Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
There are non-fiction books that have had an impact. Silent Spring for instance.
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I agree.
I can't find complete information on the funding of
Silent Spring, but I question whether either the indie or university press model works for such. From
Wikipedia's Silent Spring article:
Quote:
By 1958, Carson had arranged a book deal, with plans to co-write with Newsweek science journalist Edwin Diamond. However, when The New Yorker commissioned a long and well-paid article on the topic from Carson, she began considering writing more than the introduction and conclusion as planned; soon it became a solo project. . . .
. . .
Most of the research and writing was done by the fall of 1960, except for a discussion of recent research on biological controls and investigations of some new pesticides. However, further health troubles delayed the final revisions in 1961 and early 1962.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Alas, it turned out that Silent Spring was fiction rather than non fiction, at least from the standpoint of the scientific evidence of the effect of DDT on bird eggs.
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It's been so long since I read the book that I'm not going to argue for or against its conclusions. But I don't believe it would have been better if she did less research because of only receiving after-the-fact royalties, most of which, I think, came after she died.