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The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
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The World Without Us

by Alan Weisman

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2,235811,206 (3.93)126
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Weisman imagines what the world would be like if all humanity was instantly wiped from the earth. How quickly would buildings topple and the forests take over? What would happen to our nuclear reactors? In a fascinating passage, Weisman looks at how quickly the subways would fill with water if no one was there to manage it. Very sobering - it makes you realize that much of what we are doing is fighting nature, which will in the end most likely take over. ( )
peggybr | Jun 30, 2009 |  
Some very interesting insights into how human civilisation works today, worked in the past and on the time scale of its impact. In some places the book seems to lose its focus on the latter aspect; however, still a good read. ( )
updraught | Jun 19, 2009 |  
I think it is worth a read but it was a little less enlightening than I had hoped.

See my review at http://my.timepage.org/?p=144 ( )
pamur | Jun 2, 2009 |  
First half of the book is great and just as advertised. It seemed like the ending was, well, more like 'uh oh, I promised the publishers 3 more chapters!' rather than 'here is some more fun thought experiment for you!' so it loses a star and a half for wandering off course and getting somewhat dull and repetative at the end (that seems to be a common theme with this genre). ( )
jcovington | May 12, 2009 | 1 vote
If you like stories that terrify you, then this is the book for you. Take heed, however, this is not a book you can close the cover on if you wish to escape the intensity of the story within. This story is not based on fiction but on meticulously researched facts. In this book you will read the terrifying truth of how the human race has changed the planet, and a few suggestions on how we can start to address some of the damage we have done. This book is a must read for those interested in the health of our planet, and even more of a must read for those that think our planet has no health problems at all. ( )
mariah2 | May 10, 2009 |  
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
In memory of Sonia Marguerite with lasting love from a world without you
First words
One June morning in 2004, Ana Maria Santi sat against a post beneath a large palm-thatched canopy, frowning as she watched a gathering of her people in Mazaraka, their hamlet on the Rio Conambu, an Ecuadoran tributary of the upper Amazon.
Quotations
Quoting Les Knight " The last humans could enjoy their final sunsets peacfully, knowing they have returned the planet as close as possible to the Garden of Eden"

" He now fears that the planet is suffering a high fever, and that we are the virus."
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0312347294, Hardcover)

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.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:04 -0400)

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