The Control of Nature
Where to buy The Control of Scenery books online?
- ISBN13: 9780374522599
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Product Description
The Control of Scenery is John McPhee’s bestselling account of places where people are locked in combat with scenery. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strageties and tactics through which people attempt to control scenery. Most arresting is his depiction of the main contestants: scenery in complex and awesome guises, and persons attempting to wrest control from her – stubborn, sometimes foolhardy, more regularly ingenious, and permanently arresting characters.
Amazon.com Review
Master how-it-works writer John McPhee has instructed his readers in the arcana of how oranges are commercially graded, how mountains form, how canoes are built and oceans crossed. In The Control of Scenery he turns his attention once more to geology and the human struggle against scenery. In one sketch, he explores the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ unrealized plot to divert the flow of the Mississippi River into a tributary, the Atchafalaya, for flood control; in another, he looks at the ingenious ways in which an Icelandic engineer saved a southern harbor on that island from being ruined by a lava flow; in a third, he examines a complex scheme to protect Los Angeles from boulders ejected from mountains by compression and tectonic movement. As permanently, McPhee combines a deep knowledge of his theme with a narrative approach that is wholly accessible; you may not have thought you were interested in earthquakes and flood control, but he gently leads you to take a passionate concern in such matters.
Buy Cheap The Control of Scenery Online
Related posts:
When reading this book for my intro to geology class, I establish it to have alot of inpertinent information. For example, in the section to control the lava flow in Iceland, it gave a lot of unnecessary information about the appearance of many of the men on the mission to control the flow of lava. I didn’t care to know what the men looked like; I was only interested in the methods they utilized to protect themselves. The information was unnecessary and dull. Also in the section of controlling the Mississippi, they assumed that the reader knew what a dam was or additional devices they used to control the water. Since I don’t live near any flood plains, it was hard to know how the devices worked because lack of clear description.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I was disappointed after reading this book. The leader uses 10,000 words to clarify things/man-made structures that could be better described by adding a simple illustration. The writing is not organized in sections/chapters. A lot of unnecessary information is added that renders the book dull and unfocused. It will take me a while to read another book by this leader…
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
My fav essay was about “the” River. Also, now when watching the evening news, the link between fire and flood makes alot of sense. Thanks for the enlightenment.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Once I saw mountains mad,
And ranged in battle-front.
Against them stood a small man;
Aye, he was no larger than my finger.
I laughed, and spoke to one near me,
“Will he prevail?”
“Surely,” answered this additional;
“His grandfathers beat them many times.”
Then did I see much virtue in grandfathers —
At least, for the small man
Who stood against the mountains.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
In Control of Scenery McPhee turns his attention to how modern engineers have dealt with the Mississippi, lava flows and LA area rock slides. The topics are compelling and the treatment is thorough.
The sole (minor) weakness is McPhee’s irritating trend to use a huge word where a small one will do just fine, make the obscure allusion, and use occasional similies that distract rather than illustrate. This problem is not seen in his more recent writing, so he either has seen the error of his ways or gotten a strong editor.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5