| Janet Frasier |
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Jan Nystrom from the Wallace Stegner Center has been reading "The World Without Us" for the upcoming UMNH Community Book Discussion as well as Alan Weisman's upcoming visit to Salt Lake City. Here is what Jan has to say about her initial reading of the book:
Alan Weisman’s book is a fascinating read in part because it not only addresses how ecological systems would respond if relieved of the relentless pressures we heap upon them, but also how the manmade world would come undone. Weisman’s chapter on the “rewilding” of New York City in a post-human world reads like a science fiction fantasy, although it’s based on solid science. In just three to four days without us and our enormous pumps, the New York City subways begin to flood and the process of restoration and destruction is underway, as streets cave in to the flooded subways, rivers return to their old haunting grounds, and animals begin to cross New York City’s various bridges into the City.
In his book, Weisman quotes the architect Chris Riddle who wrote, “’If you want to destroy a barn,’ a farmer once told me, ‘cut an eighteen-inch-square hole in the roof. Then stand back.’” And indeed it’s the small things that undo our manmade world.
I’ve been thinking about Weisman’s book relative to my own home, a 1939 brick tudor which seems to require constant upkeep, from flaking paint, to old pipes, to electrical fixtures that need replacing, to my dishwasher which seems (from the sound of it) to be on its last legs so it’s not at all difficult for me to imagine my home returning to the wild without my constant attention. On the website for Weisman’s book (http://www.worldwithoutus.com/), you can click on a video of the process by which a house is destroyed. It’s actually fun to watch and consider what would happen without our relentless efforts to keep our artificial world going.
I’m looking forward to UMNH’s book club meeting on September 8 and also to Weisman’s upcoming lecture in Salt Lake City. Alan Weisman will speak at Libby Gardner Hall at 7:00pm on September 30 and will sign books after his reading. Tickets are $10 and are on sale through Kingsbury Hall ticket office at 801-581-7100. Or, you can get more information about his visit at the Wallace Stegner Center website at http://www.law.utah.edu/stegner <http://www.law.utah.edu/stegner> .
Jan Nystrom
Wallace Stegner Center
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