I haven't read this book yet (The World Without Us), but it sounds really interesting. The author has done the usual tour of talk shows, which means I've seen him on the Daily Show as well as heard him on the Scientific American podcast Science Talk. It was on the latter that I heard an interesting tidbit. Do you know why there are no longer any large land mammals around most of the world, but there are still many in Africa? See the comments for the answer.
These images are from the book's webpage (above). This next one I find the most interesting: Within two days, subways flood. I'm amazed at how reliant we are upon our fellow human beings to hold back the forces of nature on a day-to-day basis... in this case, the pumps that hold out the water:
And I'm not sure that this one has so much to do with the absence of humans... could we hold back a glacial ice sheet during the next ice age? But it does still make you think about how temporary are the products of our civilization, on geologic timescales:
What I find most interesting about this book is that it gives its readers a glimmer of hope, even though it starts with the elimination of the human race. Apparently, it's nice to hear how quickly Mother Nature will bounce back, despite the beating she takes from us daily.
1 comment:
Why are there no longer any large land mammals around most of the world, but there are still many in Africa?
In Africa, the large land mammals evolved alongside humans, adapting defense mechanisms against these unassuming little primates that don't appear to be much of a threat. Around the rest of the world, they were just unprepared for us. They didn't have a defense mechanism against us, nor the intelligence to adapt to us fast enough.
Of course, that was the situation when all we had were spears and rocks. Now that we have more and more technology, the large African mammals are in trouble again...
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