[pct-l] A GREAT book for trail

[Jim & Jane Moody]

Hey, Gourmet, 



You are right about John McPhee.   The worst book he ever wrote is better than 99% of of what's published today.  Geology in layman's terms is one of his many specialties - "Assembling California", "Basin and Range", "Rising fro m the Plains", and my favorite, "In Suspect Terrain".  



Although not specifically about geology, I also strongly recommend "Encounters ith the Archdruid" and "Coming into the Country", set in rual Alaska. 



Mango 


>The partial answer to this gaping hole in my knowledge, and one that 
>subsequently made hiking more enjoyable as I observed the passing terrain, 
>was a Pulitzer prize winner: "Annals of the Former World", by John McPhee. 
>Accessable, and with a good narrative, this book is actually a compendium of 
>four or five books in an anthology; with each able stand on it's own. 
>"Assembling California" is by itself a worthwhile read for those of you, 
>who, like me, have no previous background in geology; or, also, again like 
>me, whose formal education ended before the advances in plate tectonics and 
>geology led to the current state of knowledge.