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The World Without Us - Community Reviews back

by Alan Weisman
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Myrto
Myrto rated it 15 years ago
I loved this book. I mean, I was entranced by it and couldn't put it down. The book answers the question: "what would happen to the planet if all humans disappeared tomorrow?" Maybe I'm just a morbid person, but I've played that game with myself many, many times. While driving past the petroleum dis...
Book Fox
Book Fox rated it 15 years ago
A little repetitive--I mean once you understand the freeze/thaw cycle, you probably don't need to hear about it 20 more times--but a great thought experiment. The feral cats are going to take over!
joshmunn
joshmunn rated it 15 years ago
Another entry in the ever-popular "interesting magazine article padded out to not-so-interesting book length" category.
wealhtheow
wealhtheow rated it 15 years ago
A collection of chapters about what would happen to the life and non-life of planet Earth if we were gone. Fascinating tidbits, but Weisman doesn't sew them together. Definitely worth a read, though.
simmo
simmo rated it 16 years ago
An interesting idea for a book. It highlights the legacy that the human race leaves in its wake. You can either view that in a positive or negative light, though for me, had a similar impact as Silent Spring - 'oh what have we done'...
The Drift Of Things
The Drift Of Things rated it 16 years ago
Even if you took out all the stuff about what will happen to the world when we are gone, this would still be a fantastic book. It is filled with fascinating information about the natural sciences and about the ways ancient and modern societies have altered the planet. I'm glad the author didn't tip...
Eccentric Musings (jakaEM)
Eccentric Musings (jakaEM) rated it 17 years ago
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 m...
Bettie's Books
Bettie's Books rated it 17 years ago
Recommended by LJ liddleolman
Ceridwen
Ceridwen rated it 17 years ago
Oh man. The current imagination seems to run to the post-apocalyptic these days: I am Legend, any Romero film, World War Z, The Road. They imagine the last days of humanity in loneliness or zombies. This book leapfrogs over that to a time post-human. What have we wrought that will survive for a day,...
Mark Books
Mark Books rated it 17 years ago
Science writer Alan Weisman poses the question - What if, by plague or divine rapture, the entire human race disappeared from the planet? What would happen to the Earth? There are perhaps some who would prefer not to consider such a possibility, while others of us find the notion somehow irresistibl...
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