The World Without Us
Author(s): Alan Weisman
National bestseller, and Finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle
A penetrating, page-turning, groundbreaking tour of Earth without people
Most books about the environment build on dire threats warning of the possible extinction of humanity. Alan Weisman avoids frightening off readers by disarmingly wiping out our species in the first few pages of this remarkable book. He then continues with an astounding depiction of how Earth will fare once we’re no longer around.
The World Without Us is a one-of-a-kind book that sweeps through time from the moment of humanity’s future extinction to millions of years into the future. Drawing on interviews with experts and on real examples of places in the world that have already been abandoned by humans—Chernobyl, the Korean DMZ and an ancient Polish forest—Weisman shows both the shocking impact we’ve had on our planet and how impermanent our footprint actually is.
Review(s):
“The book boasts an amazingly imaginative conceit that manages to tap into underlying fears and subtly inspire us to consider our interaction with the planet.”
“An excellent springboard for an often fascinating look at our planet’s biology and ecology.”
“[No] end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it story . . . is more audacious or interesting than Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us.”
“A refreshing, and oddly hopeful, look at the fate of the environment.”
“Alan Weisman has produced, if not a bible, at least a Book of Revelation.”
“Grandly entertaining.”
“Brilliantly creative. An audacious intellectual adventure. His thought experiment is so intellectually fascinating, so oddly playful, that it escapes categorizing and clichés.”
“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 ”
“An astonishing mass of reportage that envisions a world suddenly bereft of humans.”
“One of the most ambitious ‘thought experiments’ ever.”
National Book Critics Circle Award
ISBN: 9781554682263