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129th out of 594 books
—
1,313 voters
Annals of the Former World
by
John McPhee
The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, across the fortieth parallel and down through 4.6 billion years
Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the...more
Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the...more
Paperback, 712 pages
Published
June 15th 2000
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 1986)
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Jul 15, 2008
X
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
geologists, professional and amateur
Recommended to X by:
Dr. A
For pure enjoyment, I would really give this book 3 stars, but it merits 4 stars for the amount of research and information that is in it and for the wonderful writing style and occasional subtle humor. It is not a casual read, but for anyone interesting in geology is it worth the effort and somehow explains the principles of plate tectonics (and other things) without being overly technical. It also touches on the history of a few areas of the U.S., which at times got tedious, and the many "stor...more
This was my first foray into John McPhee's work. And a weighty foray it was : This hefty tome consists of four previously-published McPhee books assembled into one spine, augmented with a fifth chapter.
McPhee's often staccato prose takes the reader on a tour of the geology of the lower 48, as seen largely in the roadcuts of Interstate 80, separated into five major segments : the Appalachians, the Midwest, Wyoming, Nevada, and California. Although I found myself lacking an understanding of variou...more
McPhee's often staccato prose takes the reader on a tour of the geology of the lower 48, as seen largely in the roadcuts of Interstate 80, separated into five major segments : the Appalachians, the Midwest, Wyoming, Nevada, and California. Although I found myself lacking an understanding of variou...more
Jun 11, 2007
Annie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
environmental educators, folks interested in the land they live on
Shelves:
non-fiction,
environmental
I've only read parts of this book, since there are many different books included in this version of his geologic exploration of a cross-section of the US. I have a few things to say. #1. Read Rising from the Plains as you're driving in the Tetons. #2. Read any other section as you're driving in the area described. Your road trip will become something entirely different if you can see what you're reading about. #3. Read these books when you're planning a trip to any of the areas discussed. #4. Ju...more
This was a great book about geology. It is the perfect blend of science and narrative. McPhee is a wonderful writer who tackles an enormous subject, basically the geologic history of America. He follows I-80 across the country with different geologists and looks at road cuts to get a view of the geology of the area. Each section of the country gets its own treatment, and this long book is actually five works combined, each of which can be read separately. Throughout the work McPhee gives the re...more
It is a massive book at 712 pages; however, I have learned a lot about the geology of the United States and the rest of the world. My initial interest was sparked by the focus on the land along Interstate 80 from New Jersey to California, parts of which I know well and travel often. I have had questions about the sometimes sudden changes in terrain. McPhee helped to explain this. Once I started the book, he mentioned a course that I considered taking to meet my science requirement at Princeton,...more
It may seem odd, but this book takes my breath away and makes me feel alive.
It is about geology, and how McPhee spent years with geologists trying to make sense of the science and present it in an interesting and engaging way. I think they call it “big picture” geology and it is one of my favorite topics in life. I love most the paragraphs where he takes us from New Jersey to California say in Triassic time (250 million years ago) and describes the terrain; then turns us around 200 million year...more
It is about geology, and how McPhee spent years with geologists trying to make sense of the science and present it in an interesting and engaging way. I think they call it “big picture” geology and it is one of my favorite topics in life. I love most the paragraphs where he takes us from New Jersey to California say in Triassic time (250 million years ago) and describes the terrain; then turns us around 200 million year...more
Probably one of the best books I have ever read. Be prepared for some geologic rigamarole and a sense of patience and the timeline of ages will unfold. Its a compilation of all of McPhee's writings about American continental Geology. I know, sounds dull, but he uses the lives and characters of the Geologists whose work he is describing along with the massive narrative arc of plate tectonics and the history of the science itself. The story of America's westward expansion along with the Romantic e...more
This is a book of books. The book is an anthology of four previous books and a fifth published for the first time with this book. It covers geology, history, politics and more. It's a travel book and a fascinating look at geologists and their evolving views of the world as plate tectonics rewrote their science.
The broad sweep of the book is the geology of the American continent: how it came to be, how it changed through the ages. The anchor for this look is Interstate 80, running from New York C...more
The broad sweep of the book is the geology of the American continent: how it came to be, how it changed through the ages. The anchor for this look is Interstate 80, running from New York C...more
This book was a gift from a good friend who gave it to me when I switched from biology to geology as a major in college. In "Annals of the Former World" McPhee takes us on a journey through time and space by examining the geology of North America (mostly) along I-80. It's been 11 years since I graduated, and longer since I read the book, but I remember the material I learned in my classes that last year of college really coming to life as I read the McPhee's evocative language. McPhee's essays a...more
Now that I'm actually sitting down to write the review, I realize this book was better than I originally gave it credit for... McPhee's writing gives you a very strong sense of the enormous sweep of time involved in geological exploration, and though I did get a bit tired of the book, I'm not sure you can do justice to the broad sweep of time and the diversity of things to study in less space than he gave it. I think the second book is genuinely weaker than the others. He might have benefitted f...more
Absolutely, bar none, the finest work of American natural science that I've ever read. McPhee has the eye of a scientist and the soul of a poet, and it makes for truly astonishing writing. I don't like to pile on the superlatives, but this is probably one of my ten favorite books of all time.
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I enjoyed the book. It is a rather discursive account of the geology of the United States and its relation to worldwide geology and plate tectonics. The author traversed the US along Highway 80 close to the fortieth parallel over a period of 20 years in multiple trips with five professional geologists. Originally published as four separate books, a new edition was prepared and a fifth book added, so it is long. The book discusses glaciation, sedimentary rocks, igneous and metamorphic rocks, the...more
Wonderful narrative elucidating the geological history of the United States, told in 5 parts by writer Jon McPhee, who made a career of traveling I-80 with several geologists. What I like most is the way he shows concrete, relevant examples that prove the effects are still happening. For example, p. 235, where he describes how the Pennsylvania Turnpike can be broken up within 20 years. Another early part talks about boulders being swept into a small town in Nevada. This book is really a collecti...more
What a mind-blowingly comprehensive compilation of writing on a geologic cross section of America through characterizations of off-beat geniuses and possessed rock-hounds. Totally awesome. I was reading part of this while on a bus with students heading East on I-80 through Wyoming and was totally enraptured with the very interpretation through the book of the bleak landscape surrounding me. Who knew I was looking at billions of years in time with a mere 50 minute drive from point to point? That...more
John McPhee is in a non fiction class of his own. Everything he writes about is interesting, even subjects that I didn't think I'd care about at all. This book is a compilation of three previously published works along with a new section, all describing the author's travels and adventures with a number of different geologists. The work takes shape as a road trip across America, and along the way an astounding amount of information on the geologic history of our country is presented. I first read...more
This is 5 volumes in 1 book: Basin & Range, In Suspect Terrain, Rising from the Plains, Assembling California and Crossing the Craton. John McPhee, accompanied by a different geologist in each book, describes the geology along I-80 between New York and San Francisco, with some side jaunts along the way. McPhee also tells us about the backgrounds of the geologists. The most interesting back story is the family history of David Love, U.S. Geological Survey, the grand old man of Rocky Mountain...more
Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the style of the geologists he traveled with. The structure of the book never changed, but its breadth caused him to complete it in stages, under the overall title Annals of the Former World.
Like the terrain it covers, Annals of the Former W...more
Like the terrain it covers, Annals of the Former W...more
When I moved to New York a number of years ago, I would tell people I was a geologist, and they would tell me how much they loved John McPhee's books. I had never heard of him, and decided to check out his book at the library.
The story follows J.D. Love, a well known geologist from Wyoming, who I was familiar with, and sort of a roll-call of the formations and landscapes of Wyoming and the rocky mountains. For the most part it was boring as hell! There was a bit of comedy in the New Yorker reta...more
The story follows J.D. Love, a well known geologist from Wyoming, who I was familiar with, and sort of a roll-call of the formations and landscapes of Wyoming and the rocky mountains. For the most part it was boring as hell! There was a bit of comedy in the New Yorker reta...more
Once upon a time I was a geology student. In gloomy Victorian halls and on sunny limestone outcrops we tried to get siltstones and schists and garnets to sing to us, to reveal their secrets.
Sadly, as in all the sciences, many geologists aren't very good storytellers. That's why we have John McPhee. Through his prose, mountains tell their stories. While the stories collected in Annals of the Former World, don't compare to his masterful The Control of Nature, their still pretty wonderful. Geology...more
Sadly, as in all the sciences, many geologists aren't very good storytellers. That's why we have John McPhee. Through his prose, mountains tell their stories. While the stories collected in Annals of the Former World, don't compare to his masterful The Control of Nature, their still pretty wonderful. Geology...more
As a geology major, a former gold miner, and finally as a hydrogeologist, the earth and its water have always fascinated me. Reading John McPhee is always a delight because he takes what remains mostly a poorly done body of work in mostly scientific terms and turns an explanation of how the earth came to be into a readable and engaging topic. Something just about anyone can enjoy provided they have the curiosity and interest in wondering how so much stunning geography came to be where it is and...more
An instant classic of nonfiction, this book is simply a masterpiece. A book that shows us the earth we live on in fascinating detail and history. From the Precambrian to the San Francisco earthquakes of the twentieth century, John McPhee illuminates the vast amount of history under out feet. If you've ever had an interest in rocks or continental history, or wanted to explore how mountains came to be, this is a book you must own. Not only does it explain some complicated theories of geology, McPh...more
The book starts off as a very interesting discussion of how our planet's geological history is revealed in the road cuts along Interstate 80, the transcontinental highway that runs approximately 3000 miles from northern New Jersey, clear across the country to San Francisco.
About midway through the book the focus begins to shift, away from the rocks themselves and onto the men and women who study them. It soon becomes apparent that most geologists view their profession as a scouting mission in se...more
About midway through the book the focus begins to shift, away from the rocks themselves and onto the men and women who study them. It soon becomes apparent that most geologists view their profession as a scouting mission in se...more
The expression "it's written in stone" couldn't be more true than the story told in this magnificent tale of one writer's journey across a continent in the company of some of the world's leading geologists.
Mr. McPhee isn't afraid of using the correct scientific terminology, isn't worried that the verbiage might be over the heads of many readers. The result is a satisfying read that doesn't insult the intelligence of the reader because, above all else, his writing style is both informative AND en...more
Mr. McPhee isn't afraid of using the correct scientific terminology, isn't worried that the verbiage might be over the heads of many readers. The result is a satisfying read that doesn't insult the intelligence of the reader because, above all else, his writing style is both informative AND en...more
Remember driving along a highway and passing through a road cut where the layers of stone in the hillside rise and descend as you pass. John McPhee began to wonder about these roadcuts and over several years compiled a geologic history of the United States through interviews and feild trips with geology professors from New York to San Francisco. His epic adventure immerses readers in deep deep time, a complex poetry of terminology, and a fascinating array of personal stories. He continually reco...more
McPhee Travels Interstate 80 from the east to the west coast accompanied by a succession of experts in the geology of the regions along the way. He writes in a chatty and engaging style for a book about geology. It reads like a travelogue of an intelligent fellow and good writer curious to find out what he can about the landmass of the United States without too much technicality.
The author leavens the science with just the right amount of associated information: backgrounds and anecdotes about t...more
The author leavens the science with just the right amount of associated information: backgrounds and anecdotes about t...more
This is an amazing book about geology, geologists, plate tectonics, America, and time. It is comprised of four books previously published: Basin and Range (which I reviewed before and still stand by the review), In Suspect Terrain, Rising from the Plains, and Assembling California. A final essay about the "basement" of North America is attached as a coda to finish the book. While reading the book, the sense of geologic time overwhelmed me and I couldn't help thinking how arbitrary and pathetic h...more
I'm skipping around in this compilation mostly focusing on regions that I know: re-read part of Basin and Range, just finished Assembling California (August 2010). I find this book...troublesome. McPhee's a good writer, no doubt. His sentences are interesting, occasionally beautiful, often surprising, and the languid structure of his books is pleasant... if that's what you're after. I'm not, of course. I want goddamn facts! I picked this up because I spend a lot of time outside and while I'm usu...more
Aug 22, 2008
Ryan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
egomaniac stylists
Recommended to Ryan by:
the Pulitzer prize company
You know, I really liked portions of this book, especially the story of how we came to define geologic time. It really blew me away. And it's obvious that McPhee has poured his life into this book. However, he repeatedly went over my head with the layers upon layers of geologic terminology--and almost never stops to explain what he's talking about. There is no glossary either. So, what's the point of the book if I can't follow what the hell he's talking about? I guess he wants me to appreciate g...more
This is a collection of geology books. Each book focuses on a geologic province of North America, so there are five books describing the five geologic provinces of North America. McPhee pals around with the respective expert of each province and interprets the "big picture" of geology to us all. This book- these five books - tell a history of Earth which puts our own human existence in a different perspective. John McPhee is the king of scientific analogies. Very well done.
A compendium of incredibly readable and illuminating books about the Earth's geology and geologists, with focus on plate tectonics. There's nothing like this book anywhere. It puts the scale of the universe into your mind so that you can comprehend the sliver of time and space available to the individual human, and start to picture the vastness of time and space in general. You'll start seeing the pictures in rocks, the histories in roadcuts.
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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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“When the climbers in 1953 planted their flags on the highest mountain, they set them in snow over the skeletons of creatures that had lived in the warm clear ocean that India, moving north, blanked out. Possibly as much as twenty thousand feet below the seafloor, the skeletal remains had turned into rock. This one fact is a treatise in itself on the movements of the surface of the earth. If by some fiat I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence, this is the one I would choose: The summit of Mt. Everest is marine limestone.”
—
11 people liked it
“The Himalayas are the crowning achievement of the Indo-Australian plate. India in the Oligocene crashed head on into Tibet, hit so hard that it not only folded and buckled the plate boundaries but also plowed into the newly created Tibetan plateau and drove the Himalayas five and a half miles into the sky. The mountains are in some trouble. India has not stopped pushing them, and they are still going up. Their height and volume are already so great they are beginning to melt in their in their own self-generated radioactive heat. When the climbers in 1953 planted their flags on the highest mountain, they set them in snow over the skeletons of creatures that had lived in a warm clear ocean that India, moving north, blanked out. Possibly as much as 20,000 feet below the sea floor, the skeletal remains had turned into rock. This one fact is a treatise in itself on the movements of the surface of the earth.
If by some fiat, I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence; this is the one I would choose: the summit of Mount Everest is marine limestone.”
—
5 people liked it
More quotes…
If by some fiat, I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence; this is the one I would choose: the summit of Mount Everest is marine limestone.”
Jul 21, 2008 03:36pm
Jul 22, 2008 07:23am