
Basin and Range
Annals of the Former World, Book 1
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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
In this first book of a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, the author crosses the spectacular Basin and Range with geology professor Kenneth Deffeyes in tow. McPhee draws on Deffeyes' expertise to dazzle you with the vast perspective of geologic time and the fascinating history of vanished landscapes. The effect is guaranteed to expand your mind.
McPhee's enthusiasm is infectious, as he provides one of the best introductions to plate tectonics and the New Geology. His elegant style is more pleasing than ever with narrator Nelson Runger's smooth, enthusiastic delivery. Runger mines the book's rich veins of poetic prose and subtle humor, and the result is pure gold.
Listen to more books in the Annals of the Former World collection.©1980, 1981 John McPhee (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"A fascinating book." (The New York Times Book Review)
"He triumphs by succinct prose, by his uncanny ability to capture the essence of a complex issue, or an arcane trade secret, in a well-turned phrase." (New York Review of Books)
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Story
Few fish are as beloved, or as obsessed over, as the American shad. Although shad spend most of their lives in salt water, they enter rivers by the hundreds of thousands in the spring and swim upstream heroic distances in order to spawn, then return to the ocean.
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Read and released.
- By Darwin8u on 11-14-14
By: John McPhee
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The Second John McPhee Reader, Book One
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Not what I expected
- By Privacy Maven on 11-08-23
By: John McPhee
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Encounters with the Archdruid
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The narratives in this book are of journeys made in three wildernesses—on a coastal island, in a Western mountain range, and on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. The four men portrayed here have different relationships to their environment, and they encounter each other on mountain trails, in forests and rapids, sometimes with reserve, sometimes with friendliness, sometimes fighting hard across a philosophical divide.
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McPhee at the absolute height of his powers
- By Tom Craven on 06-25-24
By: John McPhee
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Weird Earth
- Debunking Strange Ideas about Our Planet
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In Weird Earth: Debunking Strange Ideas About Our Planet, Donald R. Prothero demystifies these conspiracies and offers answers to some of humanity's most outlandish questions. Applying his extensive scientific knowledge, Prothero corrects misinformation that con artists and quacks use to hoodwink others about geology - hollow earth, expanding earth, and bizarre earthquakes-and mystical and paranormal happenings - healing crystals, alien landings, and the gates of hell.
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A Lack of Seriousness
- By David A on 10-04-20
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The Modern Scholar: Geology
- The Story of Earth
- By: Professor Kate Zeigler
- Narrated by: Professor Kate Zeigler
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Original Recording
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Geology is often thought of as simply the study of rocks. In reality, geology is the study of our planet on all scales, from microscopic to planet-wide, and ranging in time from almost instantaneous events, like earthquakes, to the glacially slow motion of the tectonic plates. Everything we know about our world from a geologic perspective is based on information locked into the rock record and the job of a geologist is to tease out that story through a wide variety of observations. This insightful course explores a range of topics that help to tell the story of Earth and to explain the discipline of Geology and the role of the geologist.
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interesting, informative and well presented.
- By Steven Mark on 01-09-16
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Wonderful Life
- The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
- By: Stephen Jay Gould
- Narrated by: Jonathan Sleep
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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High in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago called the Burgess Shale. It holds the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures lived—a forgotten corner of evolution preserved in awesome detail. In this book, Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale tells us about evolution and the nature of history.
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Science made interesting
- By An Old Crow on 09-13-23
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Irons in the Fire
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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New New Journalism is on Fire
- By Darwin8u on 02-10-15
By: John McPhee
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Reading the Rocks
- The Autobiography of the Earth
- By: Marcia Bjornerud
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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To many of us, the Earth's crust is a relic of ancient, unknowable history. But to a geologist, stones are richly illustrated narratives, telling gothic tales of cataclysm and reincarnation. For more than four billion years, in beach sand, granite, and garnet schists, the planet has kept a rich and idiosyncratic journal of its past. Fulbright Scholar Marcia Bjornerud takes the listener along on an eye-opening tour of Deep Time, explaining in elegant prose what we see and feel beneath our feet.
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More like a whiny sermon.
- By Keith on 10-09-24
By: Marcia Bjornerud
John McPhee explains the North American story from east to west (with necessary input from related topography.) I was thinking in the beginning that the format was going to drive me crazy and sped up the narrative.
Then I had to get out maps, and a book with the many unfamiliar terms defined.
With my visual aids and setting time to listen without distractions, I became engrossed.
I’m too old to wander over basin and range now, (and I hate snakes) but I have taken many road trips in my time.
I love it
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The wealth of Geological information interwoven with the stories of the Geologists who explain, through McPhee, the complex but fascinating Geological history of America from coast to coast on Interstate 80. But be aware that "Assembling California" is not listed with the other 4 books of the canon. Be sure to get all five. The sequence I would suggest logically follow the trek across the USA from coast to coast ie books1 through 5 in order. Some have suggested a different sequence, but all stand alone very well. This series of 5 Audio books should be in every library of those who admire and enjoy superb non-fiction writing or geology. These are suberbly performed by Nelson Runger. If much of your listening is done while driving, this audio book series will transport you to "The Former World" as you travel.
Ronald E. Bowers, MD
What other book might you compare Basin and Range to and why?
the other 4 books of "Annals of the Former World"
What about Nelson Runger’s performance did you like?
Tone and delivery matched the style of the book(s). Not pedantic.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
yes, and re-listen!
A Classic, finally all FIVE parts now available
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Annals of the Former World
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virtuosic
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get lost in the ancient world
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A true classic
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Wow.
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Awesome!
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Makes Classic Narrative Geology
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Would you try another book from John McPhee and/or Nelson Runger?
Yes. John McPhee does his best to make a very dry and complicated subject palatable to the general reader. This is one of Nelson Runger's better books. I know that some folks aren't fans of his, but outside of a few readings, he never really bothered me.Who was your favorite character and why?
Outside of the Narrator (McPhee) probably the guy who was able to procure the aggregate silver from abandoned mines in Nevada.What three words best describe Nelson Runger’s performance?
Accessible. Journalistic. Engaged.If this book were a movie would you go see it?
This would probably be better as a PBS SpecialAny additional comments?
It is a tough listen, I'm not going to lie. But you do learn something. My experience was enhanced by listening to it while driving to Las Vegas and being in the geological region where the book was based. It was also neat to pass by road cuts in the highway and discover how geologists use them for research. But I can see how past reviewers would want maps while listening to this.Tough going, but good
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