A sobering attempt to present a more ``balanced'' view of the dangers to life on Earth than environmentalists' accounts: Langone recognizes the seriousness of problems but presents basically industrial-oriented perspectives and partial solutions. His central argument is that ``economic needs and a country's best interests must be balanced with the need to protect the environment.'' He covers most of the big issues: chemicals, noise, air and water pollution, solid waste, nuclear waste, heat pollution, deforestation, threatened wildlife, poverty and overpopulation, energy. In most cases he fairly represents the conflict between economic interests and environmental protection (aside from a few red herrings like environmentalist ``violence''). But the problem here is lack of vision: the suggested solutions derive from the policies that got us where we are, and, given the magnitude of the problems, most of them seem like grasping at straws; few of Langone's proposals involve people living differently in the future. He does recognize vital concepts like the ``web of life'' that makes a forest more than the sum of its parts; reflecting on these may lead readers to come up with more imaginative and effective solutions. The ``Opposing Viewpoints'' series presents the debates better, but this does give an overall view in digestible form. Just be sure to provide more stimulating viewpoints for those who want to know more. Detailed source notes; glossary; index. (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-51415-2
Page Count: 197
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Decades after the events of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009), teenager Gabry lives in relative safety. Despite the Barrier keeping the ravaging zombies out of town, Gabry is a terrified homebody who wants only to stay sheltered with her mother, the refugee heroine of Forest. Her nervousness is justified; when Gabry is peer-pressured into sneaking past the Barrier for a night of adolescent rebellion, several of her friends are zombified. (One wonders, if teens sneaking out for a snog is so dangerous to society, how there any humans left at all.) The ensuing chaos sends Gabry into the wilderness where, encumbered by revelations about love and family, she encounters zombie-worshiping cultists, the dangerous remnants of the army and her own past. Whatever comes between Gabry and her mother, there’s one thing they definitely have in common: Like her mother, Gabry experiences an angst-ridden, gloomy love triangle while fleeing from zombie hordes in the forest’s depths. Fast-paced despite the mawkish romance, it will be gobbled up by fans of the first volume like brains. (Horror. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 9, 2010
ISBN: 970-0-385-73684-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
This story presents an alien invasion from two unique viewpoints. Megs is 12, trapped alone in the parking garage of a Los Angeles hotel, forced to scrounge for food and water while avoiding alien spaceships outside and security guards who have taken over the hotel with vicious disregard for the safety of their “guests” inside. Josh is about to turn 16, trapped in his house in Washington state with his father and dog, watching their world being slowly but surely destroyed, day after day, from his living-room window. Both have to deal with supplies that shrink with every rationed meal. No phones, no radio or television, no electricity and no ability to step out of shelter without being “deleted”—this is a new world that only the truly brave can exist in. Written in short chapters that alternate between Megs and Josh, this masterful debut grabs readers by the throat from the first page and never lets go. It is clear at the end that there’s a lot more story to tell, and one can only hope that a sequel is not far behind. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60898-011-6
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Namelos
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
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