This was one of the books that the Environmental Science students at Duke had to read, and I figured I'd give it a go. Although it seems to have taken me forever to read (because I read a few other books in between), I did really really enjoy it. It was well written, engaging and even humorous in places. I especially loved the parts that described urbex-y situations. Some of the information about nuclear waste and plastics really surprised me, and it reinforced me passion to help the environment.

I do not consider myself an extreme environmentalist. However, I have always felt the need to try to protect the world that we live in, it is the only one we have. I try to not use plastic bags, I'd walk more and drive less if I didn't live in the middle of nowhere. I'm concerned about the way we carelessly treat our nuclear waste, our daily waste, and the animals that share this planet with us, mostly because I feel that we must have a positive symbiotic relationship with the world around us it is what gives us life. I get frustrated that it took 11 years before the city I live in decided to get a recycling program in place. I see the devastation to the mountains around me all in the cause of road building, mining and subdivisions, yet I don't know what to do about it. If I didn't already feel this way, reading this book would have made me. Now I feel the need to protect this planet more than ever and yet I still don't know what to do.

The World Without Us, starts out relatively sedate as it goes in to describing how nature would take back the house I live in or the city that I inhabit, if all human life suddenly disappeared in fell swoop. After that the more I read the more appalled I became. I didn't realize what happens to plastic, even the so called biodegradable kind. I didn't know that it doesn't degrade but becomes ever smaller and generally no matter what always seems to be drawn to sea and ocean becoming food for the fish that live there, for the fish that we eat, killing them because they can't digest what they thought was krill or plankton or whatever it is that they eat. I didn't realize that there are huge swirling garbage whirlpools trapped in the middle of the oceans. I knew that nuclear waste was bad, but never put much thought into how much of it is being created and the damage even so called "safe" disposal can do especially since radioactive waste has long long lifetimes. I didn't realize that our buildings and electrical wires kill hundreds of thousands of birds a year. While I don't agree with groups that advocate the gradual voluntary suicide of whole human race to save the planet, I do feel more inclined to think before I act, think before I vote, think before I buy, think before I throw away about how what I'm doing endangers the world that I live in, that gives me life and sustains me. This book was a wake up call and I would recommend it to everyone that calls Earth their home. Maybe if we all cared a little bit more about her, we could save her, protect her and live in harmony with her. I love the last line of the book. It is in the acknowledgements section. "Without us, Earth will abide and continue; without her, however, we we could not even be."

We are so, so fucked

I finished this book with very mixed feelings... On the one hand, it's an interesting premise, and generally I felt like it was a well researched attempt to answer the question of what would happen to the world if humans were to suddenly disappear. There were a lot of fascinating pieces of information, quotes from experts, and other ways to show how each aspect of our world would age and change in the absence of humans, and I thoroughly enjoyed these. My main complaint for the length of the book was that it felt very disjointed, bouncing from one aspect to the next without a lot of transition, such that I felt more like I was reading a long series of essays than a book. There were also a few pseudo-mystical parts that were frustrating, especially at the end. Overall, I'm still glad I read it though.

This is a sobering account to the lasting effect we humans have had on the planet. Many of our legacies from nuclear to plastic to toxins (PBCs, dioxins, etc...) to species extinctions are frightening. And sad. There is hope. At least for other species unless we turn it around.
Well written and engaging this is a recommended read.
Also wanted to note that [b:Freedom|7905092|Freedom|Jonathan Franzen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316729686s/7905092.jpg|9585796] from Jonathan Franzen came right from these pages. The mountain top removal, the cerulean warbler, and the one child per female all are mentioned in The World Without Us. No acknowledgements in Freedom so don't know if this is an influence.

How unsatisfying. This book does not tell the story that it advertises. Rather than exploring the idea of a world where humans suddenly ceased to exist, the book provides a present-day ecological study of human impact on the planet. That sounds like it's the same thing; trust me, it's not.

I was really drawn to the speculative concept of the book: How long would it take various national and international landmarks to erode or fall away? How long would it take for cities and suburbs to be reclaimed by nature? How would pets and animals managed by humans adapt to life in the wild?

The book hints at some of this; the first couple of chapters are very promising. We learn how man-made bridges are constructed to last for centuries, but only with routine maintenance, and how New York is basically one strong storm away from turning back into swamp land.

The majority of the book, however, focuses on very local, unique extremes that can't really be extrapolated beyond a particular set of circumstances. For example, without humans, animals currently seeking refuge in the DMZ will be able to expand out and retake their natural habitats throughout Korea. Great? That's not much of a stretch, though. I could have put that together.

Another chapter describes, in great detail, the migratory habits of various chimpanzee species and speculates at how similar early human migratory patterns may have been to them. Weisman wonders if one of these species may have evolved to become the Earth's dominant species, had we not been around. A valid read on the question of "what would life on Earth be like without humans," but that's not the take I thought I was getting. Many of the chapters just felt like depressing info dumps of the damage humans are doing to the Earth. (And, yeah, ring that bell. I'm here for it. But, again, that's not what this book promised.)

Overall, I'm a bit disappointed. There were a few interesting bits here and there — FYI: house cats will be just fine without humans, don't worry about it — but it would have benefited from an editor tbh.

This was A LOT better than I thought it would be. It is a well-written, haunting book. Highly recommended.

I felt intrigued by this book through the first few chapters. I learned that when humans die out what will remain is the mass of plastic bags the size of Texas floating in the ocean, ceramics (because the have the same properties as fossils), all clad pots and pans and our copper piping. Then, as you go on the idea of your childhood home rotting, the hopelessly polluted atmosphere, spoiled oceans and depleted forests starts to wear on you. I'm not sure what I expected when I picked up this book but completing it left me with a grim feeling: We're fucked. Still, I think it made some eye-opening predictions...even if they were hard to read.