On one hand, this could be taken as a very depressing exercise: just how long will it take for nature to more or less return to pre-human condition were we to all disappear tomorrow.

The answer turns this into a fairly hopeful book: not very long. For most things, anyway. Plastics will be here long after any signs of us are entirely wiped from the planet. But, out cities will be gone in a geological blink of the eye: a few hundred years. ( )

A very novel idea, but the essay jumps around more than I cared for. In the end, it is about fixing our planet. Surprise; the problem is too many humans. Oct 2009

Fascinating descriptions of some existing or abandoned locations, together with extrapolations of how things might look if we humans really mess up our planet to the extent we can no longer live on it. ( )

This book was not what I thought it was going to be, and I was mightily disappointed.

What did I think it would be? Well, I thought it would look at what would become of the planet Earth if tomorrow the human species simply vanished; basically, what it says on the tin. What the book spends an extraordinary amount of time actually discussing is what existed before humans evolved and what horrible things we have done since then. I fail to see what the Mau Mau Uprising or what killed off the woolly mammoths have to do with this book, and yet there they are, gobbling up space and too much of my time.

I made it a handful of pages past 100, and in that space there were about two chapters in the book that actually talked about what would happen to human-made and natural spaces once humans were gone. That's it, just two! They were fantastic chapters, very informative and easy to read, but the off-topic junk is taking up too much space and I find myself actually angry at the prospect of reading this book. ( )

I remember being interested when first published, so I could not resist a paperback reissue.

A fresh reminder that geologically, we are all just a lingering breath. The surface of the earth has been made and remade nearly endless times. Lightly touches on another point I usually make in these discussion, which is that speciation will certainly happen again once we are gone - so our focus on endangered species sort of misses the point. Of course we should be better stewards, but we will quickly be forgotten as multiple new species burst forth from our demise. ( )

The premise of The World Without Us is the title. Naturally, the author has thought and researched the topic more than the reader, but I was not prepared for what a massively depressing onslaught this would be. It is, in fact, more depressing than anything else I’ve read in a long time. First, the world is not without us, and it won’t be soon. Second, several of the author’s scenarios, e.g. What will happen to the huge petrochemical plants in Houston when nobody is there to maintain them, and what will be the consequences for the life that we haven’t already destroyed?, show that it is too late to do anything about so many of our machinations. Third, it’s easy to go off hiking, enjoy the fresh air, and pretend that all is well or at least reversible, but this book is unrelenting, and we are reminded that something like the nuclear waste that is currently stored in sheds behind cyclone fences on the grounds of the reactors wherever they might be, cannot have a happy ending whether we are here or not. Professor Weisman does try to put a very mild happy spin on things at the end, after all, the sun will become a red giant star and fry this rock in time, and from the point of view of the universe what does it all matter anyway? Oy. ( )

A fascinating thought experiment about what would happen to the world if humans suddenly disappeared. Some rather dated language now but generally a really interesting and genuinely provocative read. ( )

Examines from several different viewpoints what the world would look like and how it would adjust if all humankind were to vanish. Hint: it wouldn't miss us much. A good and fascinating read. ( )

A thought experiment that begins with all humans spontaneously disappearing from the earth (and, somewhat tricker, not taking the whole of the biosphere with them). Weisman examines our works to see what would last and for how long. Some things would endure for a long time: some underground tunnels, space probes, stoneworks, bronze statues. Others would be gone in a few decades: cities, dams, nuclear power plants. Animals and fish would generally recover and thrive without us, though there would be some signs of our presence. Plastics, radioactive waste and 'forever chemicals' are the more extreme legacies, but also the consequences of displaced or transplanted species. The book concludes that the world can live without us but not the reverse. ( )

This was long but too interesting to dislike! ( )

This is one of the best science books I have read.

I have to admit, I have wished for this many times. It isn't that I want all humanity to die or be wiped off the face of the earth but, can't we just find a way to leave it all alone, let it be and let it thrive? By "it" I mean nature, the natural world, the oceans, the forest, the land. Just leave it the f*** alone.

We are smart enough to be able to solve these problems but we choose not to because of politics, money, power, etc...I have finally become numb to the almost daily litany of climate, ecological and natural disasters that take place. News bits that used to cause my stomach to become twisted in knots and cause me to brood for days on end. I just can't do it any longer.

Regardless of my thoughts, I did find this book fascinating. The chapters about New York City and the petro-chemical facilities near Houston are some of the best.

Read it so that you have a better understanding of what we are doing to ourselves. ( )

I read the first half and found it extremely interesting, but also extremely disturbing. I am going to take a break and perhaps come back to it when I think I can handle the rest. Our earth is really in trouble... ( )

This is at once a fascinating and jarring read. Weisman describes in vivid detail how fragile our created world is, and how much damage we've done to the supporting world around us.

However, I suspect that one of the reviewers was huffing glue when s/he provided the quote, "This book is the very DNA of hope." This is true if you, perhaps, if you are a member of any species other than home sapiens or any of the species that directly depend on us for survival.

I hardly subscribe to the fanatical and maddening belief that the world is here for the express purpose of our use and consumption. But the reminder that life on earth will survive even if we do not (something no semi-literate person should need a book to be reminded of) is hardly hope inspiring. If we are not here to appreciate the beauty of a fully forested valley or the tune of birds, what does that beauty matter?

A great follow-up after reading . ( )

قرأته مباشرةً بعد كتاب «الانقراض السادس: تاريخ لاطبيعي» لـ إليزابيث كولبيرت، فكان خياراً موفقاً.

في هذا الكتاب ودون توجيه أصبع الاتهام، يوضح آلان وايزمان أنه حتى لو اختفى البشر الآن، فإن أضراراً بالغة قد لحقت بالنباتات والحيوانات والغلاف الجوي، والأذية ستكون أبدية. ( )

I liked so much of the information I learned from this book about the underpinnings of our society, such as how fast our buildings and infrastructure would decay, how long various toxics would persist in the environment, and how nature would react to our absence. That said, sometimes the central trope (that we all mysteriously vanish) led to clunkiness in writing/organization. But I doubt the book would have punched through to mass consciousness if it had stuck to detailing what mankind does to the earth without the provocative setup. ( )

For those days when I take solace in the fact that all humans will be wiped out one day... ( )

I really don't know what to think of this book. The author was certainly thorough in covering his topic, and the writing was perfectly fine, and the material was well researched, but it just seemed to be....all over the place.

Perhaps it was the fact that I listened to this as an audiobook rather than read it on paper, but I had a hard time grasping why he was jumping from one place to the next, or where he was going. The topics range all over the planet, through time backwards and forwards, and through different points of interest as to "what might happen to X if we all disappeared". Just not sure why one followed another. Someone else suggested that the "Coda" at the end should really have come first, as it does explain why the author took up this topic. I agree that would have helped me.

Unfortunately, when the audiobook ended I was left more glad that it was done than happy that I'd sat through it. I can't say that I recommend this book. ( )

For a while, during the first 100 pages /- I thought, "well, this is oddly reassuring" but when he got into the fertilizer section and especially the nuclear area, it was pretty hard to stay chipper. I'm OK with the unlikely notion that humans vanish but if a by-product is that the planet is unihabitable or really, really fucked up; that is simply depressing. Tough read but I appreciate the new found knowledge. ( )

Another entry in the ever-popular "interesting magazine article padded out to not-so-interesting book length" category. ( )

Fascinating, but wanders a bit. ( )

Solid, but not as good as it should have been. ( )

Unique socio-environmental book that studies about how dependent our infrastructure of buildings, roads, sewers, etc is upon constant maintenance, and what would happen if we were to suddenly disappear. Very well written and worth keeping in the socio-political-economic library. ( )

A globe-trotting and wide-ranging discussion of the long term effects of human life on Earth and our legacy, good and bad. The variety of topics explored is terrific fun and the imagery is exciting, although the somewhat Malthusian epilogue and lack of an emphasis on the corporate fight against climate change mitigation date it a bit. (We were so naive back then!)

Not so much the extrapolation of the title as an argument the world would be BETTER OFF without us. We're bad, and apparently have been since prehistory when we wiped out all sorts of great big animals. It's disheartening to be clubbed in the head with everything your species has done and is doing wrong. I'm currently reading a book called "The Uninhabitable Earth," which specifically addresses global warming, and is basically "game over." I have a considerable collection of apocalypse fiction, and as grim as some of it is, none of it can hold a candle to books like these. The disaster is already upon us, and books like this are as likely to cause despair as action. We need a plan and instead we have willfully ignorant politicians and science deniers and people with their heads up their asses. ( )

This is a book that can be read in a variety of different ways. If you are looking for some kind of right on, accurate, scientific sort of work, this is not that book.

It is more of a science fiction/poetic thought exercise, written in almost narrative form, about what the world would look and feel like without us on the planet. The details are well thought out, the anecdotes from people regarding life now on the planet are varied and interesting. It is like reading an Italo Calvino novel or something. Different snippets, that when combined, form a tapestry that is more than the individual parts. It is a really well thought out book. ( )