A Reader's Opinion on The World Without Us
Posted by Vicki A Benge
Alan Weisman's book, The World Without Us, spent twenty-six weeks straight on the New York Times Bestseller List and was chosen by Time magazine as the #1 Nonfiction Book of 2007. In my opinion the accolades are well deserved.
In the book, Weisman postulates what the Earth would be like if all humans suddenly disappeared. In the prelude he writes:
"...extract the human beings. Wipe us out, and see what's left. How would the rest of nature respond if it were suddenly relieved of the relentless pressures we heap on it.... Could nature ever obliterate all our traces? How would it undo our monumental cities and public works, and reduce our myriad plastics and toxic synthetics back to benign, basic elements? ...And what of our finest creations -- our architecture, our art...?"1
These are among the questions Weisman answers in a riveting journey around the globe that begins in Europe; travels through New York City, (where he illustrates his theories in great detail on what would happen to our cities if suddenly left unoccupied by humans); goes back across the ocean to explore the continent of Africa; through the Mediterranean; out onto and beneath the waters of the oceans; through Galveston and Houston, up to the New England forests, stopping along the way to describe in great detail the changes that the environment, including the local wildlife would have on our houses if left unattended.
This book is a fascinating narrative forecast of a future Earth without humans, but it is also full of close-ups of situations that have occurred in the far distant past and concerns that are occupying us right now, (climate change, endangered species, disappearing forest, et cetera), and the narrative uses these situations to create a sense of what our impact, both good and bad, has been, and could be on the Earth. In well-written prose, that made me feel like Weisman was in the room having a conversation with me, it ended before I was finished listening.
1. Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007. [ISBN-13: 978-0-7394-9044-0]
