(no subject)

[skygiants]

I first became aware of John McPhee's Basin and Range when my absurdly talented friend Shannon did an absolutely stunning comic; I became further aware of it because Shannon sat on my couch with blotthis and I said 'why is it so hard to find nonfiction that is both good and well-written' and received a more-or-less synchronous response, 'have you heard the good word of John McPhee --'

Unsurprisingly, Basin and Range is indeed gorgeously written, a journey through the human understanding of geology and deep time which was both extremely worth reading for me and a kind of humbling demonstration of just how bad my brain is at thinking about things outside of the human spectrum -- it took me about twice as long to read this relatively slim book as I expected, because I'd encounter three beautiful pages about the geologic narrative to be found in the transformation of the world's materials under various pressures and my mind, which is not practiced in finding rocks interesting, would slide right off the cliff face and I would have to go back and read it again to get it to latch.

My favorite moment in the book is a reported conversation between McPhee and his silver-mining geologist guide which goes like this:

"The geologist has to choose the course of action with the best statistical chance. As a result, the style of geology is full of inferences, and they change. No one has ever seen a geosyncline. No one has ever seen the welding of tuff. No one has ever seen a granite batholith intrude."

Since I was digging his sample pits, I felt enfranchised to remark on what I took to be the literary timbre of his science.

"There's an essential difference," he said. "The authors of literary works may not have intended all the subtleties, complexities, undertones, and overtones that are attributed to them by critics and by students writing doctoral theses."

"That is what God says about geologists," I told him, chipping into the sediment with his broken shovel.

What I like about this passage is it describes a lot of the essential frustration/fascination of the project of trying to understand our world, and it also captures the quality of the numinous in the natural, and it is also just a very good joke; McPhee's gift lies in his ability to do all of this at once.

Comments

[raven]

I just discovered McPhee recently as well! The only thing I've read by him so far is Oranges, which is just the same but different - I would be reading about 1960s orange grove cultivation and then I'd need to stop to have a moment over some breathtaking deeply insightful literary prose about... 1960s orange grove cultivation.

[luzula]

I have enjoyed The Control of Nature by the same author! It's about epic struggles between mankind and geologic forces, in three sections. I was most captured by the one about the US Army Corps of Engineers vs the Mississippi River, especially because of what it says about the side-effects of that struggle. But the one about Icelanders fighting a volcano eruption is also very captivating! Recommended.

[blotthis]

i love rock book. i cant wait to read oranges and pine barrens. trEe

[sovay]

McPhee's gift lies in his ability to do all of this at once.

It sounds great!

Do you still want recommendations for well-written nonfiction (and/or about the natural world), or are you set with John McPhee?

[ceitfianna]

John McPhee's one of those authors who's been on my tbr list for ages, this is a good push. Years and years ago a dear family friend gifted my family all little paperbacks of his works. I think I donated mine but this reminds me of that. I love good nonfiction.

[landingtree]

I’d forgotten about John McPhee! I found Basin and Range on the shelf at my university library while distracted on the way to my textbooks, which was how I first learned that university libraries are great. But I never did read any others - shall look around for them.

[musesfool]

*adds several books to the to-read list*

[caprices]

I came across McPhee via well-stocked used-book store shelves, and he has some of the best balance between hard science, layperson level explanation, and human elements (like the anecdote above). He also wrote a really nice book about his writing process, Draft No. 4, if that's something you are interested in.

[nnozomi]

I'd encounter three beautiful pages about the geologic narrative to be found in the transformation of the world's materials under various pressures and my mind, which is not practiced in finding rocks interesting, would slide right off the cliff face and I would have to go back and read it again to get it to latch.
This is a wonderful sentence. I feel the same, and while I love John McPhee--as you say, so good for interesting content presented in elegant, satisfying language, with a deadpan sense of humor peeking out at intervals--I tend to prefer his writing about people. I think my favorite at the moment is Uncommon Carriers.

[larryhammer]

I met McPhee through Basin and Range when I was twelve and living in California. My mother handed me an issue of The New Yorker, which had the first installment of its serialization. I had just finished reading my first adult science fiction novel, Earth Abide by George Stewart, which was also set in California and was also about deep time, though in a very different direction.

A few hours later I emerged and demanded the next issue, only to be told it wouldn't arrive till next week. I don't remember my exact reaction, but I believe it involved my first instance of adolescent snarling. Despite this, she let me read the next issue before she did, and the one after that.

The book form, with all four parts together so I could jump back and forth and cross-reference easily, was wonderful. So were the other three parts of the series it starts, Annals of the Former World, also about U.S. geography. I still have the omnibus, with its omake fifth part. If you liked Basin and Range, you will like the rest.

I also commend his The Control of Nature and Coming into the Country. But most all of his books are most excellent non-fiction. I tend to prefer his book-length non-fiction to his shorter essays, but I like the immersion into his worldbuilding. There are two (or three?) John McPhee Readers of selections, which are good for finding works that catch your fancy.

[genarti]

It's both very funny to me and very predictable of us both that this was your reaction, whereas every time the McPhee turned to recounting witty conversations I was like, "Okay, this is a fun glimpse into a different decade and this IS very funny, but also, I know how banter works, I came here for rocks, go back to the strata--" (Granted, I also had to reread some of the rocks paragraphs more than once when tired, as my brain slid off the eras.) I moved right on past this joke the first time without even noticing all the (ha) layers -- just "ha, good quip, anyway please get back to telling me what a batholith intruding means, I don't know all these words and you have made me really want to!" (Going to hit post and then go google batholiths. I may or may not understand what I find.) So thank you for reminding me of it.

Anyway, as you know, I loved Basin and Range a lot! The narrative, deep time aspect is both what I find most fascinating about geology and what I tend to need someone to help explain in story terms to me, and McPhee just does it SO incredibly well and cleverly.

[sonia]

Thanks for this rec and amazing art link! I've run across your recs before via network and appreciated them. Adding you now!

[skygiants]

I had no idea he'd written a book about orange grove cultivation -- I'd only heard about this one and the Alaska book -- and now I also am extremely excited about it, thank you!!

[skygiants]

Loads more McPhee recs is the best possible outcome for this post, thank you, I'm so glad -- I had heard of just a couple of books and had no idea about the range (no pun intended) of hiis writing!

[skygiants]

so much more McPheexperience ahead!!!

[skygiants]

I am always taking recommendations for well-written nonfiction (about the natural world or otherwise), please hit me with your best shot!

[skygiants]

I hope you enjoy the book if you read it!!

[skygiants]

I still regret not taking as much advantage as I should have of my university library at the time when I had access to it -- I'm glad it gifted McPhee to you!

[skygiants]

Best possible outcome for this post!!

[skygiants]

Ooh, thank you for the rec -- I am inherently interested in it but also trying to figure out if I should save it for last!

[skygiants]

Yesss thank you for the rec -- I definitely looking forward to hitting more of his writing about people, also a much more natural groove for my mind to settle in!

[ceitfianna]

I actually ended up starting a different book of his Uncommon Carriers about shipping since the blurb made me think of our current world situation and I"m really liking it.

[skygiants]

McPhee + Stewart sounds like an incredible wine pairing! Thank you for the recs -- this post is starting to feel like my library Fridays when I was a kid, with a wonderful armful of books to take home with me (virtually).

[skygiants]

We are both VERY much who we are :P

(please enlighten me on your batholith discoveries)

[skygiants]

SHANNON'S ART IS SO GOOD, I'm so glad you dug it!

[sovay]

I am always taking recommendations for well-written nonfiction (about the natural world or otherwise), please hit me with your best shot!

Edmund de Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010), Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways (2012), and Iain Sinclair and Rachel Lichtenstein's Rodinsky's Room (1999) are the first that come to mind, although anything by those authors is almost certainly worth your time.

[genarti]

(A batholith is, in technical and deeply specific terminology, a big blorp of magma that rises through the rock above (i.e., intrudes) but not all the way to the surface! Or actually multiple blorps that have come together into one really huge one. Then the rock above it gradually weathers away and it's exposed to the surface, and expands a little which also helps make the rock around it flake away, and you get a huge uniform-ish rounded lump of granite or whatever. Granite is one of the short list of rocks that batholiths are generally made of. It's from the Greek for Deep Rock. And those are my learnings on the subject!)

[larryhammer]

I forgot to mention that I credit Basin and Range and Assembling California for my collection of geologic maps, begun as a teenager, largely assembled from gift shops of national parks across the intermountain west.

(None of them are actually on display now. My office cubie needs some color, with everything having just been painted a corporate grayish off-white. My task is clear.)

[jazzfish]

(A version of?) that chapter of The Control of Nature is available at the New Yorker: Atchafalaya. It's what got me interested in McPhee in the first place.

(The entire book is also very good yes yes yes)