Books

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Count Down

Dr Shanna Swan with Stacey Colino. Published 2021. Available on Amazon UK and in most bookshops.

Count Down is the book that brought Dr Shanna Swan's decades of reproductive research to a mainstream audience. It covers the global decline in sperm counts and fertility rates, the specific chemicals responsible, how they work inside the body, and what individuals can do to meaningfully reduce their exposure. Swan writes with unusual clarity for a working scientist, and co-author Stacey Colino ensures the book remains accessible throughout without dumbing down the science.

The book covers phthalates and their anti-androgenic effects on fetal development, BPA and its hormone-mimicking properties, PFAS and their accumulation in the body, pesticide residues in food, and the practical steps Swan herself takes to reduce exposure in her own daily life. It is the single most comprehensive and readable guide to the link between everyday chemicals and reproductive health currently available.

Exposure

Rob Bilott. Published 2019. Available on Amazon UK and in most bookshops.

Rob Bilott's own account of nearly three decades fighting DuPont over PFAS contamination. The book covers how he discovered the contamination while representing a West Virginia farmer whose cattle were dying, how he obtained DuPont's internal documents proving the company had known about the health risks for decades, and the lengthy legal battle that eventually resulted in over a billion dollars in compensation for affected communities and the EPA's first binding drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals.

Exposure is more than a legal thriller. It documents in precise detail how a company can know that a chemical it manufactures is harming people, suppress that knowledge, and continue producing it for decades with the help of a regulatory system that was not designed to catch it. The 2019 film Dark Waters, listed in our Documentaries section, is based on this book.

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson. First published 1962. Available on Amazon UK and in most bookshops.

Silent Spring is the book that started modern environmentalism. Published in 1962, it documented how the widespread use of synthetic pesticides, particularly DDT, was devastating bird populations across America by moving through the food chain and preventing reproduction. Carson wrote it at a time when the chemical industry was considered an unqualified force for progress, and the book's reception was fierce. Industry lobbyists tried to discredit her and suppress publication. It was serialised in The New Yorker, became an immediate bestseller, and directly contributed to the eventual ban on DDT in the United States in 1972.

More than sixty years later, Silent Spring reads as both a warning that was partially heeded and a reminder of how much remains unresolved. The specific chemicals Carson wrote about are gone, but the pattern she identified, industry introducing chemicals faster than science can assess their effects, with regulators slow to respond, is exactly the pattern playing out today with PFAS, phthalates and the full range of compounds covered on this site. Jeremy Grantham has said that he would like to write something that does for chemical toxicity today what Silent Spring did for pesticides in 1962. That ambition is the reason this site exists.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. First published 2009, updated edition 2019. Available on Amazon UK and in most bookshops.

Two Canadian environmentalists deliberately expose themselves to everyday household products for one week, taking blood and urine samples before, during and after, to measure exactly how much chemical exposure a normal week of modern life produces. The results are alarming. Three days of eating tinned tuna more than doubles mercury levels. Two days of using standard personal care products containing phthalates produces a measurable spike in urinary phthalate levels. The specific chemicals they test include Teflon compounds, BPA, triclosan, brominated flame retardants and pesticides.

What makes Slow Death by Rubber Duck distinctive is its tone. It is genuinely readable, often funny, and consistently empowering rather than despairing. Smith and Lourie are clear throughout that exposure is not inevitable and that individual choices make a measurable difference, which is exactly the position Purify The World takes. The book also covers the specific ways in which chemical industry lobbying influences both regulation and public perception, giving useful context for why many of these chemicals remain in widespread use despite the available evidence.

MORE TO COME

We add new titles as we read and verify them. If you have read something you think belongs here, send it to support.purifytheworld@gmail.com and we will take a look.