Customer Reviews
A good read but very gloomy - By: T. Thanh, 21 May 2008 
This is a good read but I find the way he writes a little boring & not so inspirational as I had hoped. I have seen him on several live lectures on the subject & they're all "exactly" the same, monotone gloomy catalog of failures by mankind but not necessarily a lot of things that we can do to make it better.
A manifesto for new consumer.... - By: Brendan Dunphy, 16 Mar 2008 
Cradle to Cradle is a manifesto for the new consumer - a mall-nirvana of non toxic products, endlessly `up-cycled' & replaceable; sustainability without the need to change our consuming habits.
Shrugging off alternative strategies as too dour & depressing, the authors put their faithin the belief that we can design our way out of the current predicament of toxic & crude products & create a virtuous circle of product creation, use & "up-cycling" to preserve precious resources & reduce our impact on the planet.
This is an appealing vision & one has to admire the work of co-authors Bill & Michael over many yearsin developing & testing their theory. But I was left more than a little disappointed as I realised not just the practical limits of their approach but also the philosophy that seemed to underlie their proposition.
This is a manifesto for accelerated consumerism, an evolutionary attempt to overcome the problems we have created through ignorance & myopia. At no point do the authors seem to question the wisdom of consumerismin a shrinking world or its instant appeal & ramifications for a global population of almost 7billion today & maybe 9 billion by 2050.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but even if every product complied with the cradle-to-cradle philosophy we would still be an awfully long way from a sustainable, let alone just world. I can't help but feel that even if the Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy was able to generate the abundance of endlessly re-cycled products it proposes, we will still require a more fundamental appraisal of why we want so much `stuff' we do not needin the first place, regardless of how it is designed & produced.
I am reminded of the Irish farmer's response to the request for directions from a lost tourist, "Well, if I was you, I wouldn't be starting out from here." Making existing product's more eco-friendly & efficient sounds a very worthy goal but maybe the first question we should be asking is, "Do we really need themin the first place?"
Inspiring - By: Richard Hunt, 12 Oct 2006 An inspiring read that has left me thirsty for more knowledge on this fascinating subject.
Brilliant - By: Ian R. Lambert, 30 Mar 2006 Speaking as a lecturerin design (Napier University, Edinburgh) his book should be required reading for any studentin design or architecture.
Very informative, up to date & deals with the reality of sustainabiltyin design, which is NOT about raiding skips.
Highly Recommended! - By: Rolf Dobelli, 06 Jun 2004 This is an extraordinary & unlikely book. It is not printed on paper, but on a waterproof polymer with the heft of good paper & more strength, a substance that reflects the right amount of light, yet holds the ink fast. It seems like an impossible fantasy, but so does much of what the authors propose about design & ecology. They speak with the calm certainty of the ecstatic visionary. Could buildings generate oxygen like trees? Could running shoes release nutrients into the earth? It seems like science fiction. Yet, here is this book, on this paper. The authors make a strong case for change, & just when you're about to say, "if only," they cite a corporation that is implementing their ideas. However, it's hard to believe their concepts would work on a large scale,in the face of powerful economic disincentives. We believe authors do aim some of their criticism at obsolete marketing & manufacturing philosophies, but the overall critique is well worth reading.
