Synopses & Reviews
As an ecologist, Sandra Steingraber spent her professional life observing how living things interact with their environments. Now, 38 and pregnant, she had become a habitat for a population of one. Having Faith is Steingraber's exploration of the intimate ecology of motherhood. Using her scientist's eye to study the biological drama of new life being knit from the molecules of air, food, and water flowing into her body, she looks at the environmental hazards that now threaten pregnant and breastfeeding women, and examines the effects these toxins can have on a child. "Lyrical, funny, toughly scientific and unflinchingly truthful," (Booklist), Having Faith makes the metamorphosis of a few cells into a baby astonishingly vivid, and the dangers to human reproduction urgently real.
Review
"Like a cross between Rachel Carson and Oliver Sacks, Steingraber writes science as though it is poetry and prose that combines storytelling and a call to action...as powerfully relevant to men as to women, as accessible to science dolts like me as it is persuasive to the more informed." Toronto Star.
Review
"Intelligent, thoughtful and beautifully written, Steingraber's book...deserves to be called a classic." Economist
Review
"Very well written...a persuasive call to action." Mothering Magazine
Review
"Lyrical....Read it to find out why [Steingraber] is being called the next Rachel Carson." earthmatters
Review
"With the ear of a poet...Steingraber weaves the personal and the political in a startingly fresh, wholly convincing way." Brain Child
Synopsis
Using her scientist's eye to study the biological drama of new life being knit from the molecules of air, food, and water flowing into her body, the author of Living Downstream looks at the environmental hazards that now threaten pregnant and breastfeeding women, and examines the effects these toxins can have on a child.
Synopsis
As an ecologist, Sandra Steingraber spent her professional life observing how living things interact with their environments. Now, 38 and pregnant, she had become a habitat—for a population of one.
Having Faith is Steingraber's exploration of the intimate ecology of motherhood. Using her scientist's eye to study the biological drama of new life being knit from the molecules of air, food, and water flowing into her body, she looks at the environmental hazards that now threaten pregnant and breastfeeding women, and examines the effects these toxins can have on a child. Having Faith makes the metamorphosis of a few cells into a baby astonishingly vivid, and the dangers to human reproduction urgently real.
About the Author
Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., received her doctorate in biology from the University of Michigan and taught for several years at Columbia College, Chicago. Recently, she briefed U.N. delegates in Geneva on breast milk contamination. She is currently on the faculty at Cornell University.