
Built to Last: John McPhee's Way of Seeing - samclemens
https://www.bookforum.com/inprint/025_04/20435
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EamonnMR
McPhee is one of those are authors who can make science approachable and at
the same time, the everyday people around it deeply fascinating. To HN readers
I would recommend The Curve of Binding Energy or Annals of the Former World.

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CPLX
Annals of the Former World is incredible. The topic is so dry, it's about
rocks, but his writing so so compelling it propels you forward into the story.
I kept finding myself wondering why I was finding it interesting, since by all
rights it shouldn't be, but somehow he draws you in.

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EamonnMR
It's about rocks but really it's about everything.

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njarboe
True. Everything on Earth is either a rock or not very old. To understand the
history of Earth and evolution of life, one need to read the rocks.

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acomjean
I like his books. His writing style is good and a little dry. I sometime long
for some diagrams and illustrations as trying to describe things in words
sometimes can be difficult. For example : The descriptions of the lock and
dams that keep the Mississippi being taken over by the Atchafalaya in text
were good, but I found that a digram can be very illustrative.

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byproxy
I've only read "Assembling California", but I agree. I'll add, though, the
dry-ness is offset with a bit of wit. A deadpan humor, almost.

I enjoyed it and I'm sure I'll make my way through some more of his works.

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cjarrett
His 'Encounters with the Archdruid' was on the reading list on my
Environmental Literature course. Funny enough, I had already read it a few
years prior after grabbing it off of my father's bookshelf.

If you are in any way interested in the sport of Tennis, I cannot recommend
his 'Levels of the Game' more. It focuses on Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner,
but uses their history to paint a much bigger story.

