Eyes Wide Open
“Its clarity and scope provide an excellent starting point for classroom discussion or independent reading.”
Science
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2014 for Teens
Finalist for the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature
Paul Fleischman offers teens an environmental wake-up call and a tool kit for decoding the barrage of conflicting information confronting them.
We’re living in an “ah-ha” moment. Take 250 years of human ingenuity and add abundant fossil fuels. The result is a population and lifestyle never before seen. The downsides weren’t visible for centuries, but now they are. Suddenly everything needs rethinking: suburbs, cars, fast food, cheap prices. It’s a changed world.
This book explains it, not with isolated facts but the principles driving attitudes and events, from vested interests to denial to big-country syndrome. Because money is as important as molecules in the environment, science is joined with politics, history, and psychology to provide the briefing needed to comprehend the twenty-first century.
Praise