The World Without Us
by Alan Weisman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alan WeismanEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-07-10
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Book Reviews of The World Without Us
Book Review: Are humans evolved as too smart to survive?
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a chemist, yet.. I started looking at the products (high molecular compounds) and at the chemical industry in a completely different way. Scary....what an ingenuity gap between us and bonobo resulted in !
In his book "The World Without Us" Alan Weisman presents an extremely original approach to questions about the impact of humanity on the planet. He invites us to visit the Earth, which suddenly is freed from its worth parasitic virus - "Homo Sapiens Selftoxicus".
He describes how our extensive, most often toxic and harmful for other species global infrastructure, would disintegrate and finally disappear. He also explains which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils.
Why do some of our oldest buildings could become the last bastions of the ongoing architecture? Or: plastic, bronze statues, radio waves and a few molecules created by humans would become our most durable gifts to the universe?
But why only 4 stars?
While author takes on plastic, fertilizers, herbicides, nuclear waste mostly, he does not analyze the huge stockpiles of chemical warfare poisons and waste created during weapons production. These horrible compounds will affect future of any remaining species. Residues and byproducts are usually placed under the water (seas, lakes) or buried in the ground. It is estimated that the global inventory of combat poisons released into the environment would show more than one million tonnes. Due to the extremely hazardous and diversified properties of these waste, there is a lack of organized manner in which neutralization could takes place and storage locations are kept confidential.
Also: there is a small part of the book quoting statistic predictions how many birds are killed/year by cats.
This is not accurate and most likely not quite reliable data.
Not every cat is a birds' killer. Plenty of cats are INDOOR.
Many cats does not hunt at all, even if they go outdoor. Many cats when over 3 years old do not climb trees, cause they are too heavy and many of them have claws trimmed by the owners. Some hunt mice, but skip birds.
Nevertheless..fascinating read for every person concerned about environment and its future state.
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