Status
Available
Collection
Publication
New York : Farrar, Straus, Giroux, c1981.
Description
The first of John McPhee's works in his series on geology and geologists, Basin and Range is a book of journeys through ancient terrains, always in juxtaposition with travels in the modern world--a history of vanished landscapes, enhanced by the histories of people who bring them to light. The title refers to the physiographic province of the United States that reaches from eastern Utah to eastern California, a silent world of austere beauty, of hundreds of discrete high mountain ranges that are green with junipers and often white with snow. The terrain becomes the setting for a lyrical evocation of the science of geology, with important digressions into the plate-tectonics revolution and the history of the geologic time scale.
Media reviews
JOHN MCPHEE has written with dizzying competence about everything from oranges to the making of bark canoes to the proper method of weighing food. Not only is he an excellent journalist, he is a veritable master of expertise, and his latest book, ''Basin and Range,'' represents yet another such
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foray, this time into the geology of the American continent in the company of scientists who have spent their lives climbing, hammering and measuring everything mineral they could lay their hands on between New York and California. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member name99
I've enjoyed John McPhee's other essays, but found this one disappointing.
I think the problem is that McPhee, as he admits, loves the poetry, the sound of geology. This love of the sounds gets in the way of his actually explaining things in a useful fashion.
As a primary example, the book could use
Along the same lines, the book really needs some with explanations of exactly what the various rock terms used mean and, more importantly, what their significance is.
Finally the standard set pieces on deep time and plate tectonics are somewhat tiresome to anyone who knows this stuff.
The one interesting fact I learned that was immediately processable was that over 50% of mineral deposits are hydrothermal --- water dissolves a motley collections of various ions, then, when the temperature and pressure are just right, a particular species of salt will precipitate out, forming a vein of some mineral.
There was enough interesting to justify reading or listening to the others essays in Annals of the Former World, but that's pretty much only because I feel I need to learn more geology, explained from a variety of angles.
I think the problem is that McPhee, as he admits, loves the poetry, the sound of geology. This love of the sounds gets in the way of his actually explaining things in a useful fashion.
As a primary example, the book could use
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some maps and diagrams. (Although I listened to the audiobook, I own Annals of the Former World and looked in it, unsuccessfully, for diagrams that might elucidate what I heard in the car.)Along the same lines, the book really needs some with explanations of exactly what the various rock terms used mean and, more importantly, what their significance is.
Finally the standard set pieces on deep time and plate tectonics are somewhat tiresome to anyone who knows this stuff.
The one interesting fact I learned that was immediately processable was that over 50% of mineral deposits are hydrothermal --- water dissolves a motley collections of various ions, then, when the temperature and pressure are just right, a particular species of salt will precipitate out, forming a vein of some mineral.
There was enough interesting to justify reading or listening to the others essays in Annals of the Former World, but that's pretty much only because I feel I need to learn more geology, explained from a variety of angles.
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LibraryThing member wesh
An engrossing study of one of the prevalent land forms of the American West. John McPhee offers a brain-pleasing amalgam of science, culture, and sheer storytelling talent.
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
I enjoyed this very much. McPhee has a lovely, engrossing style of writing. I got odd echoes of other books I've enjoyed throughout this one - he repeatedly uses the theme of traveling back and forth over an area over millions of years, and the phrase "If you turned around and came back, a million
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years later" kept reminding me of Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics (a book I love). Other areas, where he was talking about glaciers and their effects and the discovery of their actions, reminded me of a textbook I've owned and read and reread for years - Prehistoric America by Anne Terry White. I learned quite a bit about the underlying structures of areas I'm familiar with - the titular Basin and Range area is fascinating, and the idea that Auburn, California sits on what was once the edge of the continental shelf is amazing. He does, occasionally, go off in transports about the words and phrases of geology, without explaining the meanings behind them, but I recognized enough to more or less follow even in those areas. And one bit, talking about 'new' types of rocks discovered through microscopic and chemical analysis, explained some puzzles I've run into elsewhere - words that meant nothing to me though they were obviously types of rocks. Now I know they were fine distinctions of granite, slate, limestone, etc. Very enjoyable book - I'll look for his other geology ones, now, and see what other subjects he's covered. Show Less
LibraryThing member ElRemaro
This a great book for anyone interested in the great basin which includes Nevada, eastern California, western Utah, southeastern Oregon, Northern Arizona, and southern Idaho.
LibraryThing member amelish
"What did you do when you were a kid?"
I sure as hell didn't read geology books...
I sure as hell didn't read geology books...
LibraryThing member Fernhill
Interesting if you are interested in geology of North America.
LibraryThing member pilastr
Flabbergasting, the science of geology told artfully. I am gobsmacked by the geologic megapicture. There is a most surprising confession two thirds of the way through this book, an encounter I won't spoil but the most convincing account I've personally heard regarding things inexplicable. McPhee
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shares the moment with his pal, a professor at Princeton, and a hundred locals. Which is more unlikely, the Earth, the stars, or consciousness itself!? Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Actually I did read a fair bit of this, and scanned the rest. I live in the Great Basin and travel through it often. I wanted some coherent science. Random bits of poetry and metaphor intended for the *New Yorker* audience wasn't for me, I guess. Maybe it's a good book for what it is - but somehow
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I don't think so. However, I won't give it stars but rather encourage you decide for yourself. Show Less
LibraryThing member buffalogr
This was a Kindle book, so I couldn't rip it up like one person who intensely disliked the book. Author's academic stream of consciousness is not understood by the average reader (me). I should have been forewarned in this example from the publisher's review: "...lyrical evocation of the science of
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geology, with important digressions..." In that sentence, there are at least three words that require a dictionary and all sentences are like that. This book did not contribute much to my knowledge of geology. Show Less
LibraryThing member edwinbcn
Few writers can successfully mingle fiction writing with natural history, and of these, writers with an interest in pure geology are just a fraction. In «Basin and Range» John McPhee tries to forge a novel out of geographical description and fiction, unfortunately not quite successful enough,
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thus the natural history writing remains too distinct, a mere relating of facts without a deeper dimension. Show Less
LibraryThing member b.masonjudy
John McPhee's first part of the Annals of the Former World collection is stunning. It's tough, gritty and full of words that feel as good to read as the taste sour lollipop. To me, geology is mystifying, fascinating, and as McPhee so eloquently lays out, full of poetry. This is a lovely book of
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prose about the earth, deep time, and a brief history of the field of geology. Show Less
LibraryThing member yhgail
What a poorly written book. I've covered about 1/4 of it and don't know if I can stick it out. Facts are constantly delivered with no background, definition of words or concepts. It jumps all around, is just incomprehensible.
This "author" has no concept of how to tell a story, much less a
What disappointment.
This "author" has no concept of how to tell a story, much less a
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complicated technical story.What disappointment.
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LibraryThing member mykl-s
McPhee gave me some useful perspectives about where I grew up, basin and range, in southern Idaho.
LibraryThing member deusvitae
Ostensibly about the geology of the Basin and Range province in the western United States, but in truth an introduction to the history of geology and the author's series on the geology of the United States as experienced across Interstate 80.
In this volume the author spends much time with Prof.
The author interweaves an explanation of geologic concepts and a sketch of geologic history and the human history of geology and understanding the environment. The rest of the series is anticipated.
There is some discussion of the Basin and Range as a spreading area in which, at some point, a new sea will open up, just like the Red Sea and the Great Rift Valley from Israel to Kenya.
Of the volumes in the series this is the most uneven; its ending isn't even really much of an ending, leaving the author and reader kind of hanging in Winnemucca, Nevada.
But still an interesting exploration into the geology of America.
In this volume the author spends much time with Prof.
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Deffeyes of Princeton, whom we learn is really interested in discovering the silver the miners of a previous era overlooked or did not find of sufficient quality to dedicate time and effort to mine. The author interweaves an explanation of geologic concepts and a sketch of geologic history and the human history of geology and understanding the environment. The rest of the series is anticipated.
There is some discussion of the Basin and Range as a spreading area in which, at some point, a new sea will open up, just like the Red Sea and the Great Rift Valley from Israel to Kenya.
Of the volumes in the series this is the most uneven; its ending isn't even really much of an ending, leaving the author and reader kind of hanging in Winnemucca, Nevada.
But still an interesting exploration into the geology of America.
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LibraryThing member Andy_Dingley
An unusual book, a delightful read, but does it work for its technical aspect?
I think this was a series of New Yorker pieces, which would certainly explain some of the style. As a book, it lacks a coherent narrative thread. In particular, the geomorphology of basin and range (a new concept to me,
The beginning of the book has the feel of a travelogue. A Theroux, maybe even HST piece (HST meets the last sun-crazed silver miners?), of gentle companionship and wandering through backwoods America. Midway it moves more towards a geology textbook. This is when it really starts to take off, although I'm unsure of the audience. A handful of foreign geologists? Sophomore students? But the urbane New Yorker reader with clean shoes, do they know the geological background or care enough about the arcane added knowledge? The chapters on 18th century Edinburgh, Hutton, and the invention of geology; on silver-mining and recovering old mine wastes; or best of all, the impact of plate tectonics on geology in the 1960s. I knew (fortunately) all of these things before picking up the book: but I realise now I'd never really understood plate tectonics, or appreciated just how young ocean floors were until reading this.
I was reminded in the end of Sebald's 'Rings of Saturn' (no bad comparison); it's 'a walk outdoors with one of your smartest friends'. A little directionless, but all of it fascinating.
I think this was a series of New Yorker pieces, which would certainly explain some of the style. As a book, it lacks a coherent narrative thread. In particular, the geomorphology of basin and range (a new concept to me,
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as a reasonably geologically literate but non-US reader) is explained briefly, but could have used a warning, "Pay attention, this next concept is going to be referred to endlessly hereafter without any more explanation". Also who's the local Nevada mayor in the last chapter? Deffeyes? Some other character whose name we slip? A good editor, unafraid of McPhee's deserved stature, could have made this work rather better as a book. Even a map would help us foreigners.The beginning of the book has the feel of a travelogue. A Theroux, maybe even HST piece (HST meets the last sun-crazed silver miners?), of gentle companionship and wandering through backwoods America. Midway it moves more towards a geology textbook. This is when it really starts to take off, although I'm unsure of the audience. A handful of foreign geologists? Sophomore students? But the urbane New Yorker reader with clean shoes, do they know the geological background or care enough about the arcane added knowledge? The chapters on 18th century Edinburgh, Hutton, and the invention of geology; on silver-mining and recovering old mine wastes; or best of all, the impact of plate tectonics on geology in the 1960s. I knew (fortunately) all of these things before picking up the book: but I realise now I'd never really understood plate tectonics, or appreciated just how young ocean floors were until reading this.
I was reminded in the end of Sebald's 'Rings of Saturn' (no bad comparison); it's 'a walk outdoors with one of your smartest friends'. A little directionless, but all of it fascinating.
Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Pulitzer Prize (Finalist — General Non-Fiction — 1982)