“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder… he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”
– Rachel Carson

Perhaps the finest nature writer of the 20th century, Rachel Carson (1907-1964) is remembered as the woman who challenged the notion that humans could obtain mastery over nature by chemicals, bombs and space travel. Her book Silent Spring (1962) warned of the dangers to all natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides such as DDT, and questioned the scope and direction of modern science.