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The World Without Us is a 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. It is a book-length expansion of Weisman's own February 2005 Discover article "Earth Without People". 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 will be among the longest lasting evidence of human presence on Earth. The author of four previous books and numerous articles for magazines, Weisman traveled around the world to interview academics, scientists and other authorities. He used quotes from these interviews to explain the effects of the natural environment and to substantiate predictions. The book has been translated and published in France, Germany, Portugal and Spain. It was successful in the U.S., reaching #6 on the New York Times Best Seller list. It ranked #1 on Time and Entertainment Weekly's top 10 non-fiction books of 2007. The book has received largely positive reviews, specifically for Weisman's journalistic and scientific writing style, but some have questioned the relevance of its subject matter. (more...)

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• A magnitude 6.8 M_w earthquake shakes Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures on the Japanese island of Honshū.
• Flooding (rising Des Moines River pictured) continues in the Midwestern United States, leading to the evacuation of thousands of homes.
• NBC journalist Tim Russert dies suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 58.
• Irish voters reject the Treaty of Lisbon in a referendum, thus putting into question the reform program of the European Union.
• The People's Republic of China and Taiwan hold their first formal talks in a decade on improving Cross-Strait relations.
• Pakistan condemns a United States air strike near the Afghan border that killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops, along with eight Taliban militants.
• Amid an outbreak of tornadoes and derechos in central and eastern North America, a tornado hits a Boy Scout camp in Iowa, killing four.
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