I was intrigued by McDonough's rejection of the "zero waste"/"zero emissions" theory and of his proposal of creating products and services that not only cut emissions and prevent waste accumulation but that also add value to the natural environment. An example could be a rooftop garden, which reduces the need for heating while also providing oxygen to the atmosphere and a habitat for flora and fauna.

I appreciated McDonough's critique of the "zero waste" movement; it is one I had not considered before. However, the book was a bit redundant at times and very theoretical. How do we scale and standardize these kinds of products and services? I would have liked more concrete steps towards creating these products and services.

There are some thought-provoking ideas in this book, but it's so repetitive. I didn't waste my time to check, but it certainly felt like I was reading some paragraphs verbatim more than once. Cut and paste, anyone?

Well presented and inspiring. I definitely would recommend this book. I couldn't put it down, and finished it in about a day and a half. The book itself talks about remaking the way we make everyday things, to make them truly environmentally friendly, etc, and for once the book itself isn't hypocritical by nature... it actually FEELS different; it's heavier, waterproof, and durable. Content-wise the two authors (an architect and a chemist) give a refreshingly open minded, "out of the box", factually supported argument for the importance of finding ways to improve the quality of life for mankind and the environment at large. They clearly depict the importance of rethinking the way we produce, use, and attempt to "reuse/reduce/recycle" our day-to-day items. They show how everything we do is connected to ecosystems, and present their ideas in a way that really makes the reader think. I walked away from this book eager to discover ways in which I could shift my focus from being "less bad" to helping the cause and adding value to the environment through my actions and lifestyle.

This book was pretty shitty. I wouldn't recommend it unless you've lived under a rock for the first 20 years of your life.

Awesome book which explains the dangers of the current industrial economy with simple examples and shows the way forward.

Sweet and sour on this book:

Sweet:

-- Is a nice philosophic groundwork for re-thinking our relationship to the earth, to manufacturing, to design. Broad and all-encompassing.

-- Some potent ideas about how processes and materials work can or don't work in an ecologically sensible way. Tying things back to simple logic is a consistent method that is effective here.

-- printed on synthetic paper, a wonderful demonstration of the book's argument

-- a quote from Hildegard von Bingen, for god's sakes!

Sour:

-- Would have benefited from more concrete examples of materials/processes that demonstrate/embody the proposed philosophy.

-- Pictures would have been great too

-- The chapters are somewhat overlapping, and not as clearly distinct at they might have been.

-- Much redundancy throughout.

This book did for me and my views on the environmentalist movement what Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, did for my view of the food industry. Brilliant book, clearly demonstrating that if we haven't found a workable solution it isn't because their isn't one, we just haven't tried very hard. His ideas on what we can do to live in balance with the environment are a huge and important step to stop the raping of the earth. He believes that instead of focusing on the end waste products we need to start at the beginning of the waste--pollution-chain. It is a design error, the materials we use could be much better.

I dream of the ideas set forth in this book becoming reality. ❤

Great ideas and examples of where the good design thinking had succeeded . Fcuss on the positive materials that are inherently good not less bad.

Sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. So this rating is a difficult one, because I agree with the principle that products should be designed with reuse and return-to-earth features in mind. But damn, I found the authors to be uninspiring and smug. The idea is so revolutionary, but I feel little motivation hearing it come from them. And some of their conclusions I think are flat out ridiculous. One of the worst offenders was the passage about how we shouldn’t explore Mars because we should never colonize it if we have everything we need here on Earth. (LOLOL.) But there were smaller things that got under my skin too. For example, I still firmly believe that we should reward people for taking steps in the right direction and attempting to do the right thing, so ideas like “‘less bad’ is no good” are too radical and ultimately unproductive in my opinion. All faults considered, the cradle-to-cradle idea is an honorable one and a worthy goal. I just don’t think the authors are the best to deliver that message (or perhaps I just wasn’t the right audience).

read this book because a co-worker recommended it, and it’s definitely not something I would ever pick up myself. Buttt it was very informative to the fact that literally every product made since the Industrial Revolution is not ethical or environmentally friendly - as a matter of fact, pretty much all products probably have chemicals or parts that could increase your risk of disease/health issues or destroy the planet. pick your poison.

yeah, this book pretty much just pissed me off and made me stressed at the same time - of course I know our impact on the earth is so destructive, but I just hate reading about it and how it has been this bad for DECADES!! although the authors did try to offer up solutions, I still finished the book feeing defeated that I can never truly be an ethical or sustainable consumer. so here’s my review: don’t read this book if you already stress about climate change on the daily; it will only add fuel to the fire.

Read this for a gently arousing description of the life and landfill span of materials. Where do they come from, where do they go, how irresistible is it to finish that sentence Cotton Eyed Joe. That said, if you look and see that this book was published over 20 years ago and how precious little things have changed for the better (and certainly gotten much worse), you may feel deflated. Should I blame the authors for that? No, that would be nuts, and yet…if you watch Frontline documentaries about the phoniness of plastic recycling and see one of the authors touting a major soda company’s commitment to its recycled plastic bottle ingredients, you may start to feel turned off, and wonder about the integrity of the authors, and since I am a millennial I struggle to utterly separate the author from the work. It was startling to see such a compromise made from a person who wrote a book that is so uncompromising, or so I thought. It just makes you wonder, since so many years have gone by, despite how trenchant their observations are, whether their recommendations are a kind of ur-text for corporate greenwashing.