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Garbage Land
On The Secret Trail Of Trash
by Elizabeth Royte


8.5

based on 14 reviews
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based on 2 votes
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Official Publisher Site

What happens after you throw out the trash? Royte takes the reader every step of the way along the trail of garbage, examining the business, societal and scientific aspects of waste disposal.

Little, Brown, 320 pages
07/13/2005
$24.95

ISBN: 0316738263

Nonfiction
Current Events & Politics

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Library Journal Irwin Weintraub

Royte's exploration of the economic, territorial, and ecological perspectives of garbage disposal adds up to a fascinating trail of trash. Recommended for all who throw things away. [1 Jul 2005, p. 117]

Washington Post Jabari Asim

As impressive as Royte's doggedness and investigative skill is the care she takes with language.

Publishers Weekly

A comprehensive, readable foray into a world we'd prefer not to heed -- but should.

Kirkus Reviews

Royte is a natural storyteller and skillful natural historian. Few others could have pulled off turning our feculence into fascination.

The New Yorker

An impassioned attack on overconsumption in America.

Houston Chronicle Rachel Graves

A (mostly) fascinating book about garbage.

Boston Globe Glenn C. Altschuler

Surrounded by sobering statistics, Royte is a modern-day, modernist muckraker, exhibiting more irony, realism, and resignation than righteous indignation

Chicago Sun-Times Gary Wisby

Anyone who cares about the environment half as much as Royte does should read this book. Then, recycle it. Or better yet, give it away.

Christian Science Monitor Clayton Collins

There's little waste in Royte's winning words... Seldom has garbage been handled with such care.

San Francisco Chronicle Tess Taylor

Royte has opened an important query and begun to highlight the weird problem of waste and wasting and the odd systems and costs of a society that values and then devalues material objects so quickly.

Entertainment Weekly Nicholas Fonseca

Royte recounts her adventures in detailed -- if overearnest -- prose that's alive with observation

The New York Times William Grimes

[Royte's] argument is moral rather than economic.

The New York Times Book Review Neil Genzlinger

Royte sounds smart; it's hard for the reader not to wonder what else she might have done with all those hours she spent washing out her used yogurt containers.

Bookslut James Campbell Martin

Garbage Land is excellently written and doggedly researched and reported, and Royte is a funny and observant companion. I only wish she had made a few more judgments to help me make my own.

The average user rating for this book is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Peter K gave it a9:
You make it, Royte tells you where it all goes. A fun book about a dismal business.

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Garbage Land On The Secret Trail Of Trash by Elizabeth Royte

Garbage Land
On The Secret Trail Of Trash
by Elizabeth Royte