Customer Reviews: Read 227 more reviews...
 Important starting place for understanding the world without us... August 18, 2008
There have been many reviews of this book, and I agree with most of the complimentary comments. Instead of rehashing these comments, I'll focus on two shortcomings. One, like similar books covering this subject, the author focuses too intently on one major urban center: New York City. And while this provides a microcosm for other cities around the world, I feel that the book would have benefited greatly from focusing on vignettes from cities around the world, rather than devoting so much time to New York. Certainly, the author discusses other locations, but NYC dominates. Second, and perhaps less important, is the author's overuse of lists. Especially annoying in the audiobook version, the frequent lists in the book are an unwelcome and tedious distraction from the flow of the writing. Lists of animal species, tree types, etc., are unnecessary and disruptive. I found that these often took me out of the feeling of the work and caused me to skip ahead or simply to put the book down. This is not to knock the entire work as being unreadable, simply that this particular neance I found very annoying.
 The World Without Us August 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent book. Full of information on what we are doing to our environment and food for thought as to possible solutions. Definitely not a scare tactic treatise like many environmentalist-type books tend to be, but a honest look at where we've come from, and where we're going. Things look OK and manageable. The things we've made will take a long time to disappear. The things that we've thrown into the oceans will take a millennium to degraded. They eventually will, but how will the environment deal with them? Unlike many articles on the environment, this book doesn't preach about stopping development right away for the sake of the Earth. The term "sustained development" comes to mind. We need to keep going, but at a conscious pace. I remember a phrase from the movie "Jurassic Park" where Dr. Malcolm (the chaotician) tells the group around the lunch table that we are so consumed with the excitement of what we "can" do but we never stop to think if we "should." We need to keep building. We need to keep advancing. How we do it seems to be the problem. The book does conclude nicely though. There's a sense that all is not lost and that there is a consciousness among the offenders that things just cannot continue this way. There are many programs in the developed world to recycle waste and not treat the Earth as a dumping ground. An excellent read indeed.
Give me a moment of pause August 2, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book is exceptionally well written. The subject content is extemely important and broken up into easily readable but stunning segments.
Interesting but difficult to read July 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I say difficult to read, I don't mean that "The World Without Us" is unusually dense or technical. Weisman's various explorations of how the world would be if the problem of humans was removed are fascinating, informative, accessible, and at times downright alarming and scary (the section about plastics blew my mind - I had never thought about seemingly harmless plastics in such a way before). However, his vignettes are sometimes unrelated or irrelevant to one another and there is no overreaching logic or organization in the book other than the question, "What if humans disappeared today?" There are also many frustrating digressions that interrupt or distract during the vignettes. However, I still recommend it for its thought-provoking value for those who are willing to transcend its organizational chaos.
 a clever book and a decent interesting read July 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
this book is getting a lot of press.
a clever idea, each chapter takes on a particular way that the absence of human beings would effect the world.
part of it's attraction to me is the new trivia that i learned from the book, a life long obsession, it is a real treat to have so many details that i was unaware of.
but the big picture is really the question, what would happen to cities and nuclear power plants and such if we humans just 'poof' gone?
but even more to the point, what is our real impact on the environment? this book goes a long way towards putting together the pieces which will result in answering these important questions.
i found the short chapter 13-the world without war, the most fascinating, it is basically about the dmz in korea. and would recommend reading it first if you are sitting in a bookstore or library trying to decide whether to try the book or not. the chapters are more self contained essays and reading any one of them will help you see what the book is about and the author's style.
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