Guidebook'). I do recommend renting a vehicle - as someone under 25 years old, Budget was a good bet for rental. Just remember, "Left, left left." It's a cinch! With the US dollar exchange rate favorable, we cheaply rented a top notch 4WD SUV for the entire time based on the recommendation of this book. I love the Lonely Planet series for the sheer fact that it gives you pointers on fantastic locations that may be slightly off the beaten path while at the same time informing you of the best of the best in those tourist meccas. It's a lovely balance. My only regret is that 6-weeks is far too short a time to see everything there is to see in New Zealand!

The top 5 places you shouldn't miss on the North and South Islands:

North Island
1) Take the short ferry ride from Auckland to Rangitoto Island and hike to the summit - otherwordly!
2) Do a touristy bus tour to Cape Reinga out of Paihia - on the bus to Cape Reinga you'll get to: learn a lot about the Maori culture, hug a Kauri tree, stop and surf down sand dunes, wonder in awe at the northern most point of the North Island where untouched white beaches are visible as the Tasman and Pacific Ocean meet and clash (an amazing scene), and to top it all off you'll cruise down 90-mile beach as waves lap the wheels of the bus (yeah, the beach is actually a registered roadway).
3) Drive around the gorgeous Coromandel Peninsula - leave the Thames area just before sunrise and the landscape will just take your breath away! You will come to understand the meaning of Aotearoa/New Zealand: land of the long white cloud.
4) Wander the volcantic parks of Rotorua - Wai-ti-pau was a highlight! Don't forget to sign-up for a traditional Maori concert and haka at the Tamaki Maori Village for a cool cultural experience!
5) Cruise Cuba Street in Wellington for food and shops, and don't forget to visit Te Papa - the national museum of Wellington.

South Island
1) Plan a kayaking trip out of Motueka: the Tonga Island wildlife option is cool - we saw wild Orca and New Zealand Fur Seals up close and personal and then lunched on a secluded beach reached only by kayak!
2) Take a helicopter ride up to Fox Glacier and do an afternoon hike - see where semi-tropical rainforest meets glacier meets the Tasman Sea.
3) Go white water rafting on the Shotover River in Queenstown (be sure you get an option with the Oxenbridge Tunnel)! Then go jet boating, then bungy jumping, you name, it they do it there! Don't miss Deer Park Heights either - say hello to the free roaming buffalo for me!
4) Head to the beautiful city of Kaikoura for whale watching and a dolphin swim.
5) If you love wildlife - head to Dunedin and take a tour out to the Otago Peninsula (you'll see albatross, fur seals, sea lions, yellow-eyed penguins and a variety of bird life up close and personal - by up close I mean walking on the beach less than 10 feet away from a Hooker Seal Lion twice your size). While in Dunedin, visit Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world, and don't miss the Cadbury Factory! It's well worth the admission price!

There is so much more to see and do that I haven't listed - and this guide helped me find it all and point me in the right direction every step of the way. The only thing the guide failed to mention was the abundance of rainbows in this enchanted country - I don't know about you, but where I come from rainbows are a special once in a great while occurance. In New Zealand you see them on a daily basis. I guarantee that with the help of this guide you will leave New Zealand with enough fantastic memories to last a lifetime. Kia ora.

I looked at and compared this to all the other guides from Frommer's, Eyewitness, Footprint, Rough, Insight, Moon, and Fodor's, and I thought this one was the best.

I used this guide on an intensive, 3-week trip to New Zealand several years ago in which I drove over 6000 kilometers and got to just about every part of the country except Ninety-Mile Beach on the tip of the north island. I visited spots ranging from Stewart Island, Doubtful and Milford Sound, and Queenstown in the south, to the Coromandel Peninsula in the east, to the Franz-Josef glacier and the small western town of Greymouth in the west, to Lake Taupo and the capital city Auckland in the north. I crossed the southern Alps several times, and got to just about every major city and town, and I found the book very useful and accurate and a very valuable resource on my trip.

New Zealand is one of the most beautiful and delightful places you can visit, and there is something here for everybody. There is still quite a lot of wildlife, and in the south I saw lots of Tui birds, who are like myna birds in that they can immitate just about any noise, and shellducks, which are larger than any American ducks I've seen. One of them even raced me in my car on a road crossing the Alps for a while, until he surprised me by flying under my car and losing all his feathers. Oh well, I hope he grew back those feathers.

If you're into wildlife, another fun activity is to see the little blue penguins and the yellow-eyed penguins in the southeast coastal town of Oamaru. But watch out for those big shellducks. The big Kea parrots in the southern mountains are surprisingly bold. They come right up to you and you can get great pictures. A famous kea was the one that lived in a park in Sydney, Australia. This might be the only world-famous bird I've ever heard of. He would let the air out of automobile tires while people watched and laughed, which he seemed to do for the fun of it. As the New Zealanders say, they're cheeky little buggers.

Another thing not to miss is the New Zealand Wildlife Refuge on the main road north of Wellington on the way to Auckland. Several of the other things that I enjoyed that I learned about first from the book were (on the south island) the Te Anau glow- worm caves, the big boat tour of Doubtful Sound, the boat tour of Milford Sound (the wettest place on earth at sea level, with 25 feet of rain per year), and (on the north island) the Maori cultural town of Rotorua, which smells like rotten eggs everywhere because of all the volcanic steam vents containing sulfur dioxide. In fact, the steam comes out of the ground just about all over the city.

If you're the adventurous type, don't miss Queenstown in the south, the self-styled (and rightly so) adventure capital of the world. There you can do things like bungee-jump from a helicopter, and fly this interesting plane around which is tethered to a central pole. I don't know how many people do those things, but a popular attraction here is a jet-boat tour up one of the rivers. The aerial tramway in Queenstown up to the top of a local mountain gives you a spectacular view of the entire area. There is a decent restaurant at the top, which makes for a popular dining spot with a great view in the evening.

On the north island, another interesting and fun thing I did in Auckland was to take the Rangitoto Island tour in Auckland Bay on my last day there, which takes you around this small, volcanic island in the middle of the bay. Also Waiheke Island made for an interesting overnight stay in Auckland bay before flying out the next day. Kelly Tarkington's Arctic Experience is worth seeing. And last but not least, Auckland has some surprisingly good restaurants and dining.

Overall, an excellent and well-written guide and worth the price. New Zealand is one of the best and most enjoyable countries I've ever visited, and this guide was an important part of that experience on my trip.

I think this is a very good to start raising a green baby. I wasn't the most eco-educated person out there, but I tried to do my part. When my wife and I started to try to have a baby, I wanted to have a healthy baby and started to do more research. What I like about this book is that it has a ton of information and resources and all laid out in a logical manner. The book was very easy to read, although I did not read every single page. I took note of a lot of tips (just bought some castile soap from Trader Joe's w/ my reusable bag) and websites. I liked the pages on the chemicals you should not purchase. I actually wrote them on back of my printout of the Environmental Defense Fund Seafood Selector guide. I used that chemicals list to check against sunscreen that I was looking to purchase, which I found that most sunscreens have one or more of those chemicals even the ones that say organics. I won't follow every single advice in the book just because of practicality or cost reasons, but at least I'll be a more educated parent on raising a greener baby. As with every book, you should use your own common sense when following an author's advice.

On a side note, there is so much information out there and sometimes conflicting information. It seems to me that one study will contradict another study that was done just a few months ago!! Case in point is Brenda Murray's review on when to fill-up your car. One study says it doesn't matter and another says it does matter (take a look at the comments on her review). I live in Phoenix and they actually do say you should fill your car up at night (or early morning) not because of air pollution, but because of how the regulators (I think) on the pumps. It actually cost less to fill-up when it the temperature is cooler than when it is hot. I wish I could find the Arizona Republic article that talked more to the technical side of why this is the case and why the state is trying to change the regulators.

Lastly, in Brenda Murray's review, the author (Alan Greene) actually comments on her review. Some people might find this self-serving or being an ego maniac, but I found it very refreshing as he wanted to provide additional insight. I don't know if many authors would do this, but I found it very refreshing for the author to do this and the tone of his comment was not negative or preachy. In my opinion, he does really seem to care about the subject.

I absolutely love this book! As a mother of a two-year-old and one due in October, this book is a must-have for any family wanting to live a healthy, smart, and eco-friendly life. There are small, simple changes suggested in the book we can all easily make as well as less obvious ideas that the average person probably would not be aware of. This easy to read book is straight forward and extremely educational. I have personally recommended Raising Baby Green to several friends, and I wish I had it when I was pregnant with my first child. You don't have to drive a Prius and live off-the-grid to appreciate Dr. Greene's ideas. One of the best on the market!

Unless you hate the Internet, just do research online for free instead. I didn't read anything in here that I couldn't have found on the Internet.

I was given this book before my baby was born, and I found it to be the most useless parenting book I looked at. It seemed to repeat the same advice over and over again: buy and use everything organic. It even advocated bringing your own organic cotton sheets to the hospital for childbirth and demanding that they be used instead of regular hospital linens. The author advocated buying everything organic, from food to clothing, which is all well and good if you can afford to do so, but he didn't point to any less expensive ways of doing things. Even his tips on recycling older baby furniture seemed to be aimed at parents with unlimited budgets.

To be fair, I didn't read every page, but I did throw it across the room more than once by the time I gave up!

Raising Baby Green was easy and quick to read and is a book I will keep around simply for the fact that Dr. Greene has put together an impressive resource guide of websites where one can find lots of information on greening one's life and home. I'm sure this book will be a great reference in the future when I'm looking to buy something, that being said, I had two problems with this book.

First, after about the second chapter this book starts to read like an advertisement to buy buy buy! For example, there is repeated references to bringing you own organic cotton sheets to wherever you give birth and using them to replace the sheets at the hospital/birthing center. Now call me pragmatic, but 300 count organic cotton sheets cost between $125-$175 for my bed, thus, these are not the ideal sheets TO GIVE BIRTH ON. They will be ruined and I know when I'm expecting a baby I don't generally have $175 dollars to throw away. Nor does he address the impracticality of packing home sheets covered in birth mess for washing.

While Dr. Green does repeatedly say you can do as little or as much greening as you like in your home, he really does seem to push for more. There comes a point when ripping up your current hardwoods floors which are perfectly good to put down new floors made from cork which is a renewable resource stops being green. If you gut your entire house to "remodel green" the question becomes, are you really being green? Or are you just buying into the latest fad and wasting valuable, usable resources?

This green baby guide seems to have bought into our consumer culture hook, line and sinker, which is the reason I was going to give it 4 stars, but I dropped that down to 3 stars when I ran into my second problem with this book: Mis-information.

On page 248 there is a section titled "How to Drive Green." Two of the suggestions given are changing your air filter (which he says will save you $130 in fuel economy) and filling your tank at night. Now if you google "10 gas saving myths" you will find several articles about, well, gas saving myths and both of these are on there. Neither filling up at night nor changing your air filter really increase you fuel economy.

Green goes on further to say that filling up at night, "decreases evaporation during pumping, so anything that escapes won't be cooked in to the ozone." So, those fumes I see/smell when I pump gas at night don't go into the ozone? Because it's night? So . . .where do they go? To the pub for a beer?

If Greene has mis-information about fuel economy in his book that can be disputed by a simple google search, it makes me wonder what else he got wrong.

First of all, I would like to say that I simply adore the recipes in this book. I do consider most of them to be "special occasion" food, since I can't always afford some of the ingredients, but it's good to have fancy food every now and then.

My only complaint with this book is that the authors seem to show contempt for anyone who follows a specific lifestyle or diet. As a dedicated vegan myself, I choose not to eat animal products as part of my effort to not support the meat industry or the suffering of other living things. So, when the authors gave examples of "vegans" sneaking cheese, or "vegetarians" sneaking seafood, that seems unfair. Obviously these "vegans" and "vegetarians" are not in fact what they say they are. That doesn't mean that every veg-head out there is a hypocrite who's to weak to "do without".

If the book didn't have that snide little comment, I'd give it 5 stars. But buy it for the recipes anyways!! Yum!

If you're like me and just getting a clue that something's amiss in our food chain and only now realizing big business has dollars instead of nutrition in mind when creating new foods, then this book helps you explain why and how that happened. Plus, you can give family and friends ideas about what to do about it - and that's only in the first half of this concise and clear read. With the second half, you can create a great meal. Organized around the way many of us cook these days - for others and for a party - the recipes are a step up from your average fare but not so complex that they can't be delicious on the first try. I highly recommend its smarts and strong flavors!

Just like food - this book allows you to really get into it and enjoy it to the fullest, from the information to the recipes!

This book is extremely well written, it was able to hold the attention of someone not in the field of nutrition/food systems (such as my husband who develops software) and captured me from the opening paragraph. I work in food systems and am very familiar with the issues Anna writes about. I appreciate all the research that went into writing this book, the detailed fact checking and the beautiful recipes developed to accompany it. I was educated, enlightened and exposed to new music artists all at the same time while reading this book--what more could I ask for?

I really liked this book. The recipes are healthy, easy to prepare and delicious!!!

After being clued into the fact that I was an empath by my minister, I checked around for books to help me. This one by Rosetree was really helpful. I particularly liked the sections that helped me to 'shield' myself from other people's vibes. I recommend this book!!

If you have lived your life thinking you are a mess, a basket case, then you owe it to yourself to READ THIS BOOK! I am very grateful to Rose for her GENUINE caring nature and her crystal clear intentions. Rose has been there and done that and is here to assist the rest of us!
Thank you Rose!

There are few books out there that both inspire and inform at the same time. With each sentence, I kept nodding my head in approval because it all applied to me. As I read the part on emotional onneness and emotional intuition, I could not help getting teary eyed because for the first time I had an explanation for what I had. I was not abnormal, or an emotional wreck. I had a gift all along and I did not even know it. Also the fact that it is written by one who has actually been there is a a sigh of relief because you are not alone. I recommend this book to anyone who believes that empathy might be a part of their every day life, and I hope it is as much a blessing to you as it was to me.

Some of things are long winded and not all that well explained, such as some of the exercises. I got the impression that you sort of had to understand things a bit more to really get use out of some of the exercises. Unfortunately, shutting it off and turning it back on isn't quite as simple as she'd have you believe. My empathy is very ingrained in me and I still have trouble doing it without the aid of my guides, and I'm far more advanced now. BUT... it is a wonderful book for beginning to understand more about a latent gift I didn't realize I had.

I was so disappointed with this book. I expected something more concrete, complex and helpful. The author used to read faces at parties as a paid party entertainer, for godssake. I read it and tried all of the exercises, and to get anything out of it you have to be one of those New-Age-suspension-of-reason types. It is simplistic and unhelpful. Someone with a more serious background in psychology is better equipped to truly help people who have a problem with feeling too much empathy.

I have read both books by Dr. Davis. She is fascinating, informative, and very informative. I had the chance to hear her speak once, and it changed my views on so many things. She is very couragous in discussing the truth of what is happening to the earth, and to our bodies. A must read for everyone!

Dr. Davis has both the academic credentials and family experience to write the real story of the Donora PA tragedy and then to use that as a jumping off point to expose some of the "environmental deception" that had made our air less breathable and our water less drinkable coming into the 21st century. She ranges widely, from the deadly fogs that hit both Donora and London in the 1940s and 50s to breast cancer to problems we may encounter through global environmental change. Lost in many of this crises, she notes, is the cost of public health problems caused by pollutants in our air, water, and food.

While her message is an important one, there are two problems that keep this book from being a five star title: range and editing.

As noted, the book moves across many problems confronting us today. By doing so, however, Dr. Davis can only touch the surface of some issues, weakening her presentation by jumping too quickly from one point to another and covering key points to her central thesis less extensively than one would prefer. The chapter on breast cancer, for example, might better have been saved for what became her next book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer,

I am hesitant to criticize a book that has, justifiably, won awards and acclaim, but this would be far more accessible and easily referenced with stronger editing. Davis sometimes writes almost in a stream of consciousness approach, without any kind of break to indicate the commentary has shifted. Usually, there is at least paragraph separation to help the reader understand that she has gone on to another topic, but what does one do with a paragraph like one on page 279?

The beginning of the quote references a campaign to stop construction of a huge "cement industrial city" and proceeds, "The plant would release 1.47 million pounds of particles each year from a stack that will be one of the tallest structures from New York to Montreal and would dwarf the Statue of Liberty. Deborah Axelrod, the breast cancer surgeon who wrote *Bosom Buddies* with Rosie O'Donnell, knows how to use humor to diffuse the trauma of cancer..."

Passages like this make the book less readable and can sometimes cause confusion that might put off some readers who would benefit greatly from the overall content. Sad to see when there is so much importance in what she has to say.

I purchased this book as a gift for friends who are passionate about the environment and health. I felt it would be a great boost to those that feel that no matter how hard they try, nothing seems to change. This book is a wonderful account of years and decades of fighting for what is right. The most wonderful part is that the end result of several of the battles against big business and money have been won! The book provides a documentary type summary of some of the worlds biggest battles against toxins and polutions and how tedious these battle were (example - leaded gasoline). It shows how fairness and truth are discarded, but seem to resurface again and again thanks to dedicated people who continue to fight for what is right. The courage and dedication of Devra Davis is amazing. This book is truly inspiring.

Very thorough history of dangers of air pollution. It affects the average person though we don't recognize it. Studies back up the evidence this excellent author presents. Reading this author's works will educate you quite quickly on how the enviroment affects your personal health and how government, commerce and industry are not your protectors.

This is a good and balanced book, especially considering the vested interests of the author (her life!). Too often, these types of books turn into little more than political rants. This is not the case here. Sure, there are political actions and inactions that are discussed, but no personal attacks.

There is not a tremendous amount of scientific data in this book, but I did not expect it. I was not looking for a tome of information. The author delivers on her personal and professional experiences in what is the best way possible. If only we could get others to follow her lead.

While I enjoyed this book (it reads fluently), it seems that it tries to do 2 separate things. The first is an extended and repetitious treatment of how the U.S. has lost its world position and influence in the world-wide regulation of the chemical industry due to regulatory recalcitrance and inaction. The second relates how the impact of the U.S. policy of waiting for problems to "emerge" or waiting for the legal system to highlight "problems" (which may need regulatory adjustment) vs. the EU policy of "precautionary" regulation has put U.S. citizens "at risk" to numerous potentially hazardous chemicals. The second focus was of more interest to me and I thought there would be a more thorough treatment of these potential hazards.

I really wanted to like this book. It's an interesting and important subject, a perfect fit for the kind of thing I usually like to read. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to its tag line. "Toxic chemistry"? There's *no* chemistry at all here. I don't expect a book like this to read like a scientific journal, but it would have been nice if there had been just a little description of exactly what effect these chemicals have on our bodies. Similarly, a few anecdotes about people whose lives were directly affected by exposure to these awful chemicals would have done a lot to strengthen the message. I know the effects are diffuse, but a professional writer should be able to find *one case* to illustrate his point.

So what do we get instead of word from either scientists or ordinary people? Endless quotes from envirocrats - regulatory officials on one side, chamber-of-commerce types on the other, plus consultants and lobbyists and lawyers for both sides. The author's only concern, pounded into us over and over and over and over and over again, is that the US is *losing its policy leadership* to the EU. The human toll hardly gets a nod; it's the economic and geopolitical implications that get this author's dander up. Even as economics, though, the book fails. There are a few vague numbers tossed around, but no properly-sourced charts or graphs to illustrate the magnitude of the economic effects involved. A picture would have been worth ten thousand of these words.

This book could have been the Fast Food Nation of its topic area. Instead it is itself fast food - cheap mental calories, soon forgotten. What a shame.

I just finished this book chemicals in our food, electronics, and other products, and how regulation addresses them.And how that regulation affects markets.

It has a neat little store of information on the current European initiatives to protect their consumers ( REACH program ) and relates American govt and businesses responses to it. (It may or may not surprise you that the Bush administration sent lobbyists (even including Colin Powell!)
to push against raising standards.

Below, a handful of highlights, and if you're interested, you can check the other reviews (which are quite good in their coverage.)

- We're either ignoring or not adopting REACH standards for the most part. It's still perceived as
too expensive. (EU experience has shows otherwise in cases.) I suspect that, for the transnational corporations, this'll change quickly, and they'll adopt.

- Our goods across a wide swath from food to cosmetics will be blocked at the border and returned if they don't comply with REACH.(And GMO standards, etc.)

- Not only the EU, but a large number of major traders are adopting these standards. Brazil, Mexico, and yes, China.

- REACH does two things our EPA and FDA don't: it measures risk by citing chemicals with known
bad effects (e.g. teflon), and not by the more common Monte Carlo and human/behavior models
used here, and it considers ALL chemicals up for review, and unlike the EPA, it does not
grandfather in tens of thousands of chemicals without testing. For these reasons, it is much
stricter.

-There a few interesting stories about how some nations in the EU wanted stricter standards (for, e.g. GMOs) but were bent back to the mean by the EU/Brussels.Austria being one example.

- The information on GMOs in one chapter is very well presented. It gave a fascinating synthetic
and integrated look at GMO across market, lobbying, technical, and regulatory considerations. I
learned a lot in a few pages.

EXPSOED gave me enough background to understand why we're increasingly talking about "toys with lead paint" here in the States but why many other countries no longer worry about this. The USA will become a dumping ground for potentially dangerous products refused by other major nations.

It also, going back to GMO food, made it clear why ethanol is being pushed so hard by the Bush administration: the EU has *very* strict rules against GMOs, and most of our corn is now GMO, and largely unacceptable to the EU. The story from France about their anti-GMO crop destroying
vigilante group was especially interesting!

In any case, this book is highly recommended (it's a flash to read) by social theorists who want to see their theories played out in practice, by political hacks and business lobbyiests, by "green" types, by anti/pro globalizers, and by free-market wackos (that'd be me).

Oh, and there's an interesting quote in their by Stiglitz, about how market capitalism is not good, because of the information asymmetry between the consumer and the producer. It made me think of Sy Syms (if you're an older NY'er, you'll remember old Sy) who always said "An educated consumer is our best customer". Amen, Sy.

( I would have given the book five stars -- it is well-referenced and thought out -- but the omission of any commentary whatsoever on Codex Alimentarius, and its sotto voce slant toward "only the State will protect us" took the edge of this otherwise very appealing book by Schapiro.

Enjoy!

I heard him on NPR and immediately bought his book! I found out that the European Union has rules about safety for toys, makeup, etc. which our corporate-lobbyist-paid-off government lead by the Republican Administration refuses to incorporate into law protecting us. Why won't they protect American children? Because they say it is 'bad for business.' Simply stated this means parents of children in Slovenia and all other EU countries don't have to worry about lead in toys, because of the EU's strong inforcement of these laws, but American parents DO have to worry. So in short -- China DOES make toys which are safe, and they sell them to EU countries. Things the EU refuses to allow on their shelves gets sent back to China and ends up in America. Also Shapiro let's us know cosmetic companies make products without lead and other cancer causing chemicals to sell in the EU due to the EU's strict laws protecting their citizens, but those same companies continue to make products with these banned chemicals and sell them eagerly in America. What the heck is up with that?!! Obviously we mere citizens cannot expect businesses to DO THE RIGHT THING because they do it only when forced to by the EU, but won't follow those standards unless our government forces them to provide safe products for American consumers. My opinion: If congress and the government agencies who are supposed to protect us can't get it together -- let's follow all the EU restrictions and say -- "We'll have what they are having!" Thanks for putting this issue out there in such a clear manner, Mr. Shapiro. My fellow Americans, buy this book and throw out the bums in 2008!!!!!

I encourage everyone who lives in or plans to visit the United States to read this book so you can appreciate how dangerous the products are that companies deliver here . . . even though many provide much safer versions in Europe and other parts of the world. Why? Governments outside the U.S. respond more to citizen concerns about safety than they do to pressure from product suppliers to reduce regulation.

While some will see this as a Bush-bashing book, it seemed to me from reading Exposed that the prior Clinton administration didn't seem to do much better in safeguarding citizens from various toxic risks.

What's the story line? It's convoluted . . . which is why I graded the book down one star. Let me see if I can encapsulate the key points in a brief list:

1. Industry lobbyists have succeeded in persuading the U.S. government for a long time to not test many suspect items for toxicity, presuming that if it's in use . . . it's okay.

2. Independent scientists report that most of these items aren't okay.

3. The new European government is heeding citizen concerns about harmful substances and is requiring that they be eliminated from products and landfills. This means reformulating products if you are a global company and recycling hazardous materials.

4. Because the European economy is larger than the U.S., most global companies are complying in Europe. Some are choosing to make all products to the European standard, but many leading U.S. companies still make and sell toxic versions for the U.S. Some Chinese manufacturers are doing the same.

5. Many governments are about to adopt the European standards so that almost any other country will be a safer place to avoid toxins than the U.S.

6. The U.S. government is lobbying like crazy in Europe and elsewhere for its views, and annoying foreign governments even more than before.

7. The U.S. has little or no influence on world standards for product and environmental safety as a result.

The book suggests that the well documented problems of falling fertility in the U.S. are probably tied in some way to these unregulated toxins.

Are free markets always good for us? This article suggests otherwise when no one wants to speak up about poisons.