The Control of Nature
by John McPhee
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Book Summary Information
Author: John McPheeEdition: Paperback
Published: 1990-09-01
ISBN: 0374522596
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Book Reviews of The Control of Nature
Book Review: Can Man Ever Really Control Nature?
Summary: 4 Stars
An intriguing book on man's efforts, as the title says, to control nature. The question is, can or will man succeed. The book leaves it open to conjecture, but does an excellent, though sometimes wordy job, of describing man's efforts...
The Mississippi River chapter badly needed a map to help the reader udnerstand perspective and location. Imagine New Orleans high and dry with what is now the Mighty Mississippi as a meara creed passing the French Quarter. hard to imagine, but possible, even probable...
The image of men using water hoses to cool and direct lava is, at first, unbelievable and incomprehensible, but it worked...and the chapter on California debris (not mud) slides is extremely enlightening....a good book to learn about nature and things you woudn't normally think about...
Recommended.
Summary of The Control of Nature
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 Nature he turns his attention once more to geology and the human struggle against nature. In one sketch, he explores the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' unrealized plan 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 destroyed 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 always, McPhee combines a deep knowledge of his subject 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.The Control of Nature is John McPhee's bestselling account of places where people are locked in combat with nature. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strageties and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking is his depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those attempting to wrest control from her - stubborn, sometimes foolhardy, more often ingenious, and always arresting characters.
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