Book discontinued
by Ten Speed Press

More than Eco-Sex, it's Eco-Life

Best for those who are really into going green with their whole lives, Eco Sex gives you lost of tips and even recipes. If you're a beginner to going green; get this book, but save it to read after you've learned some of the basics first.
Published:
Pros
Recipes, good tips and suggestions
Cons
can read like a buying guide at times
Rating by reviewer:
3
extremely useful review

About author

Stehanie Iris Weiss is a author who's been writing for many years. She's written other books on veganism and yoga.

What really impressed me though was her interaction with readers. When I first started reading Eco-Sex, I was a bit taken aback by what *in my opinion* is a very extreme stance in the introduction. A bit off put by this I tweeted about it. Not long after I actually had a response from Weiss! We then talked a bit about it and she encouraged me to keep writing; and also stated that she appreciated my feedback and looked forward to reading my review of her book.

Yay on the feedback! Holy crap on the knowing the freakin' author will be reading my review!!

Content / Style / Audience

Called Eco-Sex the book is supposed to be about "greening" up your sex life. However, you don't much get into discussion of sex and sexuality until about page 102. The first 100 pages or so of the book talk about going green with everything from cosmetics to shoes.

There are many practical suggestions and even recipes for things like an exfoliating body scrub. She also goes into detail on chemicals that are bad for the body, things you should avoid and (which I think is really awesome) discusses third party companies that provide guides and lists of eco friendly products and companies and also those that have shady business practices. However there were some lists where she was discussing chemicals you should avoid and for most of the chemicals she explained why. With some though she simply says "avoid like the plague" or something similar but doesn't explain why. Not being a fan of blind faith, I'd like to know why I should or shouldn't avoid something. (Though I can look it up online, if she's going to explain why we should avoid so many other items, I feel that that item too should be explained.)

Here are the chapters:
1 - Everything you always wanted to know about eco-regulation but were afraid to ask
2 - Eco-gorgeousness: much more than skin deep
3 - Eco-fashion: what to wear until your clothes come off
4 - Eco-licious Aphrodesiac Foods: the cream of the crop
5 - Are diamonds really a girl's best friend?
6 - Sexual Healing: or Big Pharma VS Your Big O; How naturally healthy lovers ditch the little ble pill in favor of green
7 - Make Eco-Sex Safe Sex
8 - Looking for Mr GoodPlanet How to find and keep carbon neutral love
9 - Eco Babes in Toyland; Green playthings for the bedroom
10 - bed bath and way beyond; eco-sexing your boudoir
11 - the eco parenting movement; now that you're plus one you'd better make green your mantra

There's also appendices, an index and an introduction.

There are several things that I really liked about this book. First Weiss is kind enough to have sources. Second she has little parts on the bottoms of pages where she explains things such as phthalates, genetically modified organisms and fair trade. Thirdly she speaks in a knowledgeable way but also in a way that we can understand. If there's a term we may not understand; she explains it.

The book was designed to help you go green in your sex life. And Weiss gives plenty of information on how to do that. Unfortunately the book really should have been called "eco-life" as the first half is not much about sex but about the rest of your life.

Not a bad thing! More info is needed on this so it can permeate society; just think that info should have been either pared back, or the book should have been re-titled and formulated differently.
    • Eco-friendly
    • Non-fiction

Design

The book has 11 chapters and 3 sections. The sections are for courtship, sex and adventure. With the courtship section, I can see how Weiss was able to sort of make it a whole book about sex.

The book appears to be made out of all recycled material; however I didn't see if and where it was mentioned that it was; typically it is.

It's organized in a way that's very understandable with topics making sense for which chapter and section they're in. The little info blurbs with definitions are set apart nicely with a different color background and text. I wish though that more information had been put in rather than so much information on companies, products and brands. I can see, totally, why you'd mention third party companies that give lists and such on what products really are organic and such, but to then also list pages of those companies I think is a bit much. By giving us the third parties that monitor products we can get their lists and research ourselves.

This is a book about going green; not a shopping guide. Some chapters it seemed had more pages dedicated to products rather than discussion about recycling and going green.

There are no pictures, but the cover is very tasteful. It's not at all discreet though.
    • Not very discreet cover
    • Small size
    • Soft cover

Personal comments

This book, I feel, is not for a beginner to the green movement. If you're already starting to live green and want to go more in depth on it, then this book is for you. Weiss explains things well, for the most part, and gives very good tips, advice and recipes on more ways to go green.

However some of the chapters read like little more than a buying guide with more information on products and stores than the actual topic at hand.

Experience

The introduction really turned me off this book and I ended up putting it down for a couple days before I could pick it back up again. The feeling that I got reading the intro is that if you don't green *everything* from hemp clothes to green furniture, if even one thing you do is not green such as use latex condoms, then everything else you do is for nothing. That really got under my skin.

Sort of gave the feeling that if you don't go 110% green it's not worth even recycling your aluminum cans. However that *does* ease up a bit as she begins going into more detailed information and giving you suggestions and ideas that you can do around your home.

If you get that feeling too, just give the book a break but keep plugging away at it. It really is worth the info you get!!!
This product was provided at a discounted price in exchange for an unbiased review. This review is in compliance with the FTC guidelines.

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Comments
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  • Contributor: Airen Wolf
    Sounds like a useful book even if it is a bit slanted almost to the point of eco terrorism! Thanks for the review
  • Contributor: darthkitt3n
    I was wondering what this book was like. The 110% part sounds a bit annoying to me. Great review!
  • Contributor: Kayla
    Oh poo. I was really hoping this was focused on just sex. I still own it though, and I'll have to read it next.
  • Contributor: KnK
    Wow, that sounds intimidating having the author read your review...Oy.

    Thank you for the review. It sounds like an interesting read and I'm particularly interested about the introduction...What would be a good alternative to latex then...?
  • Contributor: P'Gell
    What about the sex?

    I've read a lot of books about subjects like this, and went through my own (rather obnoxious) uber Green phase about 15-20 years ago. I'm sure I was a joy to be around, hate-staring at people's disposable diapers and making comments about their plastic garbage bags and sugar eating. I can see why you were put off a little.

    Also, books that have detailed product lists tend to become obsolete in only a few months to a year! Companies go out of business, new products come on the market, things fall out of favor, someone finds out a once "safe" materials is now the new Dioxin etc!

    Thanks for the review. I'll skip this book.
  • Contributor: Jessica Elizabeth
    @AirenWolf - Yea, I it's worth it if you're interested in moving to an eco-friendly life

    @DarthKitt3n - It can get a bit annoying, but once you move past the introduction it's not quite so bad.

    @Mistress Kay - Me too That was a bummer, but the other info provided is useful.

    @twisted finger - to be honest I can't remember what the alternative to latex was, if she gave one. I sorry!!

    @P'Gell - Yea, I'm disappointed in how the first half was things like shoes and clothing, as I bought the book for it being on eco-sex. And I agree on that about product lists.

    Thanks for the comments guys!! ^^
  • Contributor: karay123
    Thanks for the great review! Think I'll keep looking...
  • Contributor: Lola Park
    I must have this
  • Contributor: bayosgirl
    ty
  • Contributor: darkkitty
    Nice review!
  • Contributor: hippie
    helpful
  • Contributor: VelvetDragon
    Thanks for the review, it's very helpful! I still might buy this book, but I am a little wary.
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