A review by bobbo49
In Suspect Terrain by John McPhee

challenging informative medium-paced

3.5

I have read three of the four books in the series now, and will soon read the fourth.  Like the others, this one is of course very well written, and the depth of the scientific geology presented is over my head.  I thought that Basin and Range, and Assembling California, were slightly better because the science was woven into the history in a manner that made the books more accessible to non-scientists.  Nonetheless, the critique of plate tectonics - a theory that has dominated the modern discussion of the creation of the earth's structure, both within and outside of the world of science - is excellent and accessible, and when McPhee entwines it with human stories, it is scientific writing at its best.