List Books Supposing The World Without Us
| Original Title: | The World Without Us |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Orion Book Award Nominee (2008), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for General Nonfiction (2007) |
Alan Weisman
Hardcover | Pages: 324 pages Rating: 3.8 | 35883 Users | 3404 Reviews
Particularize Containing Books The World Without Us
| Title | : | The World Without Us |
| Author | : | Alan Weisman |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 324 pages |
| Published | : | July 10th 2007 by Thomas Dunne Books |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Science. Environment. Nature. History |
Chronicle To Books The World Without Us
A penetrating, page-turning tour of a post-human EarthIn 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 Dalai 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.
Rating Containing Books The World Without Us
Ratings: 3.8 From 35883 Users | 3404 ReviewsCriticism Containing Books The World Without Us
An astonishing book, and the first piece of non-fiction that I've read in quite some time that has had the emotional power of a novel. The first comment I'll make has to do with that: Weisman's voice is a powerful one. He knows how to marshall the facts but also how to keep the story moving, and most importantly, get the reader engaged at an emotional as well as intellectual level. Weisman's research seemed incredibly solid, but the book never felt plodding or laden down with eye-glazing data,The Coda (last chapter) should probably be read first as it sums up the thrust of the book & it's not what the description & title suggest. It started out as billed, a look at what the world would look like if we disappeared, but devolved into a platform for an environmental rant with some snide political remarks thrown in. If it was a little better balanced & thorough or if it offered any solutions, I'd like it more since I'm a tree hugger, too. It's generally negative, though. He
I enjoyed the premise, but the execution was a snoozer. I'm not sure if it was the author's soporific style, or that I was let down by his overly repetitive rundown on floral succession: "asparagus and trumpet vine take hold as dingleberries and snorfle-weed provide shade..." Over and over; it felt like the author was attempting to display the fact that he did thorough investigation with environmental biologists and was flexing his bio street cred, After the first 4 times, the remaining 18 were
It's located on the 'mind-numbingly-boring' shelf for a reason. Whatever point the author is trying to make certainly doesn't support 300 pages of impenetrable prose. After five false starts I managed to get to page 50 before finally giving up in disgust.All the people who have made this a best-seller? I don't believe for a moment that they have actually read it. This is not a book to read, though it may be one to impress your friends with by pretending to have read it. Don't waste your time.
If you are like me The World Without Us will cause you want to do one of two things. A: Find a remote wilderness and build a cabin. Add a few chickens, goats, cows ect. and live off the land with as much peace of mind you can muster until man destroys the planet. Or B. Say "AWWW F**K IT", and put all regular, old fashioned light bulbs in all your lamps and turn them on. Leave your house, with the air conditioner running, get in your Hummer, and drive across the country..just because you can. Eat
Since reading The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History , I have been playing with this idea in my head. What would we humans leave behind us after we are gone? What would inhabitants of earth in 500 million years find to indicate that a sentient, technological species inhabited this planet? The answer, according to that book was that the main, and probably only long lasting, detectable impact that humans will have on earth, is the species that went extinct due to humans. This led to My second
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