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methanojen's review against another edition
5.0
The book that convinced me to major in geology. Thanks, McPhee!
tkkemo's review against another edition
5.0
John McPhee is a goddamn poet. This book is about geology, which might sound boring, except that it, like geology itself, brings the world around us to life. It makes you look at a mountain and think “that giant piece of rock is actually pretty young when you think about it”.
skylar2's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the best layman's books on geology I've read. John McPhee makes something that could be incredibly dry vivid and entertaining. He also grapples with the controversy surrounding the acceptance of plate tectonics. I highly recommend it.
aubrigail's review against another edition
Reading this bit by bit before I go to bed. I honestly don't know what any of the geological terms mean, but it's still an interesting read (when in doubt, I substitute "eras/epochs/etc" with "a long time ago")
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
3.0
I started reading this series awhile back in 2020. I had read other books by the author, but it had been awhile. I was starting to read on the geology shelf and figured reading from a popularizer might be an easy place to start. It was not. This was a tough series that made clear my lack of knowledge of geology and this series never feels like an intro.
To finish the series I checked out this full volume to read the last short book. And then the introduction to this book - which really was an intro. And explains much of what the author had been trying to do with the series.
Have I really read this book? It is hard to say - it seems like there may have been many changes and hopefully improvements to the the smaller books it contains. Perhaps I'll take a shot at reading this straight through - after I do something to learn and retain knowledge about geology.
To finish the series I checked out this full volume to read the last short book. And then the introduction to this book - which really was an intro. And explains much of what the author had been trying to do with the series.
Have I really read this book? It is hard to say - it seems like there may have been many changes and hopefully improvements to the the smaller books it contains. Perhaps I'll take a shot at reading this straight through - after I do something to learn and retain knowledge about geology.