A review of The World Without Us from the New York Times.

Over all, this book paints a punishingly bleak picture. Entries in its index indicate the scope of its pessimism. For instance: “Birds, plate glass picture windows and”; “Central Park, coyotes in”; “Earth, final days”; “Embalming, arsenic and”; “Human race, robots and computers as replacements”; “Great Britain’s shoreline, rubbish along”; “PCBs, and hermaphroditic polar bears.” “Dessication,” “Meltdowns” and “Slash-and-burn” also play their roles here.

I've previously blogged a Scientific American interview with Weisman. I have to say, I'm pretty excited for this book—it's like twenty years of my darkest thoughts have suddenly been given material form.