<P> While Carson gave accurate accounts of the scientific consensus at the time she wrote the book, much has changed in a half century . For example, the linkage between agricultural chemicals and disease, especially cancer, remains "frustratingly murky ." Charles C. Mann argued in 2018: </P> <Dl> <Dd> Carson compounded the problem by combining her overconfidence with another then - prevalent ecological error, the belief that natural systems tend to evolve into a balanced state, a community of interconnected species that persists in perpetual equilibrium unless disturbed by humans...In this view, ecosystems have a place and function for every creature and every species in them, and all work together as a kind of "superorganism ." When people wipe out species, they are, in effect, destroying the vital organs of this superorganism . They are heedlessly upsetting the balance of nature, which could bring down the whole ecosystem--a spiritual as well as ecological catastrophe . Unfortunately, nature is not, in fact, in balance . Instead ecosystems are temporary, chaotic assemblages of species, with relations between them and their environment in constant flux . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> Carson compounded the problem by combining her overconfidence with another then - prevalent ecological error, the belief that natural systems tend to evolve into a balanced state, a community of interconnected species that persists in perpetual equilibrium unless disturbed by humans...In this view, ecosystems have a place and function for every creature and every species in them, and all work together as a kind of "superorganism ." When people wipe out species, they are, in effect, destroying the vital organs of this superorganism . They are heedlessly upsetting the balance of nature, which could bring down the whole ecosystem--a spiritual as well as ecological catastrophe . Unfortunately, nature is not, in fact, in balance . Instead ecosystems are temporary, chaotic assemblages of species, with relations between them and their environment in constant flux . </Dd> <P> Silent Spring has been featured in many lists of the best nonfiction books of the twentieth century . It was fifth in the Modern Library List of Best 20th - Century Nonfiction and number 78 in the National Review's 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century . In 2006, Silent Spring was named one of the 25 greatest science books of all time by the editors of Discover Magazine . In 2012, the American Chemical Society designated the legacy of Silent Spring a National Historic Chemical Landmark at Chatham University in Pittsburgh . </P>

What was the impact of rachel carson's book silent spring