The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman

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Will Smith was not the star of I Am Legend, the blockbuster about a virus wiping out New York. It was the special effects: that gorgeous CGI Fifth Avenue full of trees, the lush Central Park overrun by lions. Alan Weisman has written a scientific version of that morbid fantasy. Houses won't take more than a century to crumble, he tells us. Nuclear waste will hang about a bit longer, but humans' most enduring legacy may turn out to be saucepans. Weisman fast-forwards 100,000 years, and imagines some new life form digging one up, "kicked abruptly to a higher evolutionary plane by the discovery of ready made tools", perhaps, or so foxed they fall to their knees in supplication.

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

How would the world change if human beings vanished from the earth right now, for good? What would the planet be like in a day, a week, a month...a millennium? Just how long will our greatest achievements and our biggest mistakes last after we are gone? To discover the answers, Alan Weisman looks to areas of the world that are currently unoccupied and speaks to experts in fields ranging from nuclear physics to archaeology. He reveals how the natural world would react to our disappearance and wrestles with some of the key concerns of our time to offer an intriguing glimpse of the real legacy of our existence on the planet. 'Compelling...jammed packed with fascinating 'what if's" - "Guardian". 'The results of this huge thought-experiment are both fascinating and surprising' - "Daily Mail". 'Flesh-creepingly good fun...an expert-led fantasia of the post-human planet' - "Independent". 'A wonderful idea...This is a terrific book' - "Scotsman".