When I embarked on my piecemeal reprise and commentary on "Cradle to Cradle," the important 2002 book by Michael Braungart and William McDonough, one of my background assumptions was that I would cruise through the book in order. But I ran across something last night that made me want to jump ahead.

When authors Michael Braungart and William McDonough conceived the title of their 2002 book "Cradle to Cradle," they were playing off the well-worn phrase "from cradle to grave," which they apply to the model of manufacturing since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

From page 27, after a description of a dump:

Many readers, I would think, are familiar with the 2002 thought-changing book, "Cradle to Cradle," by Virginia architect William McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart, a founder of Germany's Green Party and an activist of wide influence. I have read most of it once — I had to return it to the library or risk punitive measures — and I'm just picking it up again, from the beginning, now that I've decided that this, clearly is a book to keep, not borrow.