It seems like every time we turn on the Discover Channel, all we hear about (other than sharks) is the hundred and one ways humanity might potentially be destroyed at any second (give or take a few million years). There’s a made-for-TV-movie about every possible gruesome fate. But one thing we notice missing is a look into what will happen after we’re gone.

This is the question Alan Weisman sets out to answer in his new book The World Without Us. Weisman doesn’t care about how we end up leaving earth, instead starting with the idea of every human simply vanishing from the planet at once (or raptured, if you prefer). From there he projects forward years, decades, centuries and millennia, drawing on scientists from dozens of different fields to probe the question of what the Earth will be like when it’s freed from mankind’s influence.

And as Weisman points out, that influence is massive: gases pumped into the atmosphere, man-made substances that don’t easily biodegrade, and floating oceanic garbage fields with square mileage in the millions, to name a few.

He doesn’t just conjecture about environmental issues, but also the breakdown of the trappings of civilization, from the various natural actions that can turn a modern house to a pile of debris in a mere handful of decades, to the more advanced processes that will topple New York in a time frame only slightly larger. He also gives thought to what will happen to the various species we’ve developed relationships with, which ones will flourish, and which will go extinct without us.

The book is fascinating, but it’s also humbling to read how quickly the planet can eradicate most of our proudest accomplishments. At times it’s even scary, reading about how much of our waste will plague the planet for millenia after we depart, but even scarier when you consider that, barring some new deadly disease or new ice age, we’ll be the ones who have to deal with the mess we’re making.

link: The World Without Us ($14.97 from Amazon)