The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.  Picador, 2007.  Trade paperback, 416 pages.  ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42790-0.  Four stars.

            This book is the inverse of science fiction: imaginative science fact.  It begins with the same question -– “what if?” –- but uses research to extrapolate what would happen to human artifacts and to the Earth in general if all humans abruptly vanished.  This covers odd scenarios such as total plague, rapture, or alien removal rather than catastrophic ones such as nuclear war or asteroid strike.  The results are fascinating, sometimes disturbing, sometimes oddly hopeful.