An informative, well-researched thought experiment. I’ve often wondered if the world would be better off without humanity. I strongly felt that the answer would be yes, and that is now backed up with substantial evidence. A depressing conclusion. I’m glad that I read this book, but I can’t say that it produced any feelings of optimism. The bottom line: humans are reeking havoc on the planet and the effects are past reversing unless huge global changes are made, especially in population growth rates. The earth will recover from our presence after a significant amount of time goes by after we are gone. I guess that’s a kind of optimism in itself.

we have really screwed things up on this planet

3.8

Disappointingly dull. The televised mini-series did better by concept. In that, the focus was the change the world would go through without us. In this book, it's much more of a "the world as of now" reminder. And, look. If you don't know how bad humans have messed everything up, go ahead and read this book. But, for those of us that get it, it's preaching to the choir. I was hoping for a more in-depth thought experiment, with scientific cause and effect, which this was not. You'd get through four pages of status updates for one paragraph of "without us".

The idea behind this book is fascinating. What would happen to the earth if every human disappeared? Weisman takes us step by step through various regions of the planet and shares a timeline of how nature would reclaim her territory. Something he does that I thought was very interesting was sharing the stories of places that have been abandoned over the years, and how people have gone into these spaces at a later time and have documented what they found. One negative thing about this book is that Weisman does go off on a lot of tangents. If you aren't paying careful attention, you'll lose track of where you are and how you got there, which was a problem for me.

This book was simultaneously eye-opening, depressing, and interesting at the same time. It really makes you think - how much damage are we doing to our planet? Why aren't we doing more to reduce our footprint in a meaningful way? Why do we insist on living to such excess? I was left with a faint feeling of remorse after reading this, but yet a spark of hope. There are many people out there working hard to "save the planet" - let's hope they figure it out before we end up doing irreparable harm. In the meantime, consider your personal impact on your environment. You might be surprised!

Amazing

This book was gripping and interesting, if a little dated. The best way I've been able to describe it to others is as "speculative nonfiction". I was disappointed that their main takeaway at the end is that we need to drastically reduce earth's population, although they stressed by humane means. I suppose what else was I expecting from a book centered around the premise of "what if humans disappeared".

I most enjoyed reading about abandoned places and the ways that they decay. I was a little disappointed that the section on art didn't get more philosophical, but again, the limits of the scope. Overall good, will recommend.

Interesting concept, not interesting enough to hold my interest for an entire book.