false 248787 28 Most contemporary books about the environment end up being jeremiads. They may sing the praises of the natural world, but mostly to draw attention to the ways we are destroying it. The goal is to inspire social change, but that does not always result in creative or compelling prose. How do you avoid putting readers to sleep with yet another alarming tale when you're dealing with a subject that truly is alarming? One of the many virtues of [author:Alan Weisman]'s [book:The World Without Us] is that it finds a brilliantly creative solution to this problem. 241063 book 10 7 2007 The World Without Us total:5182|5:1212|4:2190|3:1333|2:378|1:69| 5182 19644 10252 1522 4 16 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 08 17:31:25 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 01 16:03:14 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 9 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 19:02:52 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 15 13:24:14 -0700 2007
If it only enabled fire ants to slowly liquify Dick Cheney, it would be perfect....more...]]> 2 7 false false Mon Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 14:26:14 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 13:17:48 -0800 2008 The World Without Us, Alan Weisman attempts to answer the question of what would happen to the earth if, for whatever reason, humans were to completely disappear tomorrow. While it’s a fascinating premise, one that Weisman undoubtedly put a lot of time and effort into, the execution falters. In...more...]]> 5 5 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Oct 23 11:26:28 -0700 2007 Tue Dec 11 05:55:12 -0800 2007
The book revolves around the hypothetical question: What would happen if all humans disappeared tomorrow? Would anything w...more...]]> 4 4 false false Mon Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 06:28:48 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 17:32:28 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 5 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Dec 18 06:48:04 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 18 06:51:02 -0800 2007
It does, effortlessly. There is real, unforced poetry in...more...]]> 4 3 false false Sun Jan 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 20:12:12 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 20:13:26 -0800 2008
Not a great book, but a good book.

As a humbling, interesting book about Our World and the incompatibility of our Current Society with Ecology, it belongs on your shelf next to Guns, Germs, and Steel, An Inconvenient Truth, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. And the...more...]]> 2 3 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 01 09:52:47 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 09 11:49:49 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 3 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 17:04:56 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 22 09:29:00 -0800 2007
The literary world...more...]]> 4 4 false false Wed Sep 05 20:27:46 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 07 12:15:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 3 false false Sat Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 09 12:13:31 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 11:08:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 true false Fri Apr 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 28 18:24:17 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 05:04:03 -0700 2008
T...more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Apr 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 22 21:45:22 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 20 19:46:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 29 00:08:39 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 29 00:18:14 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 20:34:30 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 20:40:14 -0700 2007
...more...]]> 1 3 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 14 18:14:31 -0800 2007 Sun Jan 13 00:34:18 -0800 2008
All the people who have made this...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 05 14:40:29 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 05 14:45:25 -0800 2008
After reading an article that Alan Weisman had written for Harpers, “describing how when humans fled Chernobyl, nature rushed in to fill our void,” Discover magazine editor Josie Glausiusz asked Weisman a simple question: “What would happen if humans di...more...]]> 4 4 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 14 14:54:07 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 12:14:55 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Jan 24 19:47:12 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 14:58:19 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 19:47:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 true false Thu Dec 11 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 01 05:26:01 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 01 05:28:31 -0800 2009 2 I am ...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2082562