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Rising from the Plains
(Annals of the Former World #3)
by
This is about high-country geology and a Rocky Mountain regional geologist. I raise that semaphore here at the start so no one will feel misled by an opening passage in which a slim young woman who is not in any sense a geologist steps down from a train in Rawlins, Wyoming, in order to go north by stagecoach into country that was still very much the Old West.
So begins Joh ...more
So begins Joh ...more
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Paperback, 208 pages
Published
November 1st 1987
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published November 17th 1986)
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In Rising from the Plains, John McPhee takes us on an exciting and fascinating road trip throughout Wyoming with geologist David Love. The first half of the book is a beautiful blend of Wyoming geology, and the history of Love’s family as they move into the Wind River Basin region in the early twentieth century. The second half of the book continues with geology of the Rocky Mountain region, but also includes a high-level look at the United States and how it affected western geology.
I enjoyed Mc ...more
I enjoyed Mc ...more
''Most maps are patched together from various papers and reports. Dave has looked at all the rock. It's all in one mind. Most geologic maps are maps of time, not rocks."
-- Malcolm McKenna, quoted in John McPhee's Rising from the Plains
I am nearly finished with the individual portions of Annals of the Former World (Basin and Range ☑, In Suspect Terrain ☑, Assembling California ☑). All I have left is to read the section 'Crossing the Craton' (a forty-page addition to his 40th parallel/I-80 projec ...more
-- Malcolm McKenna, quoted in John McPhee's Rising from the Plains
I am nearly finished with the individual portions of Annals of the Former World (Basin and Range ☑, In Suspect Terrain ☑, Assembling California ☑). All I have left is to read the section 'Crossing the Craton' (a forty-page addition to his 40th parallel/I-80 projec ...more
This book was phenomenal.
It is a must read for anyone interested in Rocky Mountain geology, or in getting a glimpse into the American west.
This book has been republished in McPhee's larger Annals of a Former World. It is a biography of the famous Wyoming geologist, J. David Love. But it also gives a beautiful overview of the geology of Wyoming through Love's eyes.
Some of the geology is a bit outdated, but it does not distract from the greater good.
It is a must read for anyone interested in Rocky Mountain geology, or in getting a glimpse into the American west.
This book has been republished in McPhee's larger Annals of a Former World. It is a biography of the famous Wyoming geologist, J. David Love. But it also gives a beautiful overview of the geology of Wyoming through Love's eyes.
Some of the geology is a bit outdated, but it does not distract from the greater good.
This is the third time I've read Rising from the Plains and it seems as fresh today as when I first read it for a geology class back in the mid-90's. John McPhee, who wrote for the The New York Times for many years, is an engaging writer and in this book weaves the geology of the high plains with the story of famed Rocky Mountain geologist David Love and his family, who settled in central Wyoming in the first decade of the twentieth century.
Having lived in Wyoming myself, I am familiar with the ...more
Having lived in Wyoming myself, I am familiar with the ...more
Western history, memoir, geography, and of course, geology. All mixed into one relatively slim volume. People who have vivid mental maps of Wyoming, and have driven I-80 (preferably many times) will be the most avid readers. As I read, I kept wondering why the author/publisher didn't use illustrations. Verbal descriptions of geologic features aren't nearly as instructive as one good drawing. There is a map, but it's pretty general.
Another criticism -- there isn't an Index, which is an omission I ...more
Another criticism -- there isn't an Index, which is an omission I ...more
While studying general Wyoming history I learned by happy happenstance of John McPhee's 1986 book Rising From the Plains, which unfolds the geological story of the state from the perspective of those American Western pioneers and their descendants who have inhabited the land for the last century. Wyoming geologist David Love is McPhee's focal point. It's challenging to pin down this book. It's a portrait of Wyoming's geology, but also of David Love and his family, and occasionally it's more free
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Mind-numbingly abstruse. I don't see how anyone who is not in the geology field could find this book remotely accessible. Maybe I just lack the intellectual curiosity or capacity for this book. Or maybe it's just a slog of a book that few regular folks would find appealing.
With the last two Annals of the Former World books, it's become somewhat more obvious that these books are as much the story of of specific geologists as they are of the geology itself. This book spends a lot more time on the life of David Love and his parents than it does on the actual geology itself.
I suppose I should be disappointed by the bait-and-switch as I was with Our Senses , but I think the difference is that I wasn't reading this book because I was super interested in plains geolog ...more
I suppose I should be disappointed by the bait-and-switch as I was with Our Senses , but I think the difference is that I wasn't reading this book because I was super interested in plains geolog ...more
Another excellent book by John McPhee. This is about geology, specifically Wyoming geology, but it's also about David Love, an apparently legendary geologist. I say apparently because I don't know anything about geology. Much of the book went over my head. But within the story of Wyoming's geology is the story of David Love and his family - his parents' courtship and marriage, his childhood and college years, his love for his home state, the tension he felt between his environmentalism and his d
...more
This one is about Wyoming. The Love family geologists, Scottish stubborn survivalists, living rough and ranching. Jackson Hole and how it formed, how the Rockies got exhumed, how oil and uranium were unexpectedly found in Wyoming’s basins. Also the theory of hot spots, how plates move over them to form island chains, and how the deep theory works until it is / isn’t proven. Also some reflections on office vs field geology, and how one might regret a uranium gold rush in your childhood backyard &
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Oh, this book was very close to being a 5-star read, but McPhee just got too technical for a novice like me toward the end. Still, I feel blessed to have read this book and the McPhee cared enough about the state I live in to spend the time to write it. For anyone who loves Wyoming or loves geology or both!
Very interesting account of the geology of Wyoming! I really enjoyed all the facts, like why the Wyoming rivers have strange paths, and how Union Pacific got a leg up due to a route in Wyoming, and why people in Pinedale have accelerated tooth decay. I love geology because it literally underlies everything, and this book highlighted that.
I'm just never going to be able to get through the geology series.
Book read for a Place Based Literature Action Book Club. A good combo of geology and learning about someone's upbringing and subsequent life's work in this geology. Could not be more Placed Based. Author drives around Wyoming with Geologist David Love (1913-2002) - one of the last great field geologists. David was born near Riverton Wyoming. His parents, John & Miss Waxman built up and lost everything several times due to blizzard, flood, drought.Lived very rural. David mentions his childhood ne
...more
I finished this entire book about the origin of the Rocky Mountains before realizing that I still don't have much idea how they were made! Partly that is because McPhee's geological exegesis is interspersed with the details of geologist David Love's family history -- which turns out to be a combination of _The Virginian_ and _Little House on the Prairie_. Let me put it this way: in a work about the geology of the western United States, the fact that John Muir was Love's great-uncle barely has ro
...more
One of 5 volumes of geology with a personal twist that McPhee has written. I have not read McPhee in so long - glad to get back to him.
This is the story of the geology of Wyoming - and a fascinating story it is! McPhee gives it that personal note by telling us the story of the Love family and traveling w/ geologist David Love. His mother was a Wellesley grad who came to WY to teach in a one room schoolhouse, and was wooed by cowboy John Love. The journals of his mother, Ethel Waxman Love, have ...more
This is the story of the geology of Wyoming - and a fascinating story it is! McPhee gives it that personal note by telling us the story of the Love family and traveling w/ geologist David Love. His mother was a Wellesley grad who came to WY to teach in a one room schoolhouse, and was wooed by cowboy John Love. The journals of his mother, Ethel Waxman Love, have ...more
I read this as we travelled up from Scottsdale through Flagstaff, by the Grand Canyon (we did stop to gawk), through Monument Valley and the Valley of the Gods, over the pass at Butte as it snowed (roads to Yellowstone were closed because of snow), and I finished it today as we drove around the edges of the Black Hills (Theodore Roosevelt National Park). A perfect read for a rather glorious car trip.
I love John McPhee's writing, especially when he is describing people and places. Toward the end of this book, the in-depth description of the chaotic geologic layers of Wyoming basins and ranges left me leafing through pages rather than reading them. So truth is I am not a geologist but love to scuttle around the edges of geologic formations. I did recommend that my Wyoming son read this book.
I am having the most difficult time reading this book. I'm not an unintelligent person, but the subject matter is not grabbing me.
What attitude is one supposed to take to connect with these men? I'm not finding it. Someone please help.
What attitude is one supposed to take to connect with these men? I'm not finding it. Someone please help.
Given that my love for geology started in Wyoming, this book is one I will lug around with me for life. Wonderful history of David Love and his family, his geological career working in various industries, and his conflicting feelings on some of the work he is asked to do.
It’s hard to pick a favorite from Annals of the Former World, but I think that this book may take the cake.
John McPhee is truly a unique and special author. The nonfiction books that were eventually bound into the tome “Annals of a Former World” comprise his magnum opus. “Rising From the Plains” is one of those books. It follows the geologist David Love across Wyoming, and describes history both geologic and human. Love is fascinating and conflicted, with a character and background that could be written into a novel. Love’s mother and father are also described in this book, which helps to root the qu
...more
You have to be really passionate about the geography of Wyoming, and also love anecdotes about 19th century frontier life in Wyoming to truly enjoy this. You also need to have at least a basic understanding of geological fundamentals or be prepared to look up a lot of terminology along the way.
The book is basically a "travels with Charlie" travelogue where "Charlie" is not a canine companion, but David Love, an old school salt of the earth cowboy geologist who leads our narrator around to miscel ...more
The book is basically a "travels with Charlie" travelogue where "Charlie" is not a canine companion, but David Love, an old school salt of the earth cowboy geologist who leads our narrator around to miscel ...more
I enjoyed McPhee's approach. How do you give an audience a taste of Wyoming's geological importance? McPhee chose to take the reader through a series of conversations with the most prominent geologist in Wyoming, the West, and maybe even in the United States, Robert Love.
Most interestingly, the author began this tapestry of conversations with a story about the geologist's family roots and how they came to establish the Love Ranch in the middle of Wyoming. Not only was McPhee able to share a gli ...more
Most interestingly, the author began this tapestry of conversations with a story about the geologist's family roots and how they came to establish the Love Ranch in the middle of Wyoming. Not only was McPhee able to share a gli ...more
“McPhee rides shotgun across Wyoming in a four-wheel-drive Bronco while the geologist David Love steers, lectures, and reminisces....This instructive account of the geologic West and the frontier West is a delight.” ―Evan S. Connell, The New York Times Book Review
Being a student of geology, I was totally interested in McPhee's descriptions of the formation of the land and the influence of the local geology of the Plains. I have studied California geology, but hadn't moved east of Nevada, so I fo ...more
Being a student of geology, I was totally interested in McPhee's descriptions of the formation of the land and the influence of the local geology of the Plains. I have studied California geology, but hadn't moved east of Nevada, so I fo ...more
Unless you’re entire being is immersed in an obsession about geology, this is a tortuous book to read. If you can slog through it, you will glean a couple of amazing insights into plate tectonics and hot spots like Yellowstone. But to finish this slog, you must read about innumerable boring boulders and sedentary sediments. There are tangents in the book where he describes Wyoming Frontier life. These are beautifully written. Then the rocks get in the way. Like a landslide encountered on a beaut
...more
A great read. Never was much interested in geology, but after this book, I started to view highway drives differently. I had been to Wyoming before and noticed the vast differences in the surfaces but never gave it much thought. Also appreciated the excerpts from the journal kept by Love's mother who came to the state in 1906. How brave was that!! A girl from Wellesley College going to teach on a ranch in central Wyoming took guts.
McPhee writes excellent nonfiction. Although the geology terminology and explanations were quite technical, I was able to follow the major themes and some threads of information about the geological history of Wyoming. The story of the Wyoming geologist and his family interspersed through the more technical writing makes this an engaging work of nonfiction. If one is familiar with or has an interest in the Wyoming of today, the book is a good read.
When it comes to creative non-fiction, there is none better than John McPhee. Read this when it first came out in the '80s as part of the Annals of the Former World. Thought it was worth a re-read in preparation for our upcoming drive through Wyoming. A wonderful mashup of pioneer Old West history, modern environmentalism, and above all, an insightful and very readable primer in the complex geology that shaped this part of the world.
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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
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