John McPhee is well known for long lucid articles, many published in The New
Yorker. He is not strictly a science writer. But in The Second John McPhee
Reader (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27.50, ISBN 0 374 25686 1) he tackles
subjects such as plate tectonics with intense enjoyment and a vivid eye, lacing
information with humour and much racy, professional conversation with the
geologists concerned. Marvellous stuff.
More from 51¶¯Âþ
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending 51¶¯Âþ articles
1
Mathematicians stunned by AI's biggest breakthrough in mathematics yet
2
The Selfish Gene at 50: Why Dawkins’s evolution classic still holds up
3
How I used psychology to come back from the worst year of my life
4
Photos reveal unexpected details from the world's first atomic test
5
Wind-assisted cargo ships could more than halve shipping emissions
6
The distant world that is our best hope of finding alien life
7
Putting CO2 into rocks and getting hydrogen out is climate double win
8
The ‘doomsday’ glacier’s giant ice shelf is about to break away
9
We may finally know why dinosaurs like T. rex evolved tiny arms
10
Women’s better memories may delay Alzheimer’s diagnosis by years
