The World Without Us

The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman (2007)

Weisman sets out to examine what would happen to the earth and its natural systems if humans were suddenly gone from the planet. From the beginning, it is a fascinating proposition: what are the consequences of human activity and what vestiges of human existence will last far beyond our time on the planet?

To answer the question of how the earth would fare without us, the author explores what humans are doing to the planet now. Weisman uses the example of 30-year-old abandoned buildings in Varosha, a resort on the island of war-torn Cyprus, to predict what will become of the architecture that man has constructed.

Far more worrisome are the toxic hotspots that we will leave behind. Some of the chemicals used to create bombs, missiles, and other destructive hardware will endure for hundreds of thousands of years, if not longer. The world’s 441 nuclear reactors have produced spent uranium fuel rods that have a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Incredibly, animals have returned to places such as the Chernoybl site in Ukraine, and there is evidence that nature is already finding ways to adapt to new realities.

What could become of facilities such as petroleum refineries as well as the nuclear plants is covered here. If abandoned, the nuclear facilities would certainly overheat and spill radioactivity into the air, a sequence of events that would have consequences for the planet—and all of its remaining inhabitants—for the rest of its existence.

Expertly researched and written, Weisman’s effort is aided by a number of naturalists, engineers, and other experts throughout. The author has done an excellent job of presenting scientific issues in a way that the layman can read and appreciate. This book should have a place in all library collections. Strongly recommended.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King (2000)

King has written a short biographical tale of his life as a writer. The story begins with his first memories of growing up in a single parent household with his mother and brother David. He regales the reader with powerful stories of his childhood illness to hysterically funny accounts of his neglectful, if not psychotic, babysitter.

As a only masterful storyteller can, King pulls at the reader’s heartstrings with his gripping story of a sick child suffering the painfully long needles poked in his ears. His retelling of this story has the reader sitting at the edge of their seat quickly turning the pages so we will know if the small child will be able to hear after the procedure.

King takes us back to the struggle his family endured because of their abandonment by his father. We fall in love with the little boy who had to undergo so much hardship with only his brother and his imagination for friends. Once we are hooked he continues his story with a man’s long struggle to make it into the world of writers.

We are then introduced into the world of writing, editing, submitting, and rejecting. King goes on to describe his life and various writing jobs. He tells us about his failures as well as successes. One example is a magazine submission he made to the late Alfred Hitchcock when he was still a child. Through the young King’s eyes we can envision Hitchcock’s matter-of-fact notes on King’s manuscript.

King’s moving account of a writer’s life offers warmth and encouragement. This reviewer would urge those who wish to become a writer of any kind to read this book. Highly recommended for all audiences.