The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
"One smart book . . . delving deep into the history and implications of a daily act that dare not speak its name." ―NewsweekAcclaimed as "extraordinary" (The New York Times) and "a classic" (Los Angeles Times), The Big Necessity is on its way to removing the taboo on bodily waste―something common to all and as natural as breathing. We prefer not to talk about it, but we should―even those of us who take care of our business in pristine, sanitary conditions. Disease spread by waste kills more...
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“One smart book . . . delving deep into the history and implications of a daily act that dare not speak its name.” —NewsweekAcclaimed as “extraordinary” (The New York Times) and “a classic” (Los Angeles Times), The Big Necessity is on its way to removing the taboo on bodily waste—something common to all and as natural as breathing. We prefer not to talk about it, but we should—even those of us who take care of our business in pristine, sanitary conditions. Disease spread by waste kills more people worldwide every year than any other single cause of death. Even in America, nearly two million people have no access to an indoor toilet. Yet the subject remains unmentionable.Moving from the underground sewers of Paris, London, and New York (an infrastructure disaster waiting to happen) to an Indian slum where ten toilets are shared by 60,000 people, The Big Necessity breaks the silence, revealing everything that matters about how people do—and don’t—deal with their own waste. With razor-sharp wit and crusading urgency, mixing levity with gravity, Rose George has turned the subject we like to avoid into a cause with the most serious of consequences. The New York Times - Dwight Garner Ms. George is the kind of writer—tenacious and clever—who will put you in mind of both Jessica Mitford (in her expose The American Way of Death) and Erin Brockovich. She is angry about what she discovers, and she offers the kind of memorable details that make her points stick…It's a busy, filthy, complicated world to which Ms. George has turned her estimable attentions. She is convincing when she writes, "to be uninterested in the public toilet"—or the private one, for that matter—"is to be uninterested in life."
Introduction Examining the Unmentionables 11 In the Sewers 152 The Robo- Toilet Revolution 393 2.6 Billion 654 Going to the Sulabh 895 China's Biogas Boom 1096 A Public Necessity 1297 The Battle of Biosolids 1498 Open Defecation - Free India 1739 In the Cities 19910 The End 225Notes 239Further Reading 275Filmography 277Acknowledgments 279Index 281
