The World Without Us

The World Without Us

Author	Alan Weisman
Language	English
Genre	Non-fiction
Published	July 10, 2007 (St. Martin's Thomas Dunne Books)
Publication place	United States
ISBN	978-0-312-34729-1
OCLC	122261590
Dewey Decimal	304.2 22
LC Class	GF75 .W455 2007

The World Without Us is a 2007 non-fiction book about what would happen to the natural and built environment if humans suddenly disappeared, written by American journalist Alan Weisman and published by St. Martin's Thomas Dunne Books.^[1] It is a book-length expansion of Weisman's own February 2005 Discover article "Earth Without People".^[2] Written largely as a thought experiment, it outlines, for example, how cities and houses would deteriorate, how long man-made artifacts would last, and how remaining lifeforms would evolve. Weisman concludes that residential neighborhoods would become forests within 500 years, and that radioactive waste, bronze statues, plastics and Mount Rushmore would be among the longest-lasting evidence of human presence on Earth.

The author of four previous books and numerous articles for magazines, Weisman had traveled to interview academics, scientists and other authorities. He used quotations from these interviews to explain the effects of the natural environment and to substantiate predictions. The book has been translated and published in many countries. It was successful in the U.S., reaching #6 on the New York Times Best Seller list^[3] and #1 on the San Francisco Chronicle Best-Sellers list in September 2007.^[4] It ranked #1 on Time^[5] and Entertainment Weekly's top 10 non-fiction books of 2007.