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 | | The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters | The DJ Groove Product Guide | | Home. You are here: Books / The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
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by Rose George
from Metropolitan Books
| | | List Price: | $26.00 | | Price: | $17.16 | | You save: | $8.84 (34%) | | | Media: | Hardcover | | Availability: | Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks |
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Editorial ReviewAn utterly original exploration of the world of human waste that will surprise, outrage--and entertain Produced behind closed doors, disposed of discreetly, and hidden by euphemism, bodily waste is something common to all and as natural as breathing, yet we prefer not to talk about it. But we should--even those of us who take care of our business in pristine, sanitary conditions. For it's not only in developing countries that human waste is a major public health threat: population growth is taxing even the most advanced sewage systems, and the disease spread by waste kills more people worldwide every year than any other single cause of death. Even in America, 1.95 million people have no access to an indoor toilet. Yet the subject remains unmentionable. The Big Necessity takes aim at the taboo, revealing everything that matters about how people do--and don't--deal with their own waste. Moving from the deep underground sewers of Paris, London, and New York--an infrastructure disaster waiting to happen--to an Indian slum where ten toilets are shared by 60,000 people, Rose George stops along the way to explore the potential saviors: China's five million biogas digesters, which produce energy from waste; the heroes of third world sanitation movements; the inventor of the humble Car Loo; and the U.S. Army's personal lasers used by soldiers to zap their feces in the field. With razor-sharp wit and crusading urgency, mixing levity with gravity, Rose George has turned the subject we like to avoid into a cause with the most serious of consequences.
Customer Reviews:
- Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
- This book should be a best-seller
As for the organization of this book, I'd give it 3 stars. But the subject matter is so important that this should be a best-seller, on every thinking person's reading list.
The book begins with some historic background on sewers, and how sewers and the flush toilet drastically improved public health. I would have enjoyed more of this. There's an overly-long section on high-tech Japanese toilets and why they haven't become popular elsewhere. I would have preferred less of this. I don't want a high-tech... more info
- Waste leaving a little to be desired
Ms. George provides in almost travelogue form a view of how parts of the world, both well off and not, handle human waste disposal. The sporadic histories she provides, particularly of the early British attempts at sewage disposal, are very interesting. But whether she fears a real description of how certain simple improvements to toilets in improverished countries and how other improvements in modern ones, such as the toilet bidet seat, actually work might scare off readers or whether she herself did not... more info
- Achilles Heel found in Japanese toilets?
In fairness, I must say that I haven't read the entire book, merely some excerpts in a NYT review (although I look forward to reading the whole book soon). I just wanted to share this short(circuited) story from the AP re: Japanese toilets (bidets, actually). The author takes issue with the use of tissue, suggesting that the Japanese high-tech solution (which involves toilets of sufficient complexity as to develop their own civilization one day) is superior. The Japanese prefer water to TP and consider... more info
- An entertaining story of toilets
Although I have often read in the bathroom, I never thought to read such an interesting and, dare I say it, entertaining book about defecation and waste removal and treatment.
All humor aside (and I guess its taboo is why one feels compelled to try to be humorous about this subject), this is actually a very serious subject. The author tells us how the creation of sewage systems, and flush toilets, has probably led to a hugh improvement in life expectancy, since fecal related illness was, and remains in... more info
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