Product Description

Produced behind closed doors, disposed of discreetly, hidden by euphemism, excrement is rarely out in the open in 'civilised' society, but the world of waste - and the people who deal with it, work with it and in it - is a rich one. This book takes us underground to the sewers of Paris and London and overground, to meet the heroes of India's sanitation movement, the Japanese genius at the cutting edge of toilet technology, and the biosolids lobbying team. With a journalist's nose for a story, and a campaigner's desire for change, Rose George also addresses the politics of this under-reported social and environmental effluent, and the consequences of our reluctance to talk about it. Witty, serious and original, "The Big Necessity" proves that excrement doesn't have to be - and shouldn't be - a dirty word.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #863390 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Format: Import
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
"'Few are the writers brave and bold enough to take on so difficult - but so endlessly fascinating - a topic as the story of human waste. Rose George has risen to this particular challenge, and her book, like a literary treatment farm, turns the completely unpalatable into something utterly irresistible.' Simon Winchester"

About the Author
ROSE GEORGE is a freelance writer and journalist whose first book, A Life Removed: Hunting for Refuge in the Modern World, was long-listed for the Ulysses Reportage Prize. She contributes regularly to the LRB, Guardian, Independent and others. She has reported on Saddam Hussein's birthday party, Afghan beauty salons and the alternative world cup final between Bhutan and Montserrat.

Customer Reviews

Waste matters
What is the cheapest toilet in developing countries? It is a plastic bag. "Kenyans call them helicopter toilets. Tanzanians prefer flying toilets. Whatever the name, the technique is the same..." Go. Wrap. Throw.

The plastic bag is one step up from open defecation, which according to the author, is still widely practiced in India.

We live in what the author calls a `flushed and plumbed' nation. It is hard to believe that 2.6 billion people must do without a toilet--what the U.N. delicately refers to as `access to clean water.' However, we Americans shouldn't be congratulating ourselves on our bathroom habits. Really advanced countries like Japan think that toilet paper is gross. "Japanese toilets can, variously, check your blood pressure, play music, wash and dry your [back and front parts] by means of an in-toilet nozzle that sprays water and warm air, suck smelly ions from the air, switch on a light for you...put the seat lid down for you (a function known as the `marriage-saver'), and flush away your excreta without requiring anything as old-fashioned as a tank."

"The Big Necessity" is a serious book about "the unmentionable world of human waste and why it matters." Rose George, its author is by turns courageous, humorous (although she tries hard to avoid potty jokes), and indefatigable. Different chapters find her exploring the sewage disposal systems (or lack thereof) in Thailand, China, India, Africa, and even the sewers of London (37,000 miles) and New York (6,000 miles).

She also has a genius for the telling anecdote: when describing a slum family in Nehru Nagar, India she says: "They had one dim room for six people, smaller than the average American parking space..."

When struggling into a pair of `crotch-high waders' in preparation for her trip into a London sewer, she makes mention of "the online Yahoo! Sewer-boots fetish group..."

If you don't believe `waste matters' just take a look at Zimbabwe, which used to have one of the best waste disposal systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its sewage system was neglected by an inept government, and now over 3,000 citizens (as of 02/01/2009) have died of cholera. The same thing could happen in London or New York City. It almost did happen in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This really is an important book.

We've all got to do it
My dad thought this was a hysterical choice for his birthday, and says he really enjoyed it.

Somewhat Interesting, Too Anecdotal
"The Big Necessity" contains a fair amount of interesting information. Two billion, six-hundred million people lack sanitation (including 1.7 million in the U.S.) - lacking sanitation is defined as no outhouse, bucket, or box. The number of children killed by diarrhea exceeds that number killed in armed conflict since WWII, and 90% of that is caused by fecally contaminated food or water. Ninety percent of the world's human sewage ends up untreated in oceans, rivers, and lakes.

The average human produces 77 lbs. of excrement and 132 gallons of urine per year; add toilet flushes and the total reaches 4,000 gallons per year.

Restaurant-dumped fat solidifies and blocks sewers. N.Y.C. has 14 waste water treatment plants, vs. 3 in London. The American Society of Civil Engineers graded U.S. waste water infrastructure as D- in 2005. Rain can overwhelm sewer systems designed to include runoff water.

Japanese toilets are hi-tech - warmed seats, and washing and drying after used.

Pakistan spends 47X the amount on water/sanitation for defense, yet loses 120,000 to diarrhea each year.

About 90% of China's rural population's excrement is sprayed onto fields. Recently it has begun installing bio-gas digesters connected to their toilets, and about 40% ($170) of the cost is paid by government. Benefits include free cooking gas, 64% fewer flies, improved crop yields, and reduced toxicity of remaining sludge.

Sludge from American waste water plants is often used on crops; however, its acceptability is complicated by the presence of heavy metals and conflicting rules regarding their use. (Eg. Sewer workers should not be exposed to these toxins, but children near fields using the sludge are OK.) Some European nations now ban the use of sludge on fields.

The downside of "The Big Necessity" is that its anecdotal nature makes it difficult for readers to sometimes place facts into perspective, and some of the facts seem misstated.