A variety of essays by New Yorker contributor and nonfiction stylist John McPhee. I especially enjoyed the one about canoeing at summer camp, and the one about golf's US Open. The one about obsessive fact-checking at the New Yorker made me wish that such a thing existed on TV and the internet. McPhee has a long backlist, mostly about geology, but I'm told if you are looking for a good read, "anything by McPhee," so we'll see which one comes up next. John McPhee is one of the finest writers of our times. His output is prodigious (something like 38 books and a staff writer for The New Yorker since the 60s), and his style is engaging. An open mind to learning about the history of Lacrosse, or the geology of the Chalk in Europe, or the complexities of being a fact-checker - I always come away satisfied. His finest writings, in my opinion, are some of his nature writings of 20-30 years ago.
What do You think about Silk Parachute (2010)?
Not up to his usual standards -- kind of fell flat, and had an end-of-life feel.
—jbibbs
John McPhee's writing is basically uplifting nonfiction.
—Jeremy