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US Mall 1 - The World Without Us
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List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $7.60
Your Save: $ 17.35 ( 70% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 304.2
EAN: 9780312347291
ISBN: 0312347294
Label: Thomas Dunne Books
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2007-07-10
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date: 2007-07-10
Studio: Thomas Dunne Books
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: the perfect gift
Comment: Both my husband and I read this book with avid interest. It caught our eye in an airport bookstore as something to read while traveling. The reader is immediately engaged by the remarkable way the facts are presented through the past, present, and likely future. I found some of the information stunning (such as the mass of floating plastic in the Pacific), and all of it very informative. We found it beautifully written and hard to put down. One cannot help but come to the conclusion that man has not been a very good steward of the land that we inhabit, yet the Earth itself is extremely resilient. We ordered a few more books, and gave them to environmentally sensitive friends as Christmas presents. Reactions were all positive. Perhaps we should have gifted those who are not as sensitive. There is a lesson here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: interesting visions of the future
Comment: very interesting book that does a good job of using historical and current phenomenon to illustrate how things would turn out. personally, i love the idea of a world without people and found this to be a very appealing book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Illumanist bootlicker
Comment: I loved Weisman's "Gaviotas," as a story of hope and possibilities, but romanticizing the Illumanist agenda of killing off all or all but 500,000 (closely-related) humans is hardly laudable. True, humanity has utterly lost its way. The planet is a mess. We're a mess. Read the Ringing Cedars series (Anastasia) if you want to see the path out of the dark wood and glimpse a shining collective future.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I Should Have Just Read The Essay
Comment: The World Without us is a fascinating concept book. Looking at how the earth would reclaim the urban sprawl is utterly compelling and fairly depressing. Through exploring this concept the book also deals with deep environmental issues and how we attempt to control the forces of nature in order to exist on the planet.
All this is utterly engaging for a while, and then it just gets old. The book was based on an essay and that's where I think it would be strongest. The book feels bloated and overly fleshed out. Midway through I felt I had gotten everything I would get out of the book, and when I finished I realized I had.
Still a worth wile read if the concept is one which engages you, although I wish I had just read the essay.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great concept, mediocre execution
Comment: PROS:
- Tackles a fascinating thought experiment: what would happen to the planet if humans vanished overnight?
- Excellent research.
- It's hopeful in that it shows just how fast nature will take over, that life goes on and few will really miss our species. Often environmentalists like to think that humans are the worst thing that has ever happened to this planet, but they forget that far more devastation happened when a few asteroids blasted this planet.
- Reaches the correct, but unpopular, conclusion: if you want humans to have less impact on the planet, limit our population growth. Environmentalists who dream of minimizing human impact rarely talk about reversing human's growth rate. We can all live a low-impact existence, but that doesn't help if there are 100 billion of us. With the population doubling every 70 years, we'll get there in just 280 years. Most of the environmental change that we cause is not because we're evil, it's just because we want to live a decent life, just like every other living wants to do.
CONS:
- Lackluster writing. It's tedious, sluggish, and a bit academic. The sentences don't flow and they have awkward construction. It wasn't painful to read, but it wasn't a pleasure either.
- Needs more photos and illustrations. There are a couple of photos, but they're poor quality. To help envision a planet without us, illustrations and photos would have helped.
- Needs more headers and a better layout. It would help make the text more attractive.
CONCLUSION: Although I read many books, I usually buy only one book per year. This was that one book. I was so excited that I wanted this in my library. Although I'd like to re-read it someday, it's not as great as I hoped it would be. I wasn't bad either. If you're interested in this subject, then buy this book despite the criticism. You'll end up learning something, guaranteed. If you're not that interested, then skip it. I gave it four stars because of the conclusion and because it offers an outstanding perspective on this planet and our role in it.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: the perfect gift
Comment: Both my husband and I read this book with avid interest. It caught our eye in an airport bookstore as something to read while traveling. The reader is immediately engaged by the remarkable way the facts are presented through the past, present, and likely future. I found some of the information stunning (such as the mass of floating plastic in the Pacific), and all of it very informative. We found it beautifully written and hard to put down. One cannot help but come to the conclusion that man has not been a very good steward of the land that we inhabit, yet the Earth itself is extremely resilient. We ordered a few more books, and gave them to environmentally sensitive friends as Christmas presents. Reactions were all positive. Perhaps we should have gifted those who are not as sensitive. There is a lesson here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: interesting visions of the future
Comment: very interesting book that does a good job of using historical and current phenomenon to illustrate how things would turn out. personally, i love the idea of a world without people and found this to be a very appealing book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Illumanist bootlicker
Comment: I loved Weisman's "Gaviotas," as a story of hope and possibilities, but romanticizing the Illumanist agenda of killing off all or all but 500,000 (closely-related) humans is hardly laudable. True, humanity has utterly lost its way. The planet is a mess. We're a mess. Read the Ringing Cedars series (Anastasia) if you want to see the path out of the dark wood and glimpse a shining collective future.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I Should Have Just Read The Essay
Comment: The World Without us is a fascinating concept book. Looking at how the earth would reclaim the urban sprawl is utterly compelling and fairly depressing. Through exploring this concept the book also deals with deep environmental issues and how we attempt to control the forces of nature in order to exist on the planet.
All this is utterly engaging for a while, and then it just gets old. The book was based on an essay and that's where I think it would be strongest. The book feels bloated and overly fleshed out. Midway through I felt I had gotten everything I would get out of the book, and when I finished I realized I had.
Still a worth wile read if the concept is one which engages you, although I wish I had just read the essay.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great concept, mediocre execution
Comment: PROS:
- Tackles a fascinating thought experiment: what would happen to the planet if humans vanished overnight?
- Excellent research.
- It's hopeful in that it shows just how fast nature will take over, that life goes on and few will really miss our species. Often environmentalists like to think that humans are the worst thing that has ever happened to this planet, but they forget that far more devastation happened when a few asteroids blasted this planet.
- Reaches the correct, but unpopular, conclusion: if you want humans to have less impact on the planet, limit our population growth. Environmentalists who dream of minimizing human impact rarely talk about reversing human's growth rate. We can all live a low-impact existence, but that doesn't help if there are 100 billion of us. With the population doubling every 70 years, we'll get there in just 280 years. Most of the environmental change that we cause is not because we're evil, it's just because we want to live a decent life, just like every other living wants to do.
CONS:
- Lackluster writing. It's tedious, sluggish, and a bit academic. The sentences don't flow and they have awkward construction. It wasn't painful to read, but it wasn't a pleasure either.
- Needs more photos and illustrations. There are a couple of photos, but they're poor quality. To help envision a planet without us, illustrations and photos would have helped.
- Needs more headers and a better layout. It would help make the text more attractive.
CONCLUSION: Although I read many books, I usually buy only one book per year. This was that one book. I was so excited that I wanted this in my library. Although I'd like to re-read it someday, it's not as great as I hoped it would be. I wasn't bad either. If you're interested in this subject, then buy this book despite the criticism. You'll end up learning something, guaranteed. If you're not that interested, then skip it. I gave it four stars because of the conclusion and because it offers an outstanding perspective on this planet and our role in it.
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