Seminar Entry 1

I remember reading a brief review of "The World Without Us" and consequently nearly purchasing it at the local bookstore in my freshman year of college. Alas, my checking account did not agree with that idea, and the idea, along with the book were forgotten.

Imagine my surprise when I was able to rediscover the book in my seminar class this fall semester. I took a shine to Alan Weisman's fanciful extrapolations of a future world, and found no trouble in believing the nigh-impossible circumstances surrounding his premise. What if, he posits, humanity were to (magically) vanish permanently from the surface of the earth in the very near future? Several of my classmates may have found that difficult to believe, but the reasons behind the book's exploration of a future without us do not really matter, and are trivial in comparison to the ideas unleashed in the book. Suspend your disbelief, reader, and free yourself from the binds of rational thought for as long as you hold the book open.

I have read nearly three quarters of the book as I write this. I have not really found any particular threads binding the seperate chapters in each part together. This is slightly depressing, as I had hoped the seperation of parts would serve some purpose (aside from a convienient way to split up readings for, say, a 100 level college seminar) of organization. Otherwise, the topics explored in the book seem scattershot; for example, the chapter on birds directly proceeds the chapter on radioactive waste. If there is a greater organizational theme surrounding the book, then it is too subtle for me, the average Joe.

The ideas explored in the book are all well thought out and researched. Weismann has sought out experts (or the nearest fascimille) concerning each chapters topic, and seems to have probed them extensively concerning our current arrangements. He presents how the world currently researches in easy-to-understand language, sprinkled throughout with snatches of wit or wry observations on human nature. He seems to have followed each interview with "Now, suppose there were no more humans..." The experts gamely explore the idea with Weismann, noting the gradual (or sudden, depending on scale) destruction of all humanity has achieved. He also notes our lingering legacy, if any, that pertains to the topic at hand.

Weismann does seem to go out of his way to portray humanity as earth's greatest villains and devils. There is always something wrong with the way we've handled things, despite the fact that humans are large and the planet's dominant species. While it's true that we have not always been the perfect caretakers of the planet, Weismann will often explore peculiar legacies of humanity's time on the planet, such as the effect of cell phone towers on large populations of birds. If every decision humankind has made rested on taking every possible factor into account, the decision and debate process would consume a span greater than most lifetimes. In short, nothing would get done.

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I realize that this blog entry has read like a book report or middling review. However, I do think that there is more to be had from this book, and I am withholding a final judgement until I read the final part of "The World Without Us".