Green Books Campaign: Nobel, A Century of Prize Winners

This review is part of the Green Books campaign.Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

A Reader's Respite is pleased as punch to note that Michael Worek's book Nobel: A Century of Prize Winners is printed using eco-friendly paper, but we have to be honest here....this book would be uber-cool even if it were printed on toilet paper. 

 Not so eco-friendly.  And harder to read.

Not only does Worek explain the fascinating history behind the Nobel Prize (did you know Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and his company supplied the German military during WWI and WWII?  Neither did we), but he also provides biographies of past winners and intriguing explanations of the work that led to their Nobel Prize.  This is fantabulous because, after all, there is a difference between knowing that Wolfgang Pauli won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the exclusion principle and understanding exactly what the hell the exclusion principle is (evidently it has nothing to do with marital spats...who knew?).

308 prize winners are profiled in this book and each of them are utterly fascinating.  Winners in the six categories of Peace, Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Economics are featured by year and presented by bio and their achievement. This would make a great holiday gift for anyone who loves this kind of "did you know?" information or just wants to win their next game of Trivial Pursuit.  It would also make a great gift for school-aged children....no more searching for the next essay topic.

Highly recommended!

Now who's up for a game of Trivial Pursuit?

Green Books Campaign: Fly by Wire

This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

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A Reader's Respite often feels torn on the environmental issue.

On the one hand, we live in Seattle and as such we religiously recycle, reuse and are constantly looking for different ways to minimize our impact on this poor, abused planet of ours.

On the other hand, our day job requires us to get into a big ol' jet airplane and pollute the planet in a major way.

our carbon footprint ain't exactly small, folks

But while we may not be able to control how much pollution our jet engines spew into the environment or whether or not the recycle peeps manage to actually pick up our carefully placed recycle bin this week, we can make an effort to buy environmentally-friendly books.



The book we chose for this project was Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, and the "Miracle" on the Hudson, by William Langewiesche.

It's a very technical look at the water landing in the Hudson river and it's intended audience, as evidenced the the technical jargon present, is pilots and other aviation/engineering industry folks.

So we won't bore you with the technical details here. Trust us, your eyes would glaze over and you'd slip into a coma right on the spot, although for it's intended audience the book is well-written, at times humorous and always informative..

We will say, however, that the book was printed on FSC Certified Paper.

For those of you now saying "huh?" allow us to elaborate for you:

FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council. These peeps are a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the conservation of forests. FSC certified paper originates from FSC certified wood sources. This means that the wood (or pulp) that goes into the paper comes from companies that have the FSC stamp of approval. These companies utilize sustainable foresting practices which is an important part of saving our planet.

Many publishers note when their books are printed on FSC certified paper. Take a look and see if the book you are currently reading is "green."

Although most of us may not be able to run out and buy the newest, electric, environmentally-friendly car on the market or live in an area where recycling your waste is easy and affordable, we can make a conscious effort to buy green books. It's a small step, yes, but A Reader's Respite suspects we live in a world where every little bit counts.