Basin and Range

Basin and Range

book data

252 ratings, 4.13 average rating, 29 reviews (more data...)

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published

April 1st 1982 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

binding

Paperback, 216 pages

isbn

0374516901 (isbn13: 9780374516901)

description

One of the most valuable tools for the advancement of geological science has in fact been the humble road cut. United States Interstate 80 crosses the...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 321)

All ratings | 5 stars (94) | 4 stars (104) | 3 stars (48) | 2 stars (5) | 1 star (1) | avg 4.13

all | this edition

X rated it:

12/08/07

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: geologists or people interested in geology

This was surprisingly good. It's not something I would have read if I hadn't needed to for school, but it was very interesting, and I may consider reading the rest of the series. The book covered mountain building, volcanism, mining, plate tectonics, and continental drift, and also gave brief historical accounts of famous geologists, while describing the author's field trip with a geology professor. At times it seemed to skip around too much, though it always came back to the main point of cont...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

7 comments

Inder

Inder rated it:

04/15/08

bookshelves: science

Read in January, 2004

recommended to Inder by: Marc

I read Basin and Range while driving through the basins and ranges of the Western U.S. a few years ago. This is a great piece of lay science, although the prose is at times over the top. Still, what I gleaned from this book has stuck with me, and informs my passion for that well-kept-secret - the ups and downs east of the Sierras and west of the Rockies.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

3 comments

Mel

Mel rated it:

08/08/08

bookshelves: nonfiction

John McPhee can make anything interesting. His book Basin and Range chronicles his travels across Interstate 80 with geologist Kenneth Deffeyes. And rocks are interesting. Basin and Range takes the reader on a geological history tour of the United States, and the continent’s westward movement.
McPhee uses a variety of techniques throughout the text, some more effective than others. His descriptions that use a series of short crisp sentences engage the reader—one can see Deffeyes with his...more

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Jared

Jared rated it:

08/08/08

Read in August, 2008

The third of McPhee's books that I have read, and completely up to par with the others in terms of clarity of writing, choice of subject matter, well-written characterizations of people, and ability to explain esoteric concepts to the layman.

Using Interstate 80 as a route of travel and a veteran Princeton geologist as a guide, McPhee travels across the continent, learning facts about geology that are relevant on a variety of levels, i.e. from passing curiosity (why is that rock that color?)...more The third of McPhee's books that I have read, and completely up to par with the others in terms of clarity of writing, choice of subject matter, well-written characterizations of people, and ability to explain esoteric concepts to the layman.

Using Interstate 80 as a route of travel and a veteran Princeton geologist as a guide, McPhee travels across the continent, learning facts about geology that are relevant on a variety of levels, i.e. from passing curiosity (why is that rock that color?) to economic interest (where can silver be mined?) to historical interest (where could early settlers find drinking water?) to a deep understanding of how the earth behaves (how to mountain ranges form?). He focuses on "basin and range" country in Nevada and the American West in general, where the recent and dynamic nature of geologic action draws the interest of many geologists.

Moreover, McPhee tries to explain how geologists do their jobs. He writes about work and makes it interesting by finding people who do important work we may never have thought about, who enjoy their work and enjoy telling about it. A skilled geologist, compared to the rest of us, is a sort of seer. He or she can look at the land around and understand how it formed and how it is likely to change in times to come. It is a fresh way to look at the world, an enviable ability. Field geology is also an active, outdoor life, doubly enviable to lab-bound scientists.

Along the way, McPhee also gives a vivid history of the science of geology, from early Biblical misunderstandings of the age of the Earth, up to the 1960s revolution in the theory of plate tectonics. It is remarkable to note how recently, for all its importance and power, this latest theory developed. McPhee makes one significant omission, which is not to discuss the role of radioactive decay in providing the heat that warms the Earth's core and drives convection of the mantle and therefore plate motion. But to this layman, altogether the book was a comprehensive, entertaining and informative read.

This book would benefit from a glossary for the reader who is not familiar with terms like "craton" or "batholith." On the other hand, McPhee's willingness to use such words and not bother to waste time in the text explaining them is a mark of respect to the reader....less

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GeekChick

GeekChick rated it:

12/28/07

bookshelves: science-nature

Read in January, 1991

recommends it for: geology lovers

McPhee reigns supreme as a popular writer of geology. He has great talent for translating scientific concepts into laymen's terms. It is also nice the way he tells the scientific story through the life of a particular scientist -- it adds a human dimension to the story.

I've read the entire I-80 geology series (In Suspect Terrain; Assembling California; and one other one I can't remember). It's now available as a boxed set or single-volume (can't remember which). If you like any one of th...more

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emily

emily rated it:

03/27/07

Read in February, 2007

recommends it for: anyone who is familiar with geologic terminology

this book blew my mind away! there were numerous instances where i would read a passage and just be completely in awe about how fascinating the history of the earth is. mcphee is my new favorite writer - i hope to read all of his books! this one is heavy with geologic terms, so i'd offer a caveat to those who are unfamiliar with basic geologic concepts. otherwise, it's an all-around fantastic read!

(book one of _annals of the former world_)

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Mark

Mark rated it:

11/13/08

Read in January, 2008

The first in a series of five geology books about the North American continent, this book deals with the formation of the basin and range country of Nevada. If you have any interest in geology, John McPhee will become one of your favorite authors. He mixes the past and the present well as he tells of the devlopment of mountain ranges and interlying valleys over the eons, while informing us of their current state as a part of the USA.

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Leif Erik

Leif Erik rated it:

08/22/07

bookshelves: science

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: people who like wordy geology

Lessions learned - way too many to list. This book apparently was serialized in the New Yorker, which tells me magazines have changed a lot since the early 80's.

I did like this a lot. I intend to read his Assembling California in the near future. The feel I got from Basin and Range was that of a Humanities professor tagging along with a geologist and writing of the experience as a kind of book report.

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Ben

Ben rated it:

01/21/08

Read in January, 2008

John McPhee accomplishes every conceivable goal in this book. The reader is humbled by McPhee's respect for the subject matter and humbled in turn by his charitable efforts in turning hard science into something spoon-feedable.

Though, of course, he makes much more than baby food. He is as writerly as any novelist, and as wonderfully succinct as the highest percentile of those.

Lovely.

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Maygan

Maygan rated it:

06/09/08

For any Californian who has ever traveled to Vegas, or driven to the Grand Canyon, or to Death Valley, or to Owens Valley... or for any geologist... if you don't already have an appreciation for rocks and geology, this will give you one... it's not a dry text-book read, it's written by a non-geologist... but it's entertaining as well as informative all the same.

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Sallie

Sallie rated it:

03/30/08

This is one of the best explanations I've read about the Great Basin (most of my state of Nevada lies within the GB) and what makes it what it is.

McPhee isn't a geologist but a journalist who writes so all of us can understand what he's saying and meaning. He has a wide range of interests and has written books on most of them.

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Jrobertus

Jrobertus rated it:

07/19/07

this is a classic book on geology of the u.s. here, he focuses on the basin and range structure of nevada and uses it as an entre to discuss plate tectonics and to interview geologists who reshaped our thinking about the earth. he gives the reader an eerie sense of the colossal scale of geologic time.

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Robert

Robert rated it:

11/24/08

bookshelves: nature-writing

One of John McPhee's readable books on geology, this one on the basin and range region of the American West. Makes geology understandable and interesting.

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Kev

Kev rated it:

08/29/08

bookshelves: history, naturalist, science

Read in August, 1997

recommended to Kev by: Doug Stelling

This book is lyric. It's so engrossing & irreducibly beautiful. I defy anyone to edit McPhee into a one-liner. It isn't possible. The land & the peoples who inhabit it are indivisible.

McPhee is the reason why Jared Diamond is right.

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Happyreader

Happyreader rated it:

04/15/08

bookshelves: history-politics, science

Read in November, 1993

This is the first in the great McPhee series on geology, a subject I didn't think I'd be interested in until I read the California book serialized in the New Yorker in 1993. If you like dinosaurs and rocks, this is the book for you.

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Thomas

Thomas rated it:

07/22/08

Read in January, 2005

Not for everyone, this book focuses on technical subject matter but is written for the lay person. If you fancy yourself a closet geologist, you will enjoy this read. I did!

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Jon

Jon rated it:

07/28/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, outdoors, travel

This is book 1 of the Annals of a Former World compilation. Everything I said in my review for that applies here.

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Brad

Brad marked it as to-read

08/05/08

bookshelves: nature, to-read

McPhee does some really great stuff. Friend Mmm Hmm read and raved about McPhee's "Assembling California."

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Chip

Chip rated it:

06/30/07

bookshelves: a_more_whole_you

No one makes learning quite as invisible as McPhee. Wander around with him a while, you'll see.

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Matt

Matt rated it:

02/21/08

Read in January, 2004

Basin and range province, salt domes in the desert, road cuts... and a passion for geology.

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"If you free yourself from the conventional reaction to a quantity like a million years, you free yourself a bit from the boundaries of human time. And then in a way you do not live at all, but in another way you live forever." More quotes...