Lance brought home a great new book this week - The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. I heard an interview Weisman did with Leonard Lopate (WNYC) and I was a little skeptical, because it seemed too fantastical to be all that interesting. Too quick of a judgement; the book is fascinating - and common sense, but one of those things that one never really thinks about. If we ceased to exist, how long would anything last and what would be left to mark our existence? Seems basic right? But what's truly intriguing is the process by which things (homes, streets, dishes) deconstruct and what remains the longest. It's more an anthropological study than anything else. What we know of extinct cultures is only what remains, and what remains may only be small facets of their existence (eating utensils, etc.). Check out the site for great images and visuals of how long it takes a house to decompose and what NYC would look like upon human extinction (or annihilation as it were).
on another note re:humans, anyone remember these? I think maybe Hallmark(?) sold these in the 1980's and they are indelibly burned into my memory for all time. I'm convinced that in my last breaths, the very last images to pop in my head will be a ceramic human bean saying "Bye Bye Human Bean". So, when we kill ourselves off, all the next humanoid will find is this dumb thing saying "I'm Sorry"...omg...
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