“Words to live by:” Carson’s other Writing

Abstract

Carson repeatedly said that writing about nature was her avocation as well as her vocation. Although her major writings are her three books about the ocean and Silent Spring, she wrote many shorter texts for the government agency at which she worked as a fisheries expert and editor, as well as for a variety of newspaper and magazine publications. Additionally, she delivered speeches as the recipient of numerous awards granted her by various environmental and professional organizations. For her all of these—government brochures and reports, essays, and speeches—just as for her books, Carson compiled meticulous research and revised carefully, usually reading her words aloud as she wrote and re-wrote in order to achieve the results she desired.