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.
Practically Green by Micaela Preston is an easy to read book with simplified, not dumb-downed, explanations about how to live an eco-friendly life. It is a good beginner book written in a friendly conversational tone. The author’s advice for living green is a step-by-step, guilt-free, do what you can approach. Her ideas and tips are also practical (like the title of the book), simple and affordable.
As I read Mrs. Preston’s book I felt she understood my way of living and green living options. I did not feel pressured to live green or judgment for not living greener, nor did she overwhelm me with information about living green. Her definitions section of ingredients and green labels are very helpful. The DIY projects are easy, even for someone like me, to do. Her recipes include a lot of the ingredients I already have at home or can easily get. Her Even Greener and Practically Green side notes are a nice touch and filled with quick bits of green living information.
My favorite part about the whole book is the ability to turn to page 206 and look at the resource guide. I have read many green living books that don’t do this and it drives me crazy since when I need to go back to a resource mentioned in a book I have to go back to individual pages and slowly scan for these resources. Not so in Mrs. Preston’s book. Her resources, which include: all the products, websites, companies and other information she spoke about in the book, are neatly listed chapter by chapter in the back of the book. As a reader I can easily turn to the back of the book and look for these links, phone numbers, etc. and then use them for further information.
The only part in the book I did not relate to was page 183. This is not her fault. The bulk buying option are just not available where I live, at least not that I know of, but I would love for them to be an option and I would love to know how to make them an option. Also at times the information in the book was a bit repetitive, but because of the books design and the option for readers to jump to any section at will, this is very helpful. Still, because I read the book from cover to cover, I found myself scanning past the repeated information.
How green is this book? Besides the valuable eco-friendly advice in the book, the book is also printed on recycled paper. It was also mailed to me in eco-friendly packaging. Frankly, a green living book not printed on eco-friendly paper or not mailed in eco-friendly recycled packaging is hypocrisy, so I was happy to see this wasn’t the case with Practically Green.
Overall I enjoyed the book. As a person that lives a practically green life already I found that this book still taught me valuable information to help me improve my green living methods.
For more on Green Books campaign: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews click here.
I like these beginner’s guides to eco-living. Thanks for the green review.
Thanks for this review. I’m totally with you. Without a chunky resources section, a book like this would be an exercise in frustration. If you’re already living a green life and still found helpful info, that’s great.