Assembling California
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Narrated by:
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Nelson Runger
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By:
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John McPhee
About this listen
At various times in a span of fifteen years, John McPhee made geological field surveys in the company of Eldridge Moores, a tectonicist at the University of California at Davis. The result of these trips is Assembling California, a cross-section in human and geologic time, from Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada through the golden foothills of the Mother Lode and across the Great Central Valley to the wine country of the Coast Ranges, the rock of San Francisco, and the San Andreas family of faults.
The two disparate time scales occasionally intersect—in the gold disruptions of the nineteenth century no less than in the earthquakes of the twentieth—and always with relevance to a newly understood geologic history in which half a dozen large and separate pieces of country are seen to have drifted in from far and near to coalesce as California. McPhee and Moores also journeyed to remote mountains of Arizona and to Cyprus and northern Greece, where rock of the deep-ocean floor has been transported into continental settings, as it has in California. Global in scope and a delight to listen to, Assembling California is a sweeping narrative of maps in motion, of evolving and dissolving lands.
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- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
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Following the hugely popular and successful Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole, Michael Palin set off to meet another challenge: an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the world's largest ocean, the Pacific.
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Excellent, per usual
- By Enroute8 on 06-03-07
By: Michael Palin
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Sudden Sea
- By: R.A. Scotti
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of The Perfect Storm, Sudden Sea hearkens back to a natural disaster that struck terror in the hearts of many. In this narrative, listeners experience the Great Hurricane of 1938, the most financially destructive storm on record.
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Very professional and interesting
- By Careful Consumer on 08-09-23
By: R.A. Scotti
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Hoover Dam
- An American Adventure
- By: Joseph E. Stevens
- Narrated by: Kevin Charles Minatrea
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1931, in a rugged desert canyon on the Arizona-Nevada border, an army of workmen began one of the most difficult and daring building projects ever undertaken: the construction of Hoover Dam. Through the worst years of the Great Depression as many as five thousand laborers toiled twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to erect the huge structure that would harness the Colorado River and transform the American West.
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Enjoyed this book
- By Nancy Ann on 02-18-20
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Krakatoa
- The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa - the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic disaster - was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly 40,000 people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round die planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light.
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Great subject, great writing, great voice
- By rwise on 01-26-04
By: Simon Winchester
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On the Grid
- A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work
- By: Scott Huler
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
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In our daily lives, we're surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and myriad other infrastructure that facilitates almost everything we do. Even though these systems are essential, when was the last time you gave them much thought? In On the Grid, Scott Huler sets out to understand all of the systems that shape our society - from transportation, water, and garbage to the Internet coming through our cable lines.
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Amazing!
- By Skippy the Okie on 01-27-16
By: Scott Huler
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Train
- Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World - from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief
- By: Tom Zoellner
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
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Tom Zoellner loves trains with a ferocious passion. In his new audiobook he chronicles the innovation and sociological impact of the railway technology that changed the world, and could very well change it again. From the frigid Trans-Siberian Railroad to the antiquated Indian Railways to the futuristic maglev trains, Zoellner offers a stirring story of man's relationship with trains. Zoellner examines both the mechanics of the rails and their engines and how they helped societies evolve. Not only do trains transport people and goods in an efficient manner, but they also reduce pollution and dependency upon oil.
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The world history of trains up to the present
- By matthew on 03-06-14
By: Tom Zoellner
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Chernobyl 01:23:40
- The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster
- By: Andrew Leatherbarrow
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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At 01:23:40 on April 26th 1986, Alexander Akimov pressed the emergency shutdown button at Chernobyl's fourth nuclear reactor. It was an act that forced the permanent evacuation of a city, killed thousands, and crippled the Soviet Union. The event spawned decades of conflicting, exaggerated, and inaccurate stories.
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Lost in his own navel
- By Christopher on 10-17-16
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The Galveston Hurricane of 1900
- The Deadliest Natural Disaster in American History
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Steve Rausch
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
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The hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. Prior to advanced communications, few people knew about impending hurricanes except those closest to the site. In the days before television or even radio, catastrophic descriptions were merely recorded on paper, limiting our understanding of the immediate impact. Thus it was inevitable that the category 4 hurricane would cause almost inconceivable destruction.
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The Hurricane
- By scott massey on 06-14-24
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The Good Rain
- Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
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A fantastic book! Timothy Egan describes his journeys in the Pacific Northwest through visits to salmon fisheries, redwood forests and the manicured English gardens of Vancouver. Here is a blend of history, anthropology and politics.
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White man bad, capitalism bad
- By Forget about it on 04-15-21
By: Timothy Egan
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Read and released.
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Pretentious Narrator
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The Second John McPhee Reader, Book Two
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An Eclectic Collections of Stories but...
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What listeners say about Assembling California
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- J B Tipton
- 07-12-11
McPhee and Runger
The missing piece of the Annals of the Former World series finally appears on Audible. I can???t recommend this series highly enough.
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5 people found this helpful
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- david donovan
- 04-27-22
The book is genius…
But… The narrator, while clear, can’t seem to pronounce most of the Geologic time terms. Nor Ne Va Da. Not Ne Vaahhh Da. As a result it spreads ignorance. I recently saw the results in Outer Range. If you are a trained Geologist it is jarring.
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- Stephen
- 06-28-12
California as a lens to the surface of Earth
McPhee's focus is the formation of California, but the scope of Assembling California is nothing less than the formation of all the continents, islands and oceans as understood by modern geology.
Just as quantum mechanics and relativity transformed Physics, just as the concept of brain plasticity transformed Neuroscience, just so the theory of plate tectonics transformed Geology. John McPhee explains the transformation of the science, and the transformation of the Earth's surface in fine prose. He quotes dialogs with geologists--mainly Eldridge Moores--gives analogies, and uses anecdotes drawn from personal experience to convey the concepts.
Assembling California works fine on the printed page, but has a few too many technical terms to work entirely well as an audio book.
Nevertheless, this is a well-written and well-read book that conveys the outline of modern tectonic geology to the layman.
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8 people found this helpful
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- WLC
- 08-29-24
Meandering Journey Through California Geology
The book is an entertaining, meandering travelogue through California geology and history. It helps to have basic knowledge of geology and of California geographic terrains. The author peppers the book with geology jokes (very nerdy indeed) and wanders off topic to describe history and mining aspects of the California gold rush and earthquake history. It is a good introduction and overview of California’s geologic history and the history of tectonics that may stimulate the reader to dive into more detailed and comprehensive texts.
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- Victoria
- 04-03-17
geography jargon
Would you try another book from John McPhee and/or Nelson Runger?
yes
Would you recommend Assembling California to your friends? Why or why not?
not sure, there is a lot of geography terms used that I did not understand so I got bored. I have enjoyed other books by John McPhee more.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Nelson Runger?
sure
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1 person found this helpful
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- wbiro
- 10-13-17
Enjoyed What I Was Able to Assemble
I was able to mentally assemble the related human stories, but his coverage of geological features did not have the reader's mental imagery in mind, and as a result, the reader will not be able to mentally visualize them - the geological terms will fly by unconstructed.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Genesis
- 02-09-24
Excellent geology for the general public and geology undergrads
One of my favorites. You can appreciate this more with an intro geology background. That aside, it’s very accessible, engaging, and fun.
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- arncas
- 09-18-24
The complexity of California geology
A understandable explanation of the geology of California. The amazing ability of geologists to interpret the history of the earth from the rocks. Did it really happen that way? Who knows?
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- Darwin8u
- 11-30-13
Subduction leads to orogeny zones in California
This year I've been reading the separate segments of McPhee's Pulitzer Prize winning 1998 opus Annals of the Former World, but skipped (for now) Rising from the Plains because I was going to be driving with my brother from San Francisco to Mesa, AZ. We were going to hang in Berkeley and hit Yosemite, Sequoia, etc., on our trip South and East and I figured it was a perfect time to read 'Assembling California'.
Like all McPhee writing, 'Assembling California 'is an amazing conglomeration of good writing, great characters, and interesting technical facts. However, unlike the earlier books in this series ( Basin and Range, In Suspect Terrain) it just doesn't set up as nicely. I'm not sure if it had more to do with the messiness of California's geology, the limits of Eldridge Moores as an engaging character, or if McPhee had just grown a bit tired of his own Great I-80 Geology Project. He is engaging, but there just wasn't as much sparkle or heat as with earlier books with Karen Kleinspehn, Kenneth Deffeyes, or Anita Harris. A solid McPhee and a good addition to the series, just not the strongest piece. I hope that 'Rising from the Plains' works out a bit better.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Mark Hedden
- 12-05-18
Lush and informative.
McPhee's sensitive interweaving of science, nature, and humanity is as compelling here as it always is.
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2 people found this helpful