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Books : The World Without Us
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The World Without Us by: Alan Weisman List Price: £20.00 Vegetarian Books Price: £14.00 You Save: £6.00 (30%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Hardcover EAN: 9781905264032 ISBN: 1905264038 Label: Virgin Books Manufacturer: Virgin Books Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: July 05, 2007 Publisher: Virgin Books Studio: Virgin Books Sales Rank: 61683 Related Items:
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Fantastic concept, disappointing executionI agree with the earlier reviewers who were disappointed by the way the author chose to approach his material. The sections which describe what would happen to eg buildings, nuclear reactors etc if humans suddenly disappeared are absolutely fascinating, and if they constituted the bulk of the book - as I'd expected they would when I bought it - then it would be five-star material. Unfortunately these are interspersed with overlong sections of scene-setting purple prose describing places and interviewees, which slow the narrative pace considerably. Still interesting, though. Rating: - What if there were no more humans?What would happen if humanity were to depart in one go from the Earth? How would the world manage without us? What would happen to the environment, our cities or fauna and flora? One of the early sections in this book visits New York city and the team of men who are responsible for the never-ending pumping out of water from under the city, which constantly threatens to fill subways. The author then goes through the surprisingly rapid decline of the city. If you've ever stood in Manhattan gazing along the straight avenues and streets, and were amazed at the scale of construction, then this section will chill you right through. Later in the book, the author desctribes an abandoned seaside town in Cyrpus and it's decline in decrepitude. ... Read More: Rating:  - Enlightening and disturbing.Let's try a thought experiment. Consider what effects the human race is having and has had on the Earth. Then consider what would happen should, somehow, we disappeared from the face of this planet tomorrow. It doesn't matter how, super virulent virus perhaps, raptured to heaven even, as long as we just disappear quietly. What would be our legacy to the rest of life, or what would be left to see for a visiting extra-terrestrial? It's with this premise that Alan Weisman sets out to explore the possible and likely consequences of our tenure here. What buildings would survive? What happens to our cities? Our livestock, pets and cultivated plants? There is much more to this book though. For, by discussing our potential legacy, ... Read More: Rating:  - I nearly fell asleep reading this bookWhat a fantastic-sounding book! I think I read an article in a newspaper inspired by this book (not reviewing it) and there may even have been a television programme or series associated with it. Both were compelling, so naturally I wanted to track down the book behind it all. Oh how disappointed I was. I reached page 33 and I just couldn't take any more. I'm not a person who falls asleep easily, especially not when reading books, but after a couple of chapters of this tedium I was nodding off. The author is just SO dull. He sounds like a parody of a dull professor with a horribly monotonous voice. There isn't even so much as a glimmer of any wit or humour (or even irony) within these pages. It's just a desiccated recital of lists like names ... Read More: Rating: - Marvellous modern memento moriReflections on the impermanence of man's creations and corporeal form have long been part of both Christian and Buddhist tradition as antidotes to human hubris. Weisman's very modern mortality tale however serves not God or enlightenment, but the Earth itself. What would happen in the unlikely event that everyone on the planet simply disappeared? What would the legacy of our species be in terms of our buildings and cultures? Would the natural environment simply take over again, or have we done irreparable damage to our planet? The fascinating television programme based on this book focused on the GCI-enhanced mouldering of our monuments and gradual crumbling of our cities. The book however is much more ambitious in its scope, addressing the far-reaching effect ... Read More: |
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