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140th out of 693 books
—
1,351 voters
The Control of Nature
by
John McPhee
The Control of Nature is John McPhee's bestselling account of places where people are locked in combat with nature. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strageties and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking is his depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those attempting to wr...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
September 1st 1990
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 1989)
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If you asked me a week ago, or before I read this book, if I thought this would be a five star book I would have thought you were crazy. Her? This book? I would have probably told you I might never even read this book and that it made me bored to just read the copy on the back. And I can't even tell you why I started to read this. I was just sitting around my apartment, reading
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!
, and I had about thirty pages left and I got restless and it was still light out, act...more
John McPhee is one of my favorite authors and this book is one of his best. I have read it several times and just reread the Iceland chapter after visiting Heimaey in the Westmann Islands during my recent trip to Iceland. This is where in January 1973 a new volcano formed (Eldfell)and erupted for 5 months. The lava, as it began burying the town (400 homes were covered or destroyed)and was about to seal the harbor was stopped by spraying water on it. I can not tell you how dramatic a story this i...more
This book is a compilation of three extended essays that originally appeared in The New Yorker. In each of them McPhee examines a colossal problem, the grand engineering "solution," and the ongoing fall-out from the very human choices we make.
"Atchafalaya" deals with the attempt to control the flow of the Mississippi River in order to keep the majority of the stream moving through New Orleans. If left alone, the larger part would by now have diverted naturally, flowing through the Atchafalaya Ri...more
"Atchafalaya" deals with the attempt to control the flow of the Mississippi River in order to keep the majority of the stream moving through New Orleans. If left alone, the larger part would by now have diverted naturally, flowing through the Atchafalaya Ri...more
This book is a collection of three pieces essaying to answer why people choose to stay and fight against nature when a rational person would pick up their bags and move. I found the first chapter, covering the Army Corps of Engineers taming the lower Mississippi river, very dull. The last chapter, on Los Angeles vs. rockfalls out of the San Gabriel mountains, was more interesting. The middle portion, on the people of Vestmannaey Jar against a volcano, was absolutely amazing. Maybe it was because...more
First, let me mention just how generous I am with 5-star ratings: this is my first one ever.
John McPhee succeeds where so many writers have crashed and burned: bringing high science to the lay reader. This guy can take "moss growing on a rock" and turn it into a must-read-one-more-page-even-if-it-is-4 AM situation. I've seen him do it!
In this 1989 book, McPhee creates 3 essays documenting heroic attempts by mankind to block nature from having its way. I won't give away the finale, which is the s...more
John McPhee succeeds where so many writers have crashed and burned: bringing high science to the lay reader. This guy can take "moss growing on a rock" and turn it into a must-read-one-more-page-even-if-it-is-4 AM situation. I've seen him do it!
In this 1989 book, McPhee creates 3 essays documenting heroic attempts by mankind to block nature from having its way. I won't give away the finale, which is the s...more
In the fine McPhee tradition, this was great. A compilation of three essays which appeared originally in the New Yorker about humanity's attempts to (more or less successfully) control nature. The first is about the changing course of the Mississippi River and Army Corps-led attempts to keep the river in place (which is not what it wants to do and historically not what it has done). McPhee has a reverence for nature but is fascinated by our attempts to mess with it. I put myself in that camp as...more
As always, McPhee is a pleasure to read and a pleasure to review. In these chronicles, based both on narrative and on interviews, McPhee's big theme is ambition (a good thing), hubris (no problem, simple answer), and willful ignorance.
McPhee talks about three major `wars' against nature - the effort to keep the Mississippi River running through New Orleans, the semi-successful effort in Iceland to keep a volcano from filling in a critical harbor, and the ludicrous attempt to prevent fire and flo...more
McPhee talks about three major `wars' against nature - the effort to keep the Mississippi River running through New Orleans, the semi-successful effort in Iceland to keep a volcano from filling in a critical harbor, and the ludicrous attempt to prevent fire and flo...more
McFee looks at three huge public works project, the damning and redirectioning of the Mississippi via ongoing construction, primarily by the Army Corps of Engineers; attempts in Iceland to redirect the flow of large volumes of lava away from a town by spraying massive amounts of water at the flow edges; and coping with massive debris flows in Los Angeles, as the San Gabriel mountains that abut the city both rise and crumble.
Information here includes some history of the US Army Corps of Engineers...more
Information here includes some history of the US Army Corps of Engineers...more
"Some work of noble note, may yet be done,/Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods," said Ulysses to his aging crew. The works of men that strove with Gods is the subject of John McPhee's The Control of Nature. In three case studies - the Atchafalaya region of the Mississippi River, the lava flows of Iceland, and the mudslides of the San Gabriel Mountains - he demonstrates what happens when humankind tries to control nature.
John McPhee is a prize-winning author who has written over thirty books...more
John McPhee is a prize-winning author who has written over thirty books...more
John McPhee examines, in three lengthy essays, three situations in which humans have placed themselves uncomfortably at odds with natural processes. In each, people have used vast resources to prevent nature from interfering with their lives and profits. McPhee treats all these issues fairly, never hinting that the people doing these things are at all stupid or stubborn or unreasonable even, showing the reader a bit of why these are sympathetic causes. The dignity of all involved shines through...more
He gives three in-depth examples of where man is controlling nature. His first example is about the Mississippi & how we've been redirecting its course for decades. He explains in detail the reasons for it & brings home how difficult the job has been. His writing is excellent. He personalized the struggle for me. I really got a feel of it in an interesting factual way.
Another classic by McPhee. This is a collection of three different stories involving man confronting and trying to reshape large scale natural processes. The first is about the Mississippi River delta. Everybody is familiar with the levee system around New Orleans, but the system is much larger than I realized. It actually helps keep the river in its current course, as the river naturally wants to drain into the Atchafalaya river at this point, thereby bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The...more
The rivers WILL rise, the lava WILL burn, the mountains WILL crumble. So sayeth author John McPhee in his three-part reportage of man's attempts to control, divert or redirect nature's plans. His travels take him to the Mississippi Delta, where engineers have manufactured an artificial flood control to maintain the Ole Man in its present course rather than what the river wants to do: take over the neighboring Atchafalaya channel, thereby forever bypassing the river commerce hubs of Baton Rogue a...more
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John McPhee is an inspired observer, outdoorsman and a writer with ultimate mastery of the English language.
This is an extract from the jacket. "The Control of Nature is John McPhee's bestselling account of places in the world where people have been engaged in all-out battles with nature. In Louisiana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has declared war on the lower Mississippi River, which threatens to follow a new route to the sea and cut off New Orleans and Baton Rouge from the rest of the Uni...more
This is an extract from the jacket. "The Control of Nature is John McPhee's bestselling account of places in the world where people have been engaged in all-out battles with nature. In Louisiana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has declared war on the lower Mississippi River, which threatens to follow a new route to the sea and cut off New Orleans and Baton Rouge from the rest of the Uni...more
Hubris. This book is about the hubris that we can effectively control elemental forces of nature through massive engineering. McPhee explores efforts to prevent the Mississippi river from changing its course, stopping lava flows in Iceland and prevent erosion and mudslides in LA. Each story has compelling tales of engineering. A thread of human arrogance runs clearly through each.
I enjoyed this more than the rating shows. The essays are a bit dated in terms of the cost descriptions, which lead t...more
I enjoyed this more than the rating shows. The essays are a bit dated in terms of the cost descriptions, which lead t...more
I only read the middle section, "Cooling the Lava".
A sudden volcanic eruption, and the town of Heimaey's attempt to harden the lava with water before it destroys *all* of the town and block an important harbor. A fascinating topic, which McPhee reports thoroughly.
He writes well, but it is sometimes hard to following the wide shifts of topic, sometimes several within the same paragraph. I think a more clear path -- with more obvious transitions -- would make this story more powerful.
I also wish M...more
A sudden volcanic eruption, and the town of Heimaey's attempt to harden the lava with water before it destroys *all* of the town and block an important harbor. A fascinating topic, which McPhee reports thoroughly.
He writes well, but it is sometimes hard to following the wide shifts of topic, sometimes several within the same paragraph. I think a more clear path -- with more obvious transitions -- would make this story more powerful.
I also wish M...more
This book is divided into three parts, each one discussing some monumental work of human control over natural processes. The first part is about the Mississippi River flood control structures in Louisiana known as Old River. This structure controls the partition between the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya and helps keep the Mississippi flowing through its present channel. The second part of the book is about the efforts of Icelanders to control the flow of lava from a volcano which erupted in th...more
As the 70's Chiffon commercial goes, "It's not good to fool Mother Nature"! John McPhee, award winning author of over 30 nonfiction works and contributing author to The New Yorker since 1963, would likely agree. His 1989 book, The Control of Nature is a series of three essays, each examining one example of humankind’s ambitious endeavors to control Mother Nature. McPhee opens with his essay entitled Atchafalaya, in which he examines the efforts to control the flow of the Mississippi. He goes on...more
My introduction to John McPhee was through the New Yorker, so it seems fitting that his first book I read is actually a compilation of three New Yorker articles with the common theme of man's attempt to control nature. The first third deals with the control of the Mississippi river, the second about trying to prevent lava flow from a volcano in Iceland from closing up a fishing harbor, and the last third is about fighting the debris flows that are the inevitable second act of Southern California...more
I read this 1989 copyrighted book quite some time ago but had to pick it up again to re-read the section entitled "Atchafalaya" given the current events along the Mississipi River. It was delicious as ever and full of facts about the long history of man against nature along the lower Mississippi. One of these days, it will be nature's turn again but in the meantime, it is an admirable story of the efforts of the Corps of Engineers to control the relentless force of the Mississippi. I will/have r...more
I'm a sucker for writing about settlements and environments meeting and clashing, so I was probably an ideal audience for this. All three chapters - about the Mississippi, about a volcano in Iceland, and about my own home turf in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains - suggest something about the immense scale of these features that makes our attempts to engineer safe havens seem nearly sublime. It's clear that most of our battles cannot be won, and yet to settle almost anywhere involves th...more
A great way to ponder the arrogance of humankind
McPhee wrote one of my favorites: Annals of a Former World.
This one describes three attempts by humans to bend nature to their wishes: the Old River Control project (preventing the Mississippi from re-routing into the Atchafalaya; diverting lava flows in Iceland and in Hawaii; preventing the San Gabriel mountains from raining debris on Los Angeles.
Not the best book he's ever written (see Annals), but eminently readable. The eco freaks among us will be especially gratified by the Corps of Engine...more
This one describes three attempts by humans to bend nature to their wishes: the Old River Control project (preventing the Mississippi from re-routing into the Atchafalaya; diverting lava flows in Iceland and in Hawaii; preventing the San Gabriel mountains from raining debris on Los Angeles.
Not the best book he's ever written (see Annals), but eminently readable. The eco freaks among us will be especially gratified by the Corps of Engine...more
I’ve read this before. I wanted to re-read his essay about Los Angeles’ mudslide control after driving around in the foothills above my mom’s house with my husband. We passed many concrete basins meant to contain debris slides, and I'd tell him those were for WHEN – NOT IF – the winter rains bring mudslides. My mom’s in no danger, way down in the valley, but yikes, I wouldn’t want to live in one of those canyons. Also essays about Mississippi flood control and volcanoes in Iceland. Anyway, it’s...more
This was the first John McPhee book that I have read. The stories are remarkable... how Iceland saved there island from a severe volcanic eruption is very ingenious. The story of Louisiana and the US Army Corps of Engineers war on the lower Mississippi's threat to New Orleans is particularly interesting now in the light of the New Orleans disaster. They tried, but...
Anoter story is about Los Angeles and the basins built to catch the devastating debris flows from the San Gabriel mountains.
Watch w...more
Anoter story is about Los Angeles and the basins built to catch the devastating debris flows from the San Gabriel mountains.
Watch w...more
As far as I'm concerned Encounters With the Archdruid will always be my favorite work of his, because of the fascinating interaction between the characters in that book. McPhee really let their personalities take center stage there, and while The Control of Nature features excellent writing as usual, the focus is more on geological features than people. Since people are on the whole more interesting than rocks, this book suffered a little in comparison, though thanks to McPhee's tremendous talen...more
Think that the course of rivers is a static and unchanging thing. Maybe now, in the United States, but historically and in many parts of the world rivers change course all the time, especially after a flood. In fact in the United States, right up until nearly the turn of the century when rivers began to be damned and controlled, states often gained or lost land when a river cut across a loop after a flood and land that formerly was on one side of a river, was now on the other.
In the first sectio...more
In the first sectio...more
My godfather Uncle Lou once had a vision of driving from Colorado to St. Louis, dropping his speedboat into the Mississippi River, and then riding down the Mighty Miss through the Mississippi Delta and into the Gulf of Mexico, at which point he would speedboat over to the Florida Keys, sell the boat, and then live on the island for the time being. As grand a vision as this, it was good that he didn't. Had he read this book, Uncle Lou would have known the danger lurking in the Mississippi Delta:...more
Sep 03, 2008
Fran
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who likes science or fascinating non-fiction
Recommended to Fran by:
saw it at my library
Shelves:
non-fiction-biography,
non-fiction-boot-camp
As a former Earth Science teacher I found this book terrific! If I had been a complete lay person though, I think it might have been somewhat daunting. It is basically three books in one; each with the thesis that Man Vs. Nature is a drastically unbalanced contest. The issue of flood control, levees, Atchafalaya/Mississippi, etc. along the Gulf Coast is covered first. This is an old book, pre-Katrina, and I was reading it as Hurricane Gustav threatened that area. I wished he had written a post-K...more
May 10, 2011
blue-collar mind
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
American Alligator bioregionalists, river people
Recommended to blue-collar mind by:
Harold Ross
Shelves:
have-read-then-given-away-for-othe
Well, if you have read my reviews, you know my middle-class connection to the New Yorker and its writers. The majority of my favorites wrote for the magazine (or currently write for it) and I assume this has to do with my teen discovery of the Algonquin Circle and its writers, and their politics and way of life.
So, no surprise that John McPhee is another favorite..
I think I have read all of his books, and this one is obviously dear to my brain and heart, as it does an admirable job explaining th...more
So, no surprise that John McPhee is another favorite..
I think I have read all of his books, and this one is obviously dear to my brain and heart, as it does an admirable job explaining th...more
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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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“Despite the recurrence of events in which the debris-basin system fails in its struggle to contain the falling mountains, people who live on the front line are for the most part calm and complacent. It appears that no amount of front-page or prime-time attention will ever prevent such people from masking out the problem.”
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Jul 31, 2011 07:28am
excusecause.Jul 31, 2011 08:01am