Review: It's Easy Being Green

It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living
Crissy Trask, published by Gibbs-Smith, £6.19 from Amazon

It's Easy Being Green scores points right off for being obviously printed on recycled paper, with a very simple non-glossy cover.  Looking at it, there is absolutely no reason all paperbacks shouldn't be printed like this.  Okay, the cover's not, like, waterproof.  Most of us abuse the hell out of our paperbacks anyhow and a slightly more durable cover isn't worth the environmental cost.  It's also softer and easier to open than a typical new book - it feels pre-broken in, like a good pair of jeans.  It also really has the feel of something intended to be carried around with you and consulted, like a travel guide - it seems to take the Handbook appellation fairly seriously.  So, do the contents, based on Trask's website GreenMatters, meet that idea?

While there's indisputably some useful information in this book, and it's inexpensive enough (and commendably enough constructed) to be worth a look, as with all handbooks it's a mixed bag.  There's a nice assortment of green quangos and businesses and websites, plus some useful definitions of more abtruse technical terms.  However, there's a lotta white space, especially on the 'Eco-tips' pages, and the tips in general are a little too obvious.  Shall we remark on the irony of excessive white space in a book on how to live more greenly?  Tsk tsk, ma'am.  It's a pity, since it seems like the same book with around 25% more material would've been genuinely valuable instead of just a casual introduction.

[GT]