The World Without Us
by Alan Weisman
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Book Reviews of The World Without Us
Book Review: Only the waves remain...
Summary: 5 Stars
Our self-absorbed sensibilities struggle to comprehend a world without us. We are, in a sense, our own self-contained worlds processing puzzling amounts of information every nanosecond. Though most of us agree that the world exists "out there," some solipsistic holdouts notwithstanding, many probably think that we also play a role in "making" the world. After all, what's here to experience, describe and inhabit the world without us? A variation of the timeless paradox of non-being creeps in when a human-less void gets pondered. How can a world exist without those there to experience it? Ultimately, our egos nurture this pseudo-paradox. Billions of years passed on this planet devoid of the blessings and curses of human existence. Gazing at the sobering evidence, humans have played a tiny part in earth's vast history. Not to mention the growing evidence suggesting that our time here may have immediate limits. So how do we keep this now abstract world without us a mere thought experiment?
Imagination, an often underutilized and unappreciated human act, can help point the way. The very act of imagining our collective nonexistence opens up new conceptions of humanity's essence. After the initial shock, the cerebral equivalent of placing a warm foot in chilly water, the idea becomes less nebulous. Soon, a world without humans takes shape as a distinct and very possible reality. That's the first necessary revelation. The next requires further thinking: what would happen in a world emptied of homo sapiens? What fate awaits our cities, inventions, artworks, and our cherished created environments? Basically, what would happen to our world? Without reflection, it all seems timeless, limitless. The fragility and impermanence of these things only emerges upon further study. That's where "The World Without Us" picks up. Essentially a compendium of human ephemerality, this engrossing book paints an almost too vivid picture of what would happen in our absence. The resulting canvases may inspire new ways of thinking, acting and appreciating. And though no book by itself can change the world, perhaps it could contribute to our hanging around a bit longer?
Many additional shocks await in this book's four parts. Clear evidence of a post-human world gets presented as the book travels to currently abandoned places such as Varosha, Cyprus and the Korean Demilitarized zone. Both saw aggressive displays of nature's re-possessive power once humans skipped town. Varosha was overrun in a mere decade. Nature simply went to work and never stopped. The evidence is clear: without active human intervention our creations will get smothered by plants, trees, rain, erosion and animal activity. Within a few centuries some modern cities could resemble Roman ruins. High maintenance cities such as New York could go even quicker. Maintenance personnel of that city, interviewed for this book, claim that if people go AWOL, the pumps would cease and the subway system would flood in as little as 36 hours. The Big Apple would, in a matter of a few centuries or less, revert back to the forest it once was. That's as unimaginable to us today as modern New York would be to an 18th century explorer. But it drives home the point that our civilization requires an overwhelming amount of resources and work to sustain. The book heavily suggests that we'll eventually lose. Even scarier is what would happen to nuclear power plants or human made geologic forms such as the Panama Canal. Humans would be far better off absent from such situations. Then consider Uranium-235's half-life: 704 million years.
So than what would last? How would humanity's legacy express itself eons into the future? More sobering facts appear. Utterly neglected, most of what we take for granted would simply vanish in a century or two. Plastic would break down, great artworks such as paintings, textiles, books and drawings would wither to dust. Very little would remain apart from fire hydrants, some large sturdy buildings like Hagia Sophia, and most things made of "noble metals" such as copper, gold, silver, platinum, etc. The book doesn't dwell on the fact that all human knowledge would also vanish, except in tangential or indirect forms, the way plumbing disappeared from the western world after Rome's fall. In the ultimate end, of course, even the earth itself will disappear when our Sun reaches its Red Giant phase some estimated 5 to 6 billion years from now. What will remain? Nothing? It turns out that a few things may survive even this incomprehensible catastrophe: Voyager 1, 2, Pioneer 10, 11, some interplanetary probes, and radio waves. This last item represents our only known potentially eternal creation. They fly and spread through the universe, awaiting possible interception and decoding from who knows what or who. Bizarrely, scattered remnants of re-runned sitcoms and music videos may be all that remains of humanity. And that's a beguiling thing to ruminate on.
Thankfully, the book doesn't simply drop us there. It does offer some possible solutions to the "modern dilemma" of our self-unsustaining lifestyles. A final coda reflects on human population. Here a solution is suggested, but not a means to arrive at the solution. According to a European demographer, if every woman was limited to one child per lifetime, our current precarious world population of 6.5 billion people (now 6.8 billion, the book appeared in 2007) would diminish to 1.6 billion, close to a sustainable number, according to some scientists. Just how to pull off this amazing feat receives no attention, but concepts such as the ones included in this book could jump start such thinking. In theory, with fewer people nature would also begin to return. Pollution would slowly dissipate to tolerable levels. Animal populations would return (except of course for depleted ones such as the once ubiquitous Passenger Pigeon). This final section paints a picture of near paradise at the fulfillment of this goal. But would it happen? Possibly. It would have to beat the grim reality of 7 or 8 billion people in a world already shrinking in resource capacity. Regardless of the details, "The World Without Us" ends on a strangely hopeful note. At least, it seems to argue, something will be left. Wisps of radio waves are better than nothing, right?
Book Review: Are humans evolved as too smart to survive?
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a chemist, yet.. I started looking at the products (high molecular compounds) and at the chemical industry in a completely different way. Scary....what an ingenuity gap between us and bonobo resulted in !
In his book "The World Without Us" Alan Weisman presents an extremely original approach to questions about the impact of humanity on the planet. He invites us to visit the Earth, which suddenly is freed from its worth parasitic virus - "Homo Sapiens Selftoxicus".
He describes how our extensive, most often toxic and harmful for other species global infrastructure, would disintegrate and finally disappear. He also explains which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils.
Why do some of our oldest buildings could become the last bastions of the ongoing architecture? Or: plastic, bronze statues, radio waves and a few molecules created by humans would become our most durable gifts to the universe?
But why only 4 stars?
While author takes on plastic, fertilizers, herbicides, nuclear waste mostly, he does not analyze the huge stockpiles of chemical warfare poisons and waste created during weapons production. These horrible compounds will affect future of any remaining species. Residues and byproducts are usually placed under the water (seas, lakes) or buried in the ground. It is estimated that the global inventory of combat poisons released into the environment would show more than one million tonnes. Due to the extremely hazardous and diversified properties of these waste, there is a lack of organized manner in which neutralization could takes place and storage locations are kept confidential.
Also: there is a small part of the book quoting statistic predictions how many birds are killed/year by cats.
This is not accurate and most likely not quite reliable data.
Not every cat is a birds' killer. Plenty of cats are INDOOR.
Many cats does not hunt at all, even if they go outdoor. Many cats when over 3 years old do not climb trees, cause they are too heavy and many of them have claws trimmed by the owners. Some hunt mice, but skip birds.
Nevertheless..fascinating read for every person concerned about environment and its future state.
Book Review: Wonderfully Written Book
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first picked up The World without Us by Alan Weisman, I was genuinely interested. The back cover promised an imaginative, compulsive, fascinating book. After reading, I understand what the other authors were raving about. The World without Us is beautifully written with exquisite detail. It answered my question of how the world would seem without any people, but left me with thousands of new, unanswered questions. Alan Weisman has thought this up, of an alternative world, which he shares with the rest of us. In his world, the environment is able to take its natural form. One of the reasons I like this book is because he really expresses how the environment would finally be natural again after all these years. Some people, when reading this, might think nature is doing wrong and abnormal things. Alan Weisman stresses the importance that nature will be natural rather than being the forced robot humans only allow it to be. As James Howard Kunster, author of The Long Emergency, quotes, "This is a very important book for a species playing games with its own destiny". He couldn't have said it any other way to stress the importance the book has on the world. One of the ways humans are playing games trying to fight destiny by designing things like iPods and televisions. Soon, those exact technologies that humans live for day-in-and-day-out, will kill us all. They will, in time, destroy the ozone layer above us. This leads to unprotected humans from the suns ultraviolet waves. By designing and using things that destroy our environment, we are taking the risk of starting Alan Weisman's world. Next time you're at Barnes and Nobles, wondering around and aimlessly looking around, pick up The World without Us, and you will not be disappointed. This book will inspire you and cause you to further your thoughts on the world around us.Book Review: What hath man wrought?
Summary: 4 Stars
The World Without Us
This book is really more about what man has done while here than about what things will be like without him, although it addresses both. Weisman is a journalist, a good one, who has interviewed lots of specialists and traveled to lots of spots around the world to ascertain man's affect on several niche environments and to speculate about what would become of these if man were gone. The chapters focus on particular forests, reefs, farmlands, chemical plants, and other habitats or artifacts shaped my humans, and then hypothetically remove humans from the future equation. In the end he makes a plea for human population reduction (not to zero, though -- he is not that extreme).
Book Review: Informative and Provoking
Summary: 3 Stars
I struggled with "The World Without Us". The information presented by Alan Weisman was informative and thought provoking and deep like a text book. This was not a compelling read, in terms of being a page-turner, however, the presented scenarios and questions that came to mind maintained my desire to get through the book. This book will also create a feeling of fear in some as Weisman presents the "monsters" amongst us today. Menaces that require daily vigilance, else they will easily lead to destruction. I am referring to nuclear waste storage and oil and gas production sites for examples. I conclude by saying the idea for the book, made me read it, the "text book" depth made me work (I don't like to work when I read) and the realities presented in the book raised questions.