The World Without Us | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Weisman
Creator: Adam Grupper
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $2.48
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Rating:  244 reviews
Sales Rank: 303815
Format: Audiobook, Cd
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 10
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 142720148X
Dewey Decimal Number: 304.2
EAN: 9781427201485
ASIN: 142720148X
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Discover the impact of the human footprint in The World Without Us. Take us off the Earth and what traces of us would linger? And which would disappear? Alan Weisman writes about which objects from today would vanish without us; how our pipes, wires, and cables would be pulverized into an unusual (but mere) line of red rock; why some museums and churches might be the last human creations standing; how rats and roaches would struggle without us; and how plastic, cast-iron, and radio waves may be our most lasting gifts to the planet.
But The World Without Us is also about how parts of our world currently fare without a human presence (Chernobyl; a Polish old-growth forest, the Korean DMZ) and it looks at the human legacy on Earth, both fleeting and indelible. It’s narrative nonfiction at its finest, taking an irresistible concept with gravity and a highly-readable touch.
Some examples of what would happen:
One year: Several more billions birds will live when airplane warning lights cease blinking.
Twenty years: The water-soaked steel columns that support the street above New York’s East Side would corrode and buckle. As Lexington Avenue caves in, it becomes a river.
100,000 years: CO2 will be back to pre-human levels (or it might take longer).
Forever: Our radio waves, fragmented as they may be, will still be going out.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 239 more reviews...
 I agree with the other reviews November 17, 2008
Very well written. Not as much detail in some places, but given the scope of the topic, that's forgiveable. It's interesting to note how little we do that will be permanent. Especially modern housing. Great reading!
A fascinating intellectual exercise November 15, 2008
The World Without Us concerns an interesting hypothetical scenario. What happens to the earth if humanity disappears? The cause of humanity's departure is irrelevant. Instead, what becomes of our cities? What happens to the massive human-created infrastructure that litters the planet? What are the long term effects of the environmental damage humanity has caused? What happens to animals and plants that we have directly affected over the centuries? Alan Weisman explores the answers to these fascinating, if somewhat morbid questions. Some people have criticized this book as a purely intellectual exercise with no real use or merit. My rejoinder is simple. We as humans cannot begin understand our impact on out planet without investigating our planet's reactions to us. This book does an excellent job of explaining the impact of the human footprint. Plus, I am admittedly a sucker for hypothetical scenarios such as this. What if? That has always been something that has interested me, and Alan Weisman looks into a very interesting and important What If? scenario.
 Wiesman preaches the tenants of animism October 30, 2008
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
Weisman refers to many less-complex life-forms as our ancestors.
Weisman prays to "Mother Earth" at the very end of the book.
These are tenants of Animism or worshiping animals because they are your ancestors.
Weisman proposes that watching animals and plants is more enjoyable than having raising children.
Weisman anthromorphsizes evolution giving it or animals the power to design their genetic mutations.
I won't even go into the way he practically deifies "Natural Selection" as if it actually could create new genetic information.
The two interesting things I took from it were that "science" doesn't know how the oil deposits formed under the ocean and that "science" claims there are actual tree parts multiple millions of years old that have not fossilized.
I also thought his description of the "Church of Euthanasia" was telling. Especially the four pillars of their faith.
Not withstanding, I'm guessing that the "science" in the book was probably mostly accurate in capturing what "science" at the time of the writing was. Now that "Global Warming" has universally changed to "Climate Change" much of his references to rising oceans seem as quaint as discussions of light being conducted by the ether.
Great Book October 15, 2008
One other person wrote that this book is fascinating but depressing and that is why he/she chose to give it less than 5 stars.
I beg to differ, one of the reasons why I gave it 5 stars is because it was depressing. It caused me a lot of anguish reading how much we have damaged this planet and how part of this damage will take 1000s of years to go away. I guess that would have been part of the message of this book, which it delivered on superbly.
Another user also chose to give it less than 5 stars because it had too much focus on NYC and not other places. Again I beg to differ; the book did devote a whole chapter to Houston. Also I do not think this a huge shortcoming for the book, after all, it was written by an "American" for a largely American audience. Additionally, I think the author was limited by space. He could have gone on and on about other places, but he would have ended at something like 500+ pages. I think the book did deliver on it's message within the limitation of 350+ pages.
excellent October 13, 2008
After reading this I would love it if someone banned the plastics used in shampoos. The author ended up taking us to some interesting places to seek out where humans have had to let go of portions of the earth and seeing what happened. I'm very happy I read this and I think you will like it too.
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