Rating: 
Summary: McPhee's best.
Review: John McPhee has a knack for translating complex subjects into approachable essays. The Control of Nature reveals his gift better than any other McPhee book (and I've treasured them all).McPhee's gift for revealing characters exceeds that of all but the best novelists, and he uses these people to tell his stories. Leaving aside the scope and sheer wonder of how humans have attempted to control huge rivers, battle geologic phenomena or attempt to do nothing less than fight entropy - the human intervention McPhee describes are equal parts brilliance and hubris - you'll marvel at this book as much for its storytelling brilliance and artful construction as for its subject matter. There are only three writers I ever wanted to meet. Two are dead (Mark Twain, Joseph Mitchell). Maybe I'll luck out some day and meet McPhee. I have no questions for him - I only want to say thanks.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting premise
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: An Engineering Thriller? You Bet!
Review: The Control of Nature is a collection of three long esssays about people trying to engineer their way around forces of nature. The first one about control of the Mississippi river to keep it in the current streambed, the second about anticipating volcanic activity in Iceland and the last one dealing with the literal moving of mountains as Los Angeles population pressure pushes people to bulid in the San Gaberial Mountains of California. McPhee, as always, tries to stay in the background and let the participants speak on the page, but there is no mistaking his memorably vivid descriptions of people or nature. His prose are first rate with an eye for compelling detail. The book itself is a quick, thrilling read that leaves the reader with a better understanding of unsung heroes and follies. My favorite McPhee. A warning about some of McPhee's other books: My eyes seem to always glaze over when I attempt one of his "rock talk" full length books on geology.
Rating:
Summary: A humorous look at 3 cases where man attempts to best nature
Review: The Control of Nature is an entertaining glimpse of three different attempts of man to control nature. It is fascinating reading for the lay reader and scientist alike. The first section of the book humorously looks at the Mississippi River and how man forever battles to confine and direct its flow. The second section focuses on Iceland, an area well known for its volcanic activity. John McPhee recreates the events that led to man's decision to try to control the flow of lava. In the final section John McPhee redirects our attention to the crumbling mountains of California. Here John McPhee details the stubbornness and foolishness of man. He defines the daily struggle of the people who want to live in an unstable environment
Rating: 
Summary: A bit unfocused, but fascinating all the same
Review: The message is the medium of The Control of Nature. In a series of three essays, each regarding a different geographical region, McPhee shows that in the war between man and nature it's a case of the humans on horseback facing a blitzkrieg of geological heavy artillery. What amazes McPhee, and thus what comes across to the reader, is the arrogant hubris of the people who feel that nature can be controlled. One essay is about the Mississippi river, and how it has been channeled by dikes and levees to stay on the course that it has been set on since the early part of this century, although anyone can see that it is in its nature to change course. Essay two is about the lava flows in Iceland, where the engineers used the cooling power of the sea to divert the flow from a township--at least for now. And, last, McPhee covers the shifting mountainsides of southern California--not the mud of the beach homes, but the Santa Gabriel mountains which are so geologically new that the rocks that they consist of are more akin to sand. In each essay, the humans have fought the battle to a draw, but the enemy is worse than any evil fantasy. Nature is unsleeping, its forces are legion, and each battle it suffers no losses. The expense, in both money and lives, of trying to withhold the inevitable seems to doom the humans to lose. But they do not give up. It's not that I do not like McPhee. On the contrary, I find his subjects fascinating, and his writing vivid. I just expected something more tight and focused.
Rating:
Summary: Three tremendous articles
Review: This is a marvelous book. It consists of three extended pieces originally published in the New Yorker. One piece describes the history of the attempts to keep the Mississippi from changing course and flowing into the Atchafalaya River north of New Orleans. This one is a classic. Also very good is a second piece describing the massive efforts that have been made to prevent debris flows from the mountains north of Los Angeles from wiping out the communities that nestle up against the base of the mountains. The third piece describes a ten year effort to prevent lava flows from a volcano in Iceland from blocking a harbor. McPhee has a unique gift for weaving together interviews with real people dealing with these complex situations and combining them with historical and technical narrative. Thoughtful and beautifully written. No one does this kind of piece better than McPhee
Rating:
Summary: My first John McPhee...and definitely won't be the last
Review: When I learned that John McPhee won a Pulitzer Prize for ANNALS OF THE FORMER WORLD, I blanched a bit at buying and reading that weighty tome. I wasn't sure about tackling it, no matter how highly recommended. Thus, I looked for a smaller volume of his to "test the waters" since I have never read anything written by him before. I chose, almost at random, this volume, and fell in love with the man's work. McPhee definitely has a talent for writing, both in describing the often unusual people he meets in the three locales depicted, and his intelligent and witty turns of phrase. This definitely won't be my last John McPhee book.
Rating: 
Summary: Controlling the Lava
Review: When reading this book for my intro to geology class, I found 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 boring. Also in the section of controlling the Mississippi, they assumed that the reader knew what a dam was or other devices they used to control the water. Since I don't live near any flood plains, it was hard to understand how the devices worked because lack of clear description.
Rating:
Summary: Controlling the Lava
Review: When reading this book for my intro to geology class, I found 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 boring. Also in the section of controlling the Mississippi, they assumed that the reader knew what a dam was or other devices they used to control the water. Since I don't live near any flood plains, it was hard to understand how the devices worked because lack of clear description.
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