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Title details for Crossing the Craton by John McPhee - Available

Crossing the Craton

#4 in series

by John McPhee
Nelson Runger
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
With his Pulitzer Prize–winning Annals of the Former World, John McPhee explores not only the richly varied surface of the United States, but the geological wonders hidden deep beneath our feet. In this final book of the series, he embarks on a fascinating journey across the basement of the continent—the land masses forming Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and thereabouts—with a professor and geochronologist acting as a guide.
Whether Randy Van Schmus is out in the field with his students, or grinding rock in the university lab, he insists the flat plains of middle America are anything but dull. He tells the story of eons of violent upheaval that is written in the features lying far below the shimmering wheat fields. As he shares how scientists are unlocking the secrets of the earth's timetable, millions of years seem but brief moments.
John McPhee's enthusiasm and peerless writing style make the study of geology both accessible and entertaining.
"... authoritative stuff produced with a reporter's eye ..."—The New York Times

  • Creators

  • Series

    From Annals of the Former World

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 1, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781501988028
      • File size: 51663 KB
      • Duration: 01:47:37

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This audio truly enhances a brilliantly written scientific essay. Nelson Runger reads slowly, as one must for this material, but without losing the vital tempo. He excels in technical pronunciation. This sample is the last book of a Pulitzer Prize-winning series called Annals of the Former World. Here a gifted teacher and geologist provides a short course in the most important scientific discovery of the last forty years--plate tectonics. To really understand such geology, you'd need diagrams, but the audiobook paints a careful enough picture. Scientists who like to keep informed about the fields of others will enjoy an acceptable simplification without being patronized. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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