The World Without Us: No Movie Yet.....
In an earlier post, I referenced the much discussed thought experiment conducted in journalist Alan Weisman's book The World Without Us. Here is a link to the New York Times Book Review's take on it.
The book was a compelling and fairly quick read, but I ended it wanting more. Weisman only touched the surface of the deep pools of speculation that he leads us to in this book. I had expected a more systematic approach and millennium by millennium play by play of the re-absorption of the human environment. Instead, he gives us on the spot vignettes that are interesting nonetheless.
Weisman dwells way too much on the evolutionary and migratory human past and doesn't convincingly tie it to the idea of a post-human future. This is the greatest weakness of the book. He attempts to make a connection between the post-human future and the historical impact of humans and our closest relatives that would have been better served in another book. The sizable space devoted to this would have been better served examining more scientifically, the actual processes of a post-human future on what we know of past civilizations and how nature has reclaimed these places. A good example can be found in my favorite chapter titled The World Without Farms . This chapter recounts the changes and discoveries at the world's oldest continuous agricultural research station. At Rothhamsted Research in the UK, continuous documetation of experiments and changes in the land have been documented since the mid 19th century. This place provides an intereting window into what the future could hold. Despite faults, it is a pretty good read.
The book was a compelling and fairly quick read, but I ended it wanting more. Weisman only touched the surface of the deep pools of speculation that he leads us to in this book. I had expected a more systematic approach and millennium by millennium play by play of the re-absorption of the human environment. Instead, he gives us on the spot vignettes that are interesting nonetheless.
Weisman dwells way too much on the evolutionary and migratory human past and doesn't convincingly tie it to the idea of a post-human future. This is the greatest weakness of the book. He attempts to make a connection between the post-human future and the historical impact of humans and our closest relatives that would have been better served in another book. The sizable space devoted to this would have been better served examining more scientifically, the actual processes of a post-human future on what we know of past civilizations and how nature has reclaimed these places. A good example can be found in my favorite chapter titled The World Without Farms . This chapter recounts the changes and discoveries at the world's oldest continuous agricultural research station. At Rothhamsted Research in the UK, continuous documetation of experiments and changes in the land have been documented since the mid 19th century. This place provides an intereting window into what the future could hold. Despite faults, it is a pretty good read.
Comments