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The essay "Silk Parachute," which first appeared in The New Yorker a decade ago, has become John McPhee's most anthologized piece of writing. In the nine other pieces here--highly varied in length and theme--McPhee ranges with his characteristic humor and intensity through lacrosse, long-exposure view-camera photography, the weird foods he has sometimes been served in the course of his reportorial travels, a U.S. Open golf championship, and a season in Europe "on the chalk" from the downs and sea cliffs of England to the Maas valley in the Netherlands and the champagne country of northern France. Some of the pieces are wholly personal, including recollections of his early years, but each piece, on whatever theme, contains a personal aspect in which McPhee suggests why he was attracted to write about the subject, and each opens like a silk parachute, lofted skyward and suddenly blossoming with color and form.--From publisher description.… (more)
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I can't say I liked the subjects of all the essays. The one on lacrosse started to get a bit tiresome and McPhee writes more about geology than I like to read, but I always still with him
Collection felt uneven, with Parachute game a lot of fun,
then veering into mostly boring Chalk until Champagne and Veuve Cliquot are reached.
Lacrosse is only for true fans, while "Under the Cloth" was too repetitive.
Then came "My Life List" > agog with disgusting overBEARing MEAT
followed by the horror of The Manhattan Project.
Checkpoints at last added some fun again, with "Rip Van Golfer" the best of the whole lot.