The World Without Us

Author Alan Weisman
Narrator Adam Grupper
Publisher Ebury Publishing
Publish Date 1 July 2021
Run Time 12 hours and 5 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Climate change, Conservation of the environment, Ecological science, the Biosphere, Popular science, Social impact of environmental issues, Weather and climate: general interest, Wildlife: general interest.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

"On the day after humans disappear, nature takes over and immediately begins cleaning house - or houses, that is. Cleans them right off the face of the earth. They all go."

What if mankind disappeared right now, forever ... what would happen to the Earth in a week, a year, a millennium? Could the planet's climate ever recover from human activity? How would nature destroy our huge cities and our myriad plastics? And what would our final legacy be?

Speaking to experts in fields as diverse as oil production and ecology, and visiting the places that have escaped recent human activity to discover how they have adapted to life without us, Alan Weisman paints an intriguing picture of the future of Earth. Exploring key concerns of our time, this absorbing thought experiment reveals a powerful - and surprising - picture of our planet's future.

© Alan Weisman 2008 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

Compelling … jammed packed with fascinating “what ifs”

Guardian

A powerful vision of a possible future for the earth

Sunday Times

A fascinating nonfiction eco-thriller

The New York Times Book Review

Drawing from hundreds of interviews with engineers, scientists and archaeologists, it unfolds like a thriller

Guardian Best Books about the Post-Human Earth

One of the grandest thought experiments of our time, a tremendous feat of imaginative reporting!

Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Deep Economy

Flesh-creepingly good fun . . . Food for thought

Independent

A wonderful idea… a hugely enjoyable and thought-provoking book… Terrific

Evening Standard

The imaginative power of The World Without Us is compulsive and nearly hypnotic–make sure you have time to be kidnapped into Alan Weisman’s alternative world before you sit down with the book, because you won’t soon return. This is a text that has a chance to change people, and so make a real difference for the planet

Charles Wohlforth, author of L.A. Times Book Prize-winning The Whale and the Supercomputer

An exacting account of the processes by which things fall apart. The scope is breathtaking…the clarity and lyricism of the writing itself left me with repeated gasps of recognition about the human condition. I believe it will be a classic

Dennis Covington, author of National Book Award finalist Salvation on Sand Mountain

The book boasts an amazingly imaginative conceit that manages to tap into underlying fears and subtly inspire us to consider our interaction with the planet

The Washington Post

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