the book without us

are you in the mood to read a fantastic book that will leave you feeling hopeless at the end of each chapter and may even cause you to have nightmares? yeah?

then you should pick up The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. no, seriously. you should read it.

not because it's sexy, or even a page-turner. after 35 minutes, i'll realize i've read only about 10 pages. and i'm not a super slow reader. the thing is, this nonfiction book is so full of fascinating information and research (one reviewer called it "One of the most ambitious 'thought experiments' ever.") that, while not in any way boring, it becomes dense. but at the end of each chapter, i find myself marveling at all the work Weisman put into this book.

oh, and also dreading the future.
the premise of the book is, in short, what would happen to the world if humans suddenly disappeared. exactly what would Manhattan look like in a decade? in 500 years? beyond?

in not-so-short, it's so much more than its title suggests. it's not only a glimpse into the possible (and in many cases, likely) future, but it's a look back at the earth before us, how we arrived here, and what we've done in the very short span of time that we've roamed this planet, in various stages of homo development (as in homo erectus, homo sapien...).

in Weisman's own words:

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 pre-human world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths – [I illustrate] what the planet might be like today, if not for us.

that makes it sound just a little bit boring, but i promise the book is anything but dull.

i'll admit that i'm not yet finished with the book, but you know me - i can't keep quiet about something i think is worth sharing.

the picture Weisman paints of the world without us - even as soon as two or three days after humans disappear - is both grim and beautiful.

within two days of humans disappearing from Manhattan, the island will begin to flood. scary thought.

but within a year or two, pavement and asphalt will be overgrown with flowers, trees, and grasslands.

more quickly than i might have guessed, the mark we've left on many parts of the planet will be covered up. the author explains which of our creations will endure (every piece of plastic created since the 1950's) and which will return to the earth (most of what we've built, including our homes and even skyscrapers).

nature will, in the end, win. because its goal is, and has for thousands of years been, to overcome: to break through man's sidewalks, to put down roots in our rain spouts, to eat through the fenders of our cars. ever since man began putting down his own roots, it has been nature against us.

don't get the wrong idea about this book, though. Weisman makes very clear that this isn't a doomsday prophecy or an Armageddon tale; in fact, at no point in the book does he suggest what might cause the end of man. the book simply grows out of the premise that man is no longer present.
if i may (and i may, because it's my blog), i'd like to share one observation that i've found most fascinating and most impressive about TWWU: that is Weisman's unwavering focus. i imagine it took quite a bit of strength to avoid getting lost on the topic that most easily stems from his research: what will happen to us?

it's fascinating to me, as i read, that TWWU is devoid of any discussion of how climate change, the extinction of myriad species, and our horrible pollution will affect man. it's the most logical next step in the analysis of what is happening to this planet, yet Weisman refuses to consider it. brilliant. i guess there are already countless books on the market addressing that topic, and Weisman wasn't interested in writing another warranted yet preachy, gotta-live-green manual.

in sum, i give it two thumbs up, before i even finish the last two chapters. will you enjoy this book? maybe not as much as you'd enjoy reading the Twilight series. but will you learn so much and be so fascinated that you'll be unable to put TWWU down? i'm betting yes. that has been my reaction to it, and its encyclopedic volume of information contains something for everyone.

for now, you have to check out the book's accompanying website, which is full of fascinating information and stunning visuals like the ones i've shared herein.