Outcroppings

by John McPhee, Tom Till, Christopher Merrill

Landscape photographs accompany selections from McPhee's writings about Switzerland, Alaska, the West, and the Pine Barrens

Genres: Science, Geology, Nonfiction

130 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

John Angus McPhee is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth occasion in 1999 for Annals of the Former World (a collection of five books, including two of his previous Pulitzer finalists). In 2008, he received the George Polk Career Award for his "indelible mark on American journalism during his nearly half-century career". Since 1974, McPhee has been the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Mcphee is an exceptioal writer. Half the time I wasn't familiar with the geological terms he used but he has such a way of putting words together that I found I still understood and could visualize his descriptions. The book I read had beautiful illustrations of geologic formations and excerpts from several of Mcphee's books which made it fun. (I had read Basin and Range but do not wish to read too much more.) This was like a sampler of this area of his work.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excerpts from MvPhee's geology books, paired with someone's photos. Pretty good but it didn't really hold my interest. Photo reproduction just OK, and photos aren't great anyway. Surprising, since Tom Till is one of my fave photogs.... Eh.