John McPhee, The John McPhee Reader (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974)

I’m not sure why it took me so long to discover John McPhee. I’ve heard of him, I’ve even read a few reviews of his books, but I never got around to reading much of his writing, so recently I picked up two volumes of samples of his work. What a treasure! He has thoroughly researched his subjects that are as diverse and varied as one might imagine. From oranges to nuclear weapons to the Pine Barrens to the Birch Bark Canoe, he has collected a delightful assortment of characters. The reader flows like a collection of essays, but each essay promises more to the reader as the reader realizes that each represents a book that can be read.

This is definitely not the last of John McPhee that I will be reading.