Book of the Moment

The World Without Us is a new book by journalist Alan Weisman that is receiving a lot of press, certainly due to its timely, science-fiction premise: what would happen to the earth if humans disappeared?



The book first came to my attention in a recent Scientific American interview with the author, which includes a description -- with online video and timeline companion -- describing what might happen to Manhattan without people maintaining infrastructure, buildings, and the landscape.



While I'll admit it's interesting to ponder what would happen a few days after humans theoretically disappeared, or a few weeks, years, millennia, the effort ultimately must be about, as Weisman describes, "another way of looking at...what goes on in our presence." If the book affects the way we do things remains to be seen, but the lasting impact of human-created things like plastic and nuclear waste, when seen in the context of a human-deprived world, may not be enough to change our ways.