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Irons in the Fire
by
John McPhee
This acclaimed collection of essays begins with the title essay and a trip to Nevada, where, in the company of a brand inspector, John McPhee discovers that cattle rustling is not just history.
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
April 30th 1998
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published April 1st 1997)
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Al Lehman In a land where a common saying is that no one eats his own beef, the Nevada brand inspector becomes crucial to civilization. Without one, There'd be a lot of dead bodies." Rustling in the 1990's is still an occupational hazard where ranches are measured in tens of thousands of acres. John McPhee, a favorite writer of mine, has recently published a new collection of essays entitled, Irons in the Fire. The title essay is his investigation of brands and their history. The brand inspector...more
I absolutely love reading John McPhee's books of essays. Now, don't freak out - his essays are so interesting and revealing that you learn a lot in the process of enjoying a good read. The essay on the Brand Inspector in Nevada was brilliant - I didn't know they still did that, but when calves are worth thousands of dollars and they are in a wide-open deserted area, they tend to disappear - the Inspector that McPhee rode with has 3700 brands memorized and can see them on the cows. The story abou...more
You know those profiles they have in papers and magazines where they ask the subject what he always has in his refrigerator or what people would be surprised to know about him? Eventually they get around to asking what three people he would like to have dinner with. Well, no one has asked me that, but I think right after Diane Lane I would invite John McPhee.
McPhee has an insatiable, eclectic curiosity. He collects people and tells stories, all with awe and humor. In Irons in the Fire, I learned...more
McPhee has an insatiable, eclectic curiosity. He collects people and tells stories, all with awe and humor. In Irons in the Fire, I learned...more
Oct 15, 2012
Matt
added it
An excellent account of the state of contemporary cattle rustling and what efforts are undertaken to stop it; a thorough and thoroughly readable investigation of the cultural and geological history of Plymouth rock; McPhee even steps into thriller territory in "The Gravel Page," which expands on a note from (if I remember right) Basin and Range about the debt geologists honor to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes--here McPhee details the efforts of forensic geologists who can solve m...more
Apr 26, 2009
Ed
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who has a shred of curiosity about the world around them
Recommended to Ed by:
Bill Jones
This is my first McPhee book. It will not be the last.
It's not often that a book of essays would be placed in the "Couldn't Put It Down" category but this volume qualifies.
The title refers to the opening essay which is focused on Brand Investigators, in an open range section of Nevada, whose job is to stop and/or catch cattle rustlers.
I'm very familiar with ranching as my wife's family have been ranching in Montana for over 100 years. I was not, however, familiar with this kind of open range ra...more
It's not often that a book of essays would be placed in the "Couldn't Put It Down" category but this volume qualifies.
The title refers to the opening essay which is focused on Brand Investigators, in an open range section of Nevada, whose job is to stop and/or catch cattle rustlers.
I'm very familiar with ranching as my wife's family have been ranching in Montana for over 100 years. I was not, however, familiar with this kind of open range ra...more
As I think I have mentioned before, John McPhee is one of my all time favorite authors. I have certainly gained most of my appreciation of the geology of the Western United States from his geology trilogy beginning with "Basin and Range". I gave this 3 stars only because I have liked some of his other books better, but again his breadth of interest and curiosity in subjects from a Nevada branding inspector to the repair of Plymouth Rock (and where it came from-the pilgrims landed where they left...more
John McPhee does things that are seemingly impossible with words he makes you care about small things like grains of sand, becoming silt, becoming an alluvial fan. This collection is the perfect introduction to his incredible writing and art. Showing the common every day life of a Nevada Cattle Brand Inspector and making this as compelling as a Michael Conelly suspense novel. McPhee is an unrecognized American master
I bout this for my father for his birthday lo 15 years or so ago. He never read it, but he always told me to "out irons in the fire." The irons in this book are about cattle branding. But as usual McPhee does a wonderful job of telling uniquely American stories from cattle branding to tire shredding.
Love John McPhee, as usual. The title essay was really good, as was the one about forensic geology... well, they were all good! I do realize though that maybe I like him so much because I'm a geologist, and for people who aren't as familiar with some of his terminology, the fact that he frequently throws out phrases like "Cretaceous paleogeography" without defining them could get annoying...
Nov 10, 2008
Kendall
added it
Collection of Nonfiction pieces- including one on brand inspecting in Nevada (cattle brands)- rocks and forensic geology- and Plymouth Rock. McPhee is obviously heavy into geology. I had to glaze over the sections where he got technical about the rocks. It was a foreign language to me. This was a nice collection. I've read a couple other things of McPhee's in other collections- and I remember being BORED to DEATH. This wasn't like that. He made it interesting enough where the highly technical se...more
Ah, I'm a total sucker for McPhee. Another all-around winner.
I didn't have the patience for the longest one in the book at first (about gravel), but it turned out to be one of the most fascinating, in the end. I want to be a forensic geologist now....
I didn't have the patience for the longest one in the book at first (about gravel), but it turned out to be one of the most fascinating, in the end. I want to be a forensic geologist now....
Interesting essays about jobs I never knew existing such as the Nevada Brand Inspector -- and it isn't about making sure the state of Nevada is always presented in the best possible ways (the way I think of brand). People really do have interesting jobs -- like forensic geology -- that I never knew was a career. I liked learning about things other people do that I know nothing about.
The writing style could be much better and I felt very confused at times by the way some sentences were put toget...more
The writing style could be much better and I felt very confused at times by the way some sentences were put toget...more
Well, I did thoroughly enjoy the essays, however, after pondering for 2 days I can't find anything that brings these essays together. No common thread. I think McPhee's essay collections are stronger when they share a theme. But they are of course, as always, truly fascinating. I liked the title essay best on cattle rustling, and I'd like to see the Japanese hot-air-balloon bombings get a little more attention in schools since that's such a wild thing that happened and almost no one knows anythi...more
Irons in the Fire is a short collection of essays on topics ranging from cattle rustling, to tire recycling, geological forensics, and the Plymouth Rock. The essays are interesting enough, but there is something about McPhee’s writing style that rubs me the wrong way. I don’t know if it’s the extreme dryness or the disjointed manner in which he shifts between topics, but ... I just can’t get into his books without thinking that there’s something else I’d rather be doing.
This collection of essays doesn't hang together as well as Uncommon Carriers. Nelson Runger's narration is too perky.
However, three of the seven essays are really interesting: "The Gravel Page," about geological forensics; "Burden of Care," about the disposal and recycling of used tires; and "Irons in the Fire," about brand inspectors and cattle rustling.
However, three of the seven essays are really interesting: "The Gravel Page," about geological forensics; "Burden of Care," about the disposal and recycling of used tires; and "Irons in the Fire," about brand inspectors and cattle rustling.
excellent essays. largely forensic geology, solving murders using clues like where the sand on the body came from, etc. an crazy section on the japanese practice during WWII of sending hydrogen balloon with fire bombs blindly across the pacific to randomly destroy places in the US -- we caught them by pinpointing the type of sand to a particular spot in japan, and bombing that! brilliantly researched and engagingly spun.
A peaceful, enjoyable book of meditative profiles of interesting scientists and specialists. Some lulls in interest, and really a set of magazine pieces, but McPhee doing McPhee.
Mar 30, 2007
Maeve
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Environmentalists and Jerseyans
Shelves:
non-fiction,
essays
I read this book for my AP English Composition class as a study on essay writing. It was delightful. John McPhee writes about science and the environment the way most fiction authors write about love affairs and dreams.
Just another absolutely great collection of essays from McPhee. Whenever we drive up the 5 freeway we think about the tires. And when I hike in the desert, I think about cattle rustlers.
Typical Mcphee collection - and I intend that as a compliment.
It's not Hovings, but it's close.
It's not Hovings, but it's close.
Absorbing writing by McPhee as usual.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What's The Name o...: Series of Essays on Rocks [s] | 8 | 26 | Oct 07, 2011 09:31am |
John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with the New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. The same year he published his first book, A Sense of Where You Are, with FSG, and soon followed with The Headmaster (1966), Oranges (1967), The P...more
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May 19, 2007 03:04pm