Audiobooks by John McPhee

A WONDROUS BOOK OF MCPHEE'S PROSE PIECES-IN MANY ASPECTS HIS MOST PERSONAL IN FOUR DECADES The brief, brilliant essay "Silk Parachute," which first appeared in The New Yorker over a decade ago, has become John McPhee's most anthologized piece of writing. In the nine other pieces here- highly varied in length and theme-McPhee ranges with his characteristic humor and intensity through lacrosse, long-exposure view-camera photography, the weird foods he has sometimes been served in the course of his reportorial travels, a U.S. Open golf championship, and a season in Europe "on the chalk" from the downs and sea cliffs of England to the Maas valley in the Netherlands and the champagne country of northern France. Some of the pieces are wholly personal. In luminous recollections of his early years, for example, he goes on outings with his mother, deliberately overturns canoes in a learning process at a summer camp, and germinates a future book while riding on a jump seat to away games as a basketball player. But each piece-on whatever theme-contains somewhere a personal aspect in which McPhee suggests why he was attracted to write about the subject, and each opens like a silk parachute, lofted skyward and suddenly blossoming with color and form. Author bio: John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. The same year he published his first book, A Sense of Where You Are, with FSG, and soon followed with The Headmaster (1966), Oranges (1967), The Pine Barrens (1968), A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles (collection, 1969), The Crofter and the Laird (1969), Levels of the Game (1970), Encounters with the Archdruid (1972), The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (1973), The Curve of Binding Energy (1974), Pieces of the Frame (collection, 1975), and The Survival of the Bark Canoe (1975). Both Encounters with the Archdruid and The Curve of Binding Energy were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science.

John McPhee (Author), John McPhee (Narrator)

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Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process

The long-awaited guide to writing long-form nonfiction by the legendary author and teacher Draft No. 4 is an elucidation of the writer's craft by a master practitioner. In a series of playful but expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he's gathered over his career and refined during his long-running course at Princeton University, where he has launched some of the most esteemed writers of several generations. McPhee offers a definitive guide to the crucial decisions regarding structure, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces, and presents extracts from some of his best-loved work, subjecting them to wry scrutiny. The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from reporting to drafting to revising-and revising, and revising. More than a compendium of advice, Draft No. 4 is enriched by personal detail and charming reflections on the life of a writer. McPhee describes his enduring relationships with The New Yorker and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and recalls his early years at Time magazine. Enlivened by his keen sense of writing as a way of being in the world, Draft No. 4 is the long-awaited master class given by America's most renowned writing instructor.

John McPhee (Author), John McPhee (Narrator)

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The Second John McPhee Reader: Part One

For a person who has not encountered John McPhee's lively writing, The Second John McPhee Reader is the perfect introduction. McPhee, author of Coming Into the Country ), and Assembling California punctuates his delightful prose with a sharp sense of humor and a fascination with things most of us never bother to notice. Whether he's working for a farmer in the Greenmarkets in Harlem, Brooklyn or the Upper East Side in Giving Good Weight, or trekking through Switzerland in La Place de la Concorde Suisse, McPhee gives the listener an intimate and provocative glimpse of the physical landscape and the people who are shaped by it. This Reader showcases a writer who not only is in absolute command of his craft, but also who revels in the pleasures of a fragile world. Narrator Nelson Runger's gravelly voice powerfully conveys McPhee's understated writing. Intriguing and thought-provoking, this audiobook is a must-listen for anyone interested in the natural or human worlds.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Second John McPhee Reader: Part Two

For a person who has not encountered John McPhee's lively writing, The Second John McPhee Reader is the perfect introduction. McPhee, author of Coming Into the Country, punctuates his delightful prose with a sharp sense of humor, and a fascination with things most of us never bother to notice. Whether he's profiling a northern Maine game warden named John McPhee in Table of Contents, or tracking down a fortune in "unofficial" art from the Soviet Union's Khrushchev-Brezhnev era in The Ransom of Russian Art, McPhee gives the listener an intimate and provocative glimpse at the physical landscape and into the people who are shaped by it. This Reader showcases a writer who not only is in absolute command of his craft, but also who revels in the pleasures of a fragile world. Narrator Nelson Runger's gravelly voice powerfully conveys McPhee's understated writing. Intriguing and thought-provoking, this audiobook is a must-listen for anyone interested in the natural or human worlds.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

Audiobook

Irons in the Fire

Fabulously entertaining and filled with the intriguing trivia of life, Irons in the Fire is another impeccably crafted collection of seven essays by John McPhee. His peerless writing-punctuated with a sharp sense of humor and fascinating detail-has earned him legions of fans across the country. Whether he's riding with a cattle brand inspector in wild and wide-open eastern Nevada, or following Plymouth Rock through its various sizes, shapes and resting places, McPhee provides the listener with an intimate glimpse into ordinary people and the extraordinary interests that shape their lives. These delightful pieces-including Irons in the Fire, Travels of the Rock, Release, In Virgin Forest, The Gravel Page, Duty of Care, and Rinard at Manheim-reveal the fascinating worlds hiding right under our noses. Narrator Nelson Runger's studied voice conveys McPhee's understated and thought-provoking writing. If you have never sampled McPhee's inspired prose, this audiobook will turn you into a lifelong fan.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

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Coming into the Country

Those who have traveled into America's only remaining frontier rarely come back out the same. Only in Alaska can we come close to understanding what our forefathers must have felt upon their arrival in the New World. McPhee brings to this narrative the qualities that have distinguished him in the field of travel literature-tolerance, brisk, and entertaining prose, and a fascination with things most of us never bother to notice.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

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Rising From the Plains

Annals of the Former World is the result of a 20-year journey. During that time, John McPhee, author of 25 books and noted writer for The New Yorker, crisscrossed the United States, roughly following the 40th parallel. The geological insights and wonderful descriptions McPhee packed into his accounts of these trips earned his remarkable book a Pulitzer Prize. The third part, Rising From the Plains, takes McPhee to the high country of Utah along the Continental Divide. His guide is David Love, "the grand old man of Rocky Mountain geology." Helping McPhee see the physical changes that have shaped this region over millions of years, Love also traces his own family's history in this oil-rich, windswept land. As McPhee climbs into the granite landscape of the Rockies, Rising From the Plains creates a fascinating picture of the interdependence of geology, commerce and culture. Nelson Runger's clear narration further enhances McPhee's engaging text.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

Audiobook

Uncommon Carriers

From Pulitzer Prize-winner John McPhee-author of The Founding Fish -comes the fascinating story of an often overlooked, yet vitally important part of America. This first-hand account of the transportation sector features evocative portraits of the men and women who deliver our consumer and industrial goods. McPhee begins his adventure riding with Don Ainsworth, owner and operator of an 18-wheeler hauling nearly 30 tons of highly toxic chemicals from North Carolina to Washington. He continues his journey on a towboat pushing over 1,000 feet of barge up the narrow channel of the Illinois River. He rounds out his account crawling through Nebraska, Kansas, and the Powder River Basin of Wyoming in massive coal trains. Along the way, he tells the stories of the people he meets and the places he visits. McPhee's sense of humor, incisive observations, and historical asides make for a highly entertaining journey across America.

John McPhee (Author), John McPhee (Narrator)

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The Founding Fish

The Founding Fish is the shad, and John McPhee's veneration for it is both scientific and culinary. McPhee was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Annals of the Former World. Noted for his accessible and perceptive studies of the physical world, he weaves together strands of personal, natural, and national history in this absorbing study that traces the shad's importance from the 17th century to his family's dinner table.

John McPhee (Author), John McPhee (Narrator)

Audiobook

Assembling California

Thirty years ago, the theory that continents are comprised of drifting plates-plate tectonics-evoked more scorn than serious research. Today, this revolutionary theory continues to dazzle and challenge geologists and laymen alike. Assembling California explores an area uniquely demonstrative of the plate tectonic theory: California, which according to "tectonicists," is breaking apart at its seams.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

Audiobook

Crossing the Craton

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. Nelson Runger's thought-provoking performance ensures you will view the earth with fresh insight.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

Audiobook

In Suspect Terrain

John McPhee's Pulitzer Prize-winning Annals of the Former World takes readers on mind-expanding adventures in geology. In the first book, Basin and Range (RB# 95995), McPhee traveled to Nevada with a proponent of plate techtonics. Now, an engaging sceptic working for the United States Geological Survey is his guide to some of eastern America's most fascinating geologic formations. Respected geologist Anita Harris doesn't completely accept the reigning gospel of plate tectonics. Rather than limiting herself to one theory, the Brooklyn native insists on letting the rocks tell their own stories. Pickaxe and hydrochloric acid in hand, Harris guides McPhee to terrain that speaks of sudden, cataclysmic events and the spectacular, relatively recent, movement of glaciers. Author John McPhee is celebrated for his elegant style and skill in making specialized material accessible. When the narrative talents of Nelson Runger are added, you will discover that the intricacies of geology become not only understandable, but most entertaining.

John McPhee (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

Audiobook