Dai O’Connel is a good teacher targeted for dismissal. Sent to document his failings is Solange Gonsalvas, an administrator relentless in pursuit of incompetence, who finds him not at all what she expected. Bewildered by their mutual attraction, she must choose between ruining an outstanding teacher's career and furthering her own, a career for which she's sacrificed everything. Views: 34
Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross-section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the style of the geologists he traveled with. The structural arrangement of the work never changed, but its breadth caused him to complete it in stages, under the overall title Annals of the Former World.In Basin and Range, McPhee traverses the Basin and Range province, from Utah to eastern California, accompanied by Kenneth S. Deffeyes, a professor of geology who has done extensive field work in Nevada. In Suspect Terrain follows McPhee from the outwash plains of Brooklyn to Indiana's drifted diamonds and gold, in the company of the United States Geological Survey's Anita Harris, a Brooklyn native. In Rising from the Plains, he rides across Wyoming with David Love, a field geologist with a family history on the frontier and an unsurpassed understanding of Western geology. Assembling California takes McPhee across the Sierra Nevada and the Great Central Valley to the wine country of the Coast Ranges, the rock of San Francisco, and the San Andreas family of faults, with tectonicist Eldridge Moores as guide. In Crossing the Craton, a new and final essay and the last link in the cross-country chain, he and Randy Van Schmus, a geochronologist, explore the midcontinent's Precambrian basement.Like the terrain it covers, Annals of the Former World tells a many-layered tale, and the reader may choose one of many paths through it, guided by twenty-five new maps and the "Narrative Table of Contents" (an essay outlining the history and structure of the project). Read sequentially, the book is an organic succession of set pieces, flashbacks, biographical sketches, and histories of the human and lithic kind; approached systematically, it can be a North American geology primer, an exploration of plate tectonics, or a study of geologic time and the development of the time scale. As clearly and succinctly written as it is profoundly informed, this is our finest popular survey of geology, and a masterpiece of modern nonfiction writing.John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with the New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. The same year he published his first book, A Sense of Where You Are, with FSG, and soon followed with The Headmaster (I 966), Oranges (1967), The Pine Barrens (1968), A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles (collection, 1969), The Crofter and the Laird (1969), Levels of the Game (1970), Encounters with the Archdruid (1972), The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (1973), The Curve of Binding Energy (1974), Pieces of the Frame (collection, 1975), and The Survival of the Bark Canoe (1975). Both Encounters with the Archdruid and The Curve of Binding Energy were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science.Since 1977, the year in which McPhee received the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and The John McPhee Reader and the bestselling Coming into the Country appeared in print, Farrar, Straus and Giroux has published Giving Good Weight (collection, 1979), Basin and Range (1981), In Suspect Terrain (1983), La Place de la Concorde Suisse (1984), Table of Contents (collection, 1985), Rising from the Plains (1986), Heirs of General Practice (in a paperback edition, 1986), The Control of Nature (1989), Looking for a Ship (1990), Assembling California (1993), The Ransom of Russian Art (1994), The Second John McPhee Reader (1996), and Irons in the Fire (1997). Annals of the Former World was published in 1998 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1999."[McPhee] 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." (Stephen Jay Gould, The New York Review of Books )"The finest non-technical overview of geology ever written. . .McPhee excels at crisp imagery and vivid, ace-scientist personalities to five a pulse to a body of data and strata." (Milo Miles, The Boston Sunday Globe)"No other work explains so well -- and so vividly -- to the layman the living principles of geology. . . More than anyone else, McPhee has turned the world on to rocks." (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun Times)"Sunlit, brilliant. . . this book of wonders. . . ranks with the JOURNALS OF LEWIS AND CLARK." (John Skow, Time Magazine)Walt Whitman declared, "The United States are essentially the greatest poem." As if in response, John McPhee has produced, over nearly a quarter of a century, a deep philology of the continent. Annals of the Former World is surely a classic. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was timeless (Village Voice)"This major book incorporates some of the author's best work on geology into a comprehensive tour de force. Those familiar with McPhee's writing on the subject of geology will know that his narrative includes not only scientific theory but also portraitures of his geologic guides ... McPhee's many fans won't be disappointed with the high-quality descriptive portraits of geologists, their work and theories. Since the writing follows McPhee's previous works and not any set geography or geologic logic, the author has provided what he calls a 'Narrative Table of Contents,' which not only describes each section in turn but the theories discussed in it. In this near flawless compilation of ambitious and expansive scope, McPhee's personalized style remains consistent and triumphant." (Publishers Weekly [starred review])"No one else can take topics as diverse and seemingly dry and make of them such diverting, entertaining, and educational literature ... This is the book on geology. (Library Journal [starred review]) Views: 34
Thomas Covenant knew that despite his failure on the Isle of The One Tree, he had to return to the Land and fight. After a long and arduous journey, fighting all the way, he readies himself for the final showdown with Lord Foul, the Despiser, and begins to understand things he had only just wondered about before…. Views: 34
The war between the Order of Eden and the few who fight for their freedom continues. Jacob and his comrades are within the Iron Head Nebula, a natural border between sectors where danger surrounds them as they do their best to assist stranded ships, fight the Order, and make connections with those who dwell in the gargantuan dust cloud.Meanwhile, Alice and many young Officer Candidates are challenged by the rigorous training provided by the new Triton Fleet Academy. Her mind, body and preconceptions will all be tested as she makes her attempt to complete the first curriculum so she can become a leader in the growing fleet. The fight awaits Alice and her fellow students but they have to prove themselves before they are allowed to join the battle.Everyone will be pushed to their limits as they confront some of the most incredible challenges and mysteries of their lives. Views: 34
The survivors of the war that made the Earth uninhabitable took shelter within towered cities. Sixty years later, their descendants have nearly completed the colony ships that will allow them to leave the ruined planet. A day before an election to choose who will lead the exodus, two workers are murdered. The killer must be caught. The ships must be launched. Above all, production must come first. Views: 34
For Adam Hardy and his small Berkshire community, hardship is all they've ever known. For almost a century after the coming of The Sisters, the survivors of rainswept England have huddled in their tiny communities, scavenging the ruins of the old world. Now, finally, the Long Autumn is coming to an end, and society of a kind is starting to rebuild.But for how long? A new tyrant, Frank Pendennis, has risen in the east, while rumours of something even worse are coming from the north.The struggle to inherit the world is just beginning... Views: 34
Can a moment of passion outlast years of secrets and misery?For Julia Patterson, meeting Luke Buchanan awakens within her a passion she's never dared dream possible. He claims her body and and helps her remember what it means to be a woman. But Fate has a twisted sense of humor. Just when Julia is ready to step over the threshold into a wonderful new life, her almost-ex-husband is diagnosed with a heart condition that puts her divorce on hold. Turning her back on Luke is the most difficult thing she's ever done. But Julia has a secret, one that Charles discovers and uses against her.Years later, when Luke walks back into Julia's life, the passion between them is just as explosive. But Charles is still controlling her from the grave, and the secret Julia has hidden for fourteen years could destroy their dreams forever81,768 Words Views: 34
