Pack your bags

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Speaking of books with a purpose (see previous post), the Diana Rehm Show , produced by WAMU, had science writer Alan Weisman on, discussing his new book, The World Without Us. Seldom does background radio draw me from the task at hand, but Weisman's story was so compelling and facinating, that I'm keeping my bags packed just in case Lisa, Lu and I have to blow this planet.

The book asks the simple question: What would the world be like if we suddenly disappeared?

Weisman's description made Night of the Comet, (1984), seem a little less exciting. Though the chapter on how New York City would slowly dissolve had a voyeuristic quality, for the deer and mountain lions who would return to their path that now lies beneath broadway. Did you know that the Plaza Hotel was a lake? Lexington Ave. would become a river? Could you imagine a school of Sea Bass waiting on the #6 platform after visiting the flooded basement of the Met?

The book puts a whole new spin in the environmental news-cycle. All we need now is a major Hollywood picture to actually get news coverage on Weisman's vivid image of the world without us.