The World Without Us
by: Alan Weisman
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Product Description:
A penetrating, page-turning tour of a post-human Earth
In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity’s impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us.In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe.The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York’s subways would start eroding the city’s foundations, and how, as the world’s cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dali Lama, and paleontologists---who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths---Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth’s tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman’s narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that needn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has.
In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity’s impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us.In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe.The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York’s subways would start eroding the city’s foundations, and how, as the world’s cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dali Lama, and paleontologists---who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths---Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth’s tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman’s narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that needn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - How nature would destroy cities
The book starts with a scenario where humans are suddenly removed from the earth, and then details how "mankind's" world will revert back to nature. Basic descriptions of how a typical suburban house will gradually be subsumed by local vegetation give way to more detailed descriptions of places such as Manhattan and Houston. The author also takes us down to other places including a abandoned resort in Cyprus and a lost Mayan civilization.In parallel, he describes the 'past world' before humans, ... Read More
Rating: - very good but...
Weisman chose an interesting topic & i must i was both disappointed and pleased at the same time. It was disappointing because i could see he could have diversified the topics, extended it further into other countries. At times he delved deep into too much details when he could've covered other parts in the world, like the chapter on ancient wonders, i found too much details on the panama canal, while leaving other equally interesting wonders like the Eiffel tower, the mexican pyramids & the Acropolis. ... Read More
Rating: 
- A World Without Us
I bought this book as a gift and it was well received. I haven't read it personally but I am told it is well written and intriguing.
Rating: - Mother Nature's revenge?
This is a subversive book in the sense that the core idea is both simple and insidious - what would happen if Mankind just disappeared?
The answer is usually interesting and often horrifying, depending on the specific `what/where/when' that Alan Weisman is describing, but perhaps most importantly, 'The World Without Us' is fantastically readable, especially if you have a leaning toward things technological, and particularly the impact of our 'plastic fantastic' society.
From decay ... Read More
Rating: - Engaging, environmentally conscious book
The author does a great job presenting the material in an unbiased way that engages and draws the reader in. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested an engrossing, thoughtful piece of nonfiction about the environmental processes that shape our world and the artificial mechanisms that are slowly undermining it.
- How nature would destroy citiesThe book starts with a scenario where humans are suddenly removed from the earth, and then details how "mankind's" world will revert back to nature. Basic descriptions of how a typical suburban house will gradually be subsumed by local vegetation give way to more detailed descriptions of places such as Manhattan and Houston. The author also takes us down to other places including a abandoned resort in Cyprus and a lost Mayan civilization.In parallel, he describes the 'past world' before humans, ... Read More
- very good but...Weisman chose an interesting topic & i must i was both disappointed and pleased at the same time. It was disappointing because i could see he could have diversified the topics, extended it further into other countries. At times he delved deep into too much details when he could've covered other parts in the world, like the chapter on ancient wonders, i found too much details on the panama canal, while leaving other equally interesting wonders like the Eiffel tower, the mexican pyramids & the Acropolis. ... Read More
- A World Without UsI bought this book as a gift and it was well received. I haven't read it personally but I am told it is well written and intriguing.
- Mother Nature's revenge?This is a subversive book in the sense that the core idea is both simple and insidious - what would happen if Mankind just disappeared?
The answer is usually interesting and often horrifying, depending on the specific `what/where/when' that Alan Weisman is describing, but perhaps most importantly, 'The World Without Us' is fantastically readable, especially if you have a leaning toward things technological, and particularly the impact of our 'plastic fantastic' society.
From decay ... Read More
- Engaging, environmentally conscious bookThe author does a great job presenting the material in an unbiased way that engages and draws the reader in. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested an engrossing, thoughtful piece of nonfiction about the environmental processes that shape our world and the artificial mechanisms that are slowly undermining it.
