Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Picador; Reprint edition (August 5, 2008). Post-apocalyptic literature in general had often tried to imagine the fate of civilization and its artifacts after the end of humanity. I learned to simply jump a few pages whenever these bits came up and the book read very well. [71] Josie Appleton of Spiked related the book to "today's romanticisation of nature" in that it linked "the decadence and detachment of a modern consumerist society" with an ignorance of the efforts required to produce products so easily disposed. Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2017. Weisman uses New York City as a model to outline how an unmaintained urban area would deconstruct. . “In his provocative new book, The World Without Us, Alan Weisman adds a dash of fiction to his science to address a despairing problem: the planet's health.” — U.S. News & World Report “An exacting account of the processes by which things fall apart. His tone is conversational and his affection for both Earth and humanity transparent.” ―Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams“Fascinating, mordant, deeply intelligent, and beautifully written, The World Without Us depicts the spectacle of humanity's impact on the planet Earth in tragically poignant terms that go far beyond the dry dictates of science. [15], The book is divided into 27 chapters, with a prelude, coda, bibliography and index. "The World Without US" is an in-depth investigation of how US foreign policy affects the lives of millions of people around the world. . [59] On the reporting techniques, Kamiya wrote that "[Weisman's] science reporting, at once lucid and full of wonder ... is the heart and soul of this book" and that it is "written as if by a compassionate and curious observer on another planet". "[30] He responded to criticism of this saying "I knew in advance that I would touch some people's sensitive spots by bringing up the population issue, but I did so because it's been missing too long from the discussion of how we must deal with the situation our economic and demographic growth have driven us too (sic)". has shaped the land and how, once humans go, the farmland will return to nature. [41] Weisman did television interviews on The Daily Show and The Today Show and radio interviews on Weekend Edition, Talk of the Nation, The Diane Rehm Show, Living on Earth, Marketplace, and As It Happens. [16] There have been other books that address similar topics, such as Gregory Benford's 1999 book Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia. The scope is breathtaking . Alan Weisman's The World Without Us is supposed to explore what would or could happen to our world if humans suddenly ceased to exist. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. It's a trumpet call that sounds from the other end of the universe and from inside us all.” ―Salon“An astonishing mass of reportage that envisions a world suddenly bereft of humans.” ―The Atlanta Journal-Constitution“A fascinating nonfiction eco-thriller . The abundant doomsday plotlines in “The World Without Us” make it a useful conversation piece, if a grim one. Yes, the author does touch upon what would happen if we all somehow miraculously vanished, and these sections make interesting reading. [28] Weisman concludes the book considering a new version of the one-child policy. . He used quotations from these interviews to explain the effects of the natural environment and to substantiate predictions. He normally smokes Camel but today he's on Lucky Strike because last year his wife gave him a box of these as a gift and he's trying to get through them. In 1994 the author of this book wrote an article for Harper's about how nature had re-occupied the deserted area around Chernobyl. [49][50] The book ranked #1 on Time[5] and Entertainment Weekly's top 10 non-fiction books of 2007 and was listed in the Hudson Booksellers' "Best Books published in 2007". The 2017 video game NieR: Automata, which considers the Earth devoid of humanity for several hundreds of years, draws heavy inspiration from The World Without Us's depictions of cities and former civilisation habitats in its level design. The World Without Us is a 2007 non-fiction book about what would happen to the natural and built environment if humans suddenly disappeared, written by American journalist Alan Weisman and published by St. Martin's Thomas Dunne Books. --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "A refreshing, and oddly … . Subways fill with water and cave in, transforming city streets to marshland, and oil refineries burn. [57] In The New York Times Book Review Jennifer Schuessler said Weisman has a "flirtation with religious language, his occasionally portentous impassivity giving way to the familiar rhetoric of eco-hellfire". The first two chapters hook you in by discribing how houses and cities will fall apart without humans to maintain them, but the next 4 chapters are about natural history and evolution of animals and plants throughout Europe, Africa, and the Americas, most of which are extinct (which the author goes into verbose detail about how humans are responsible). Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2020. [7] His Discover article, "Earth Without People", published in the February 2005 issue and re-printed in The Best American Science Writing 2006 anthology,[8] describes how nature has thrived in the abandoned Korean Demilitarized Zone and how nature would overwhelm the built environment of New York City. [9] Additional research saw Weisman travel to England, Cyprus, Turkey, Panama, and Kenya. It was successful in the U.S., reaching #6 on the New York Times Best Seller list[3] and #1 on the San Francisco Chronicle Best-Sellers list in September 2007. To Alan Weisman, this nightmare scenario would be merely a promising start. Plastics, in particular, are a huge problem and threat to marine life - and ultimately to us. Appleton also felt the book countered the "Nature knows best" notion by highlighting the randomness of natural forces. There is not even a smidgen of material in it to support the Creationism nonsense. Weisman finds that their structures crumble as weather does unrepaired damage and other life forms create new habitats. Water, insects, mold, all forms of animals including birds, the sun, germination, and fluctuating temperatures are some of the factors that contribute to erasing human achievements. Interviews with academics quoted in the book include biologist E. O. Wilson on the Korean Demilitarized Zone,[10] archaeologist William Rathje on plastics in garbage,[11] forest botanist Oliver Rackham on vegetative cover across Britain,[12] anthropologist Arthur Demarest on the crash of Mayan civilization,[13] paleobiologist Douglas Erwin on evolution,[14] and philosopher Nick Bostrom on Transhumanism. From interviews with members of the Wildlife Conservation Society[24] and the New York Botanical Gardens[25] Weisman predicts that native vegetation would return, spreading from parks and out-surviving invasive species. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. There is no unifying narrative, cohesive single-chapter overview, or thesis.[16][17]. Christopher Orlet of The American Spectator wrote that it is "a prime example of the wrongheaded, extremist views of the Greens". [64] Two critics who call the book a "Jeremiad" ultimately gave it a positive review. . A Powerful Account of Human Impact on the World, and How It Will End, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2020. A world without America holding back aggressive nations is the same. November 21, 2020. Like other environmental books, it discusses the impact that the human race has had on the planet. Narrated by Adam Grupper. Without some drastic change, by the time our 12 year old daughter is old enough to draw her pension in 2050, the world's population is predicted to reach 9 billion people - over four times the number on the planet when her grandfather was born just 130 years before! . This is a text that has a chance to change people, and so make a real difference for the planet.” ―Charles Wohlforth, author of Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning The Whale and the Supercomputer“Weisman is a thoroughly engaging and clarion writer fueled by curiosity and determined to cast light rather than spread despair. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Books of 2007St. . The author spends more time discussing what the world was like before us, how we've affected it, and what inventions of ours might, somewhat appallingly, last forever. There are no approved quotes yet for this movie. Try Google Play Audiobooks today! The little details... the stuff most of us came for, deliver and makes the dry parts worth it. Asphalt cracks into a crazy paving of erupting vegetation. [3][45] In the Canadian market, it spent 10 weeks on The Globe and Mail's non-fiction best seller list, peaking at #3 on August 11. 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. The World Without Us begins exactly as you might imagine, with a detailed account of how the most visible of humanity’s imprints upon the world will degrade and return to nature over time. [4] It ranked #1 on Time[5] and Entertainment Weekly's top 10 non-fiction books of 2007. While he admits it is a "draconian measure",[29] he states, "The bottom line is that any species that overstretches its resource base suffers a population crash. I just don't care that much about what happens to cement over time. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. New York City will literally go down the drain during the first rainfall after we're gone. 1-Sentence-Summary: The World Without Us imagines planet earth without us humans, detailing what will happen to nature and man-made creations long after we’re gone. The World Without Us is built around just such a “reserve”. Chauncey Mabe of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel calls the book "one of the most satisfying environmental books of recent memory, one devoid of self-righteousness, alarmism or tiresome doomsaying". The World Without Us I had a dream, which was not all a dream… From “Darkness” by Lord Byron1 Susan Bertolino Mosaic 852 2. The World Without Us. "The World Without Us gradually reveals itself to be one of the most satisfying environmental books of recent memory, one devoid of self-righteousness, alarmism, or tiresome doomsaying." "[37] The Canadian version, designed by Ellen Cipriano, is similar to the American version but with a photo illustration rather than the disarming cartoon illustration. [62], The book's environmental focus was also criticized by some. Could you imagine what a world would be like if the United States had never existed? Indeed, an extremely popular 1949 novel, Earth Abides, portrayed the breakdown of urban systems and structures after a pandemic, through the eyes of a survivor, who muses at the end of the first chapter: "What would happen to the world and its creatures without man? No, really!' Communist North Korea recently announced plans to test-fire a long-range missile. The result is an extraordinarily vivid novel, elegant, convincing, intelligent and profoundly moving. For green-minded readers, there is bleak comfort to be had in the tide of ecological succession rising to sweep away humanity’s concrete ugliness, and restore drab urban landscapes to verdant beauty. The World Without Us is a 2007 non-fiction book about what would happen to the natural and built environment if humans suddenly disappeared, written by American journalist Alan Weisman and published by St. Martin's Thomas Dunne Books. the clarity and lyricism of the writing itself left me with repeated gasps of recognition about the human condition. The subways hold nearly 13 million gallons of water daily, and they have special dams that people have to monitor every time it rains or else the subways will flood. Each chapter deals with a new topic, such as the potential fates of plastics, petroleum infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and artworks. It is written from the point of view of a science journalist with explanations and testimonies backing his predictions. No monthly commitment. The World Without Us If a virulent virus—or even the Rapture—depopulated Earth overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished? I hadn't, until I read this book. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. She writes the "book [is] designed to help us find the how of survival by shaking us out of our passive dance with death". Instead, this book spends 80% of it's pages discussing history, pre-history, and how humans have ruined everything. The World Without Us (2007) outlines the fictional scenario where, all of a sudden, the whole of mankind disappears.With humanity missing, the process by which nature claims back what was once hers is described. [70] Demonstrating the optimism on the grim subject matter Appleton quotes an ecologist from the book saying "if the planet can recover from the Permian, it can recover from the human". [57] On the other hand, Alanna Mitchell in the Globe and Mail review found relevance in the context of society's passiveness to resource depletion combined with an anthropomorphic vanity. It All Falls Apart", "He imagines a world without people. The paperback was released in July 2008. [69] The World Without Us is grounded in environmental and science journalism. Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2019. [56] Even an overall negative review by Michael Grunwald in The Washington Post remarked the writing was "always lucid, sometimes elegant". To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2020. While it’s a fascinating premise, one that Weisman undoubtedly put a lot of time and effort into, the execution falters. 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. That he was left to see. [17], Weisman's science journalism style uses interviews with academic and professional authorities to substantiate conclusions, while maintaining the "cool and dispassionate [tone]...of a scientific observer rather than an activist". Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2012. [27], Breaking from the theme of the natural environment after humans, Weisman considers what could lead to the sudden, complete demise of humans without serious damage to the built and natural environment. Most of them have titles like 'Earth Without People' or 'Life After People'. PuddinTame: The World Without Us is one of the inspirations for Bangkok Wakes to Rain. His thought experiment is so intellectually fascinating, so oddly playful, that it escapes categorizing and clichés. Main; Albums; Antarctica; Africa; Asia; Europe; North America; South America . Please try again. Beautiful and passionate.” ―The Boston Globe“Grandly entertaining.” ―Time“The World Without Us gradually reveals itself to be one of the most satisfying environmental books of recent memory, one devoid of self-righteousness, alarmism, or tiresome doomsaying.” ―Pittsburgh Post-Gazette“A refreshing, and oddly hopeful, look at the fate of the environment.” ―BusinessWeek“This book is the very DNA of hope.” ―The Globe and Mail (Toronto)“Prodigious and impressive.” ―The New York Times“I don't think I've read a better nonfiction book this year.” ―Lev Grossman, Time Book Critic“In his provocative new book, The World Without Us, Alan Weisman adds a dash of fiction to his science to address a despairing problem: the planet's health.” ―U.S. In Part 2 of our World Without US series we look at what the world would have been like if the US just vanished from history after World War 2. That's the provocative, and occasionally puckish, question posed by Weisman (An Echo in My Blood) in this imaginative hybrid of … If you're looking for a book that's primarily speculation on what the world would be like if we suddenly disappeared, this may not please you; the title may be a tad misleading. 'Yes, I am a book about the environment. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2009. To foresee how other life could continue without humans, Weisman reports from areas where the natural environment exists with little human intervention, like the Białowieża Forest, the Kingman Reef, and the Palmyra Atoll. It's hard to imagine the world without us. The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks? Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Although most of the footprints left by humanity would be gone after a relatively short period, some would remain. This book is a bit of a slog in that it is very complete. Cover art for the international releases contrast the natural environment with a decaying built environment. Best Horror Movies. [1] It is a book-length expansion of Weisman's own February 2005 Discover article "Earth Without People". The World Without Us begins exactly as you might imagine, with a detailed account of how the most visible of humanity’s imprints upon the world will degrade and return to nature over time. 'S environmental focus was also criticized by some 28 ] Weisman concludes the book the! To imagine the fate of civilization and its artifacts after the end of humanity grim one effort,... `` Jeremiad '' ultimately gave it a useful conversation piece, if virulent... From these interviews to explain the effects of the natural environment with a decaying built environment on October 8 2009! Erupting vegetation built around just such a “ reserve ” how the planet evolve... Point of view hurt the book 's environmental focus was also criticized by.. 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May 7, 2018 came into existence through the union of two old friends author does touch upon would...

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