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Tabula Rasa: Volume 1
A literary legend’s engaging review of his career, stressing the work he never completed, and why.
Over seven decades, John McPhee has set a standard for literary nonfiction. Assaying mountain ranges, bark canoes, experimental aircraft, the Swiss Army, geophysical hot spots, ocean shipping, shad fishing, dissident art in the Soviet Union, and an even wider variety of other subjects, he has consistently written narrative pieces of immaculate design.
In Tabula Rasa, Volume 1 , McPhee looks back at his career from the vantage point of his desk drawer, reflecting wryly upon projects he once planned to do but never got around to―people to profile, regions he meant to portray. There are so many examples that he plans to go on writing these vignettes, an ideal project for an old man, he says, and a “reminiscent montage� from a writing life. This first volume includes, among other things, glimpses of a frosty encounter with Thornton Wilder, interrogative dinners with Henry Luce, the allure of western Spain, criteria in writing about science, fireworks over the East River as seen from Malcolm Forbes’s yacht, the evolving inclinations of the Tower of Pisa, the islands among the river deltas of central California, teaching in a pandemic, and persuading The New Yorker to publish an entire book on oranges. The result is a fresh survey of McPhee’s singular planet.
Over seven decades, John McPhee has set a standard for literary nonfiction. Assaying mountain ranges, bark canoes, experimental aircraft, the Swiss Army, geophysical hot spots, ocean shipping, shad fishing, dissident art in the Soviet Union, and an even wider variety of other subjects, he has consistently written narrative pieces of immaculate design.
In Tabula Rasa, Volume 1 , McPhee looks back at his career from the vantage point of his desk drawer, reflecting wryly upon projects he once planned to do but never got around to―people to profile, regions he meant to portray. There are so many examples that he plans to go on writing these vignettes, an ideal project for an old man, he says, and a “reminiscent montage� from a writing life. This first volume includes, among other things, glimpses of a frosty encounter with Thornton Wilder, interrogative dinners with Henry Luce, the allure of western Spain, criteria in writing about science, fireworks over the East River as seen from Malcolm Forbes’s yacht, the evolving inclinations of the Tower of Pisa, the islands among the river deltas of central California, teaching in a pandemic, and persuading The New Yorker to publish an entire book on oranges. The result is a fresh survey of McPhee’s singular planet.
192 pages, Hardcover
Published July 11, 2023
132 people are currently reading
1,298 people want to read
About the author
John McPhee
122books1,783followersJohn Angus McPhee is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth occasion in 1999 for Annals of the Former World (a collection of five books, including two of his previous Pulitzer finalists). In 2008, he received the George Polk Career Award for his "indelible mark on American journalism during his nearly half-century career". Since 1974, McPhee has been the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
July 17, 2024
McPhee's prose is, as always, a joy to read here. Like most of his books (even those that are nominally dedicated to a single subject), this is a collection of essays, unrelated on the surface but bound together by the twine of the author's interests. We read a lot here about basketball, about fly fishing, about Scotland and about Princeton, New Jersey and the large number of friends he made there. About canoeing in the wilderness, and the pleasures of rivers in general.
The three stars may raise eyebrows, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I always enjoy reading him. It just means it didn't break any new ground for this author and I enjoyed it pretty much exactly as much as I expected to. This doesn't really compare to the five-star books he wrote about geology or Alaska or the merchant marine.
But here's a fun section, quoted at length, about the environmental writer Edward Abbey:
Also, we are all aware that drugs have unusual names, like 'Xanax' and 'Fentanyl,' but most of us have probably never thought about who comes up with these names. They are highly trained, and McPhee notes that the names 'never begin with h, j, k, w, or y, because those letters don't exist in some languages'. Which is interesting, but the existence of Keytruda makes me question how current his information is.
I'm happy to have checked this out of the library and read it, but it's unlikely to end up on my McPhee shelf of physical books.
The three stars may raise eyebrows, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I always enjoy reading him. It just means it didn't break any new ground for this author and I enjoyed it pretty much exactly as much as I expected to. This doesn't really compare to the five-star books he wrote about geology or Alaska or the merchant marine.
But here's a fun section, quoted at length, about the environmental writer Edward Abbey:
[During a guest lecture at Princeton] Most of the questions asked by the crowd in Stevenson Hall of course had to do with Desert Solitaire, including one from a woman who appeared to be at least Abbey's age, which was forty-five. She brought up an "experiment" he describes in the book when he "volunteered" a passing rabbit as the experimentee. He picked up a rock, fired it at the rabbit, and brained it on the spot. The woman in Princeton said to him, "How could you do that? How could you be so cruel? How could you..." and so forth. She really lit into him. Sitting back in the upholstered armchair with his legs at full stretch, one boot across the other, there was a long silence. Abbey silent, everyone in the room silent. And more silence. Finally, Abbey said, "I won't do it again." Muted laughter rippled here and there. And again Abbey fell silent, for an even longer time, and then he said, "Not to that rabbit."
Also, we are all aware that drugs have unusual names, like 'Xanax' and 'Fentanyl,' but most of us have probably never thought about who comes up with these names. They are highly trained, and McPhee notes that the names 'never begin with h, j, k, w, or y, because those letters don't exist in some languages'. Which is interesting, but the existence of Keytruda makes me question how current his information is.
I'm happy to have checked this out of the library and read it, but it's unlikely to end up on my McPhee shelf of physical books.
July 12, 2023
This is a collection of essays by John McPhee who, despite his apparent stature, I have never heard of.
However there are some really interesting pieces in this volume and there's a fair bit of name dropping that goes on but then what do you expect from a distinguished Rhodes scholar man from Princeton.
I was fascinated by some of the articles, especially the one about Princeton University's Advanced Study Department or the story about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are several pieces about architecture and some about sports so I can only gather that John McPhee had a wide range of interests and specialisms. He certainly writes in a very engaging manner. Some of it reminded me of Joan Didion's White Album.
Recommended for fans of McPhee or just those (like me) who enjoy an interesting mix of essays.
However there are some really interesting pieces in this volume and there's a fair bit of name dropping that goes on but then what do you expect from a distinguished Rhodes scholar man from Princeton.
I was fascinated by some of the articles, especially the one about Princeton University's Advanced Study Department or the story about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are several pieces about architecture and some about sports so I can only gather that John McPhee had a wide range of interests and specialisms. He certainly writes in a very engaging manner. Some of it reminded me of Joan Didion's White Album.
Recommended for fans of McPhee or just those (like me) who enjoy an interesting mix of essays.
May 20, 2024
I received an audio recording of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:
Tabula Rasa means “clean slate". McPhee tells the reader that this project is a slate clearing. In it he looks through old files and thinks about the stories that didn’t get all the way written. He says this is an “old man’s project�, one he describes as one that has no end or an end so far away that it instills in the back of one’s mind the belief/hope that one will continue to live in order to complete it. It gives a purpose to each new day.
“To Keep writing is to keep living.� He said in a recent interview. McPhee is currently 92 and still writing lots.
I graduated from NYU Journalism school at a time before computers, when we were herded into a back room that might have been used by a secretarial school, with rows and rows of typewriters. It will age us both, McPhee and me to admit in those days (the early 1980's) John McPhee was considered the gold standard for writing narrative non-fiction. His pieces were often held up as a writer or type of writing we should try to emulate, in bringing a story to print. These are the type Journalistic pieces that are meant to teach as well as entertain. McPhee still writes for the New Yorker and also writes books of essays on a variety of subjects that are best described as Creative Non-fiction. He now primarily teaches students in this special art.
McPhee has written lots and lots of books that are labeled as Narrative Non-fiction, discussing a subject as if telling a story. This latest is a compilation of stories that might have been written for various publications through his writing career or pieces for books that he did write and these bits just didn’t fit or grow into anything.
He calls these, scenes in need of stories and that’s exactly what they are. They are small bites of what might have made an interesting meal or really had so little substance or flavors to chew on and were better left aside. I listened to the audio and like a short story collection there were pieces I loved and several I had little interest in. McPhee often wrote books about landscape and geography and there are several pieces that fit into that genre of his writing. Yet, I found the ones I liked best were of a more personal nature, describing his growing up in and around Princeton University. McPhee's father was a doctor for some of the sports teams there. McPhee attended Princeton high school and is a graduated from the university. He now teaches writing there. Descriptions of this runs through many of the unfinished pieces and there are several that are in a more polished present-day form. They are the best in the collection for sure. In particular one discussing teaching classes remotely during covid was excellent.
A great collection especially in audio, read by Grove Gardner. I felt the narration was well done, so easy to listen to and with the occasional really great pieces spread throughout I found this book of essays quite thought provoking and it made me want to go back and enjoy some of McPhee’s other works.
Tabula Rasa means “clean slate". McPhee tells the reader that this project is a slate clearing. In it he looks through old files and thinks about the stories that didn’t get all the way written. He says this is an “old man’s project�, one he describes as one that has no end or an end so far away that it instills in the back of one’s mind the belief/hope that one will continue to live in order to complete it. It gives a purpose to each new day.
“To Keep writing is to keep living.� He said in a recent interview. McPhee is currently 92 and still writing lots.
I graduated from NYU Journalism school at a time before computers, when we were herded into a back room that might have been used by a secretarial school, with rows and rows of typewriters. It will age us both, McPhee and me to admit in those days (the early 1980's) John McPhee was considered the gold standard for writing narrative non-fiction. His pieces were often held up as a writer or type of writing we should try to emulate, in bringing a story to print. These are the type Journalistic pieces that are meant to teach as well as entertain. McPhee still writes for the New Yorker and also writes books of essays on a variety of subjects that are best described as Creative Non-fiction. He now primarily teaches students in this special art.
McPhee has written lots and lots of books that are labeled as Narrative Non-fiction, discussing a subject as if telling a story. This latest is a compilation of stories that might have been written for various publications through his writing career or pieces for books that he did write and these bits just didn’t fit or grow into anything.
He calls these, scenes in need of stories and that’s exactly what they are. They are small bites of what might have made an interesting meal or really had so little substance or flavors to chew on and were better left aside. I listened to the audio and like a short story collection there were pieces I loved and several I had little interest in. McPhee often wrote books about landscape and geography and there are several pieces that fit into that genre of his writing. Yet, I found the ones I liked best were of a more personal nature, describing his growing up in and around Princeton University. McPhee's father was a doctor for some of the sports teams there. McPhee attended Princeton high school and is a graduated from the university. He now teaches writing there. Descriptions of this runs through many of the unfinished pieces and there are several that are in a more polished present-day form. They are the best in the collection for sure. In particular one discussing teaching classes remotely during covid was excellent.
A great collection especially in audio, read by Grove Gardner. I felt the narration was well done, so easy to listen to and with the occasional really great pieces spread throughout I found this book of essays quite thought provoking and it made me want to go back and enjoy some of McPhee’s other works.
December 12, 2023
Any new McPhee book is an automatic TBR for me. Here's LitHub's recommendation:
"John McPhee, often heralded as one of our greatest of nonfiction chroniclers (for good reason), has written about what seems like every imaginable topic, from oranges to Alaskan fur trappers to Wimbledon’s legendary Center Court� But what about all the pieces McPhee didn’t write? Serving as something of answer to that question, Tabula Rasa is a charming compendium of McPhee stories in various states of incompletion, the beginnings and sketches of scores of profiles and wanderings that never quite made it to print. Necessary reading for lovers of serious nonfiction."
John McPhee is now 92, and was looking for a project to keep himself going. This is the result, and it's (mostly) worthwhile. He whined to a friend that publishing this kind of defeated the purpose. The friend advised "Just call it Volume 1." Voila!
So. Not all of these are prime McPhee. But enough are that I had fun with the book, even after seeing some of these in the magazine. The best stuff is towards the front, sensibly enough. And of course I liked some more than others. Overall the collection rates a weak 4 stars from me. But, hey, how much more stuff are we going to get from the Old Master? Required reading for McPhee's many fans. Let's hope for Volume 2!
I read an ebook copy from our public library. It's a short enough book that the clunky formatting didn't get annoying.
Besides the book, these essays were also published in the New Yorker. Links for subscribers:
Actually, by recollection, NYer gives non-subscribers a certain number of free reads. So worth a try. I'd start with vol. 2, which is all top-notch stuff. Captain Washburn, the "Looking for a Ship" guy! Which itself is a 5-star book, and you should read (or re-read) it. The S.S. Stella Lykes, at work on the west coast of South America. Wonderful stuff. One of his very best books!
"John McPhee, often heralded as one of our greatest of nonfiction chroniclers (for good reason), has written about what seems like every imaginable topic, from oranges to Alaskan fur trappers to Wimbledon’s legendary Center Court� But what about all the pieces McPhee didn’t write? Serving as something of answer to that question, Tabula Rasa is a charming compendium of McPhee stories in various states of incompletion, the beginnings and sketches of scores of profiles and wanderings that never quite made it to print. Necessary reading for lovers of serious nonfiction."
John McPhee is now 92, and was looking for a project to keep himself going. This is the result, and it's (mostly) worthwhile. He whined to a friend that publishing this kind of defeated the purpose. The friend advised "Just call it Volume 1." Voila!
So. Not all of these are prime McPhee. But enough are that I had fun with the book, even after seeing some of these in the magazine. The best stuff is towards the front, sensibly enough. And of course I liked some more than others. Overall the collection rates a weak 4 stars from me. But, hey, how much more stuff are we going to get from the Old Master? Required reading for McPhee's many fans. Let's hope for Volume 2!
I read an ebook copy from our public library. It's a short enough book that the clunky formatting didn't get annoying.
Besides the book, these essays were also published in the New Yorker. Links for subscribers:
Actually, by recollection, NYer gives non-subscribers a certain number of free reads. So worth a try. I'd start with vol. 2, which is all top-notch stuff. Captain Washburn, the "Looking for a Ship" guy! Which itself is a 5-star book, and you should read (or re-read) it. The S.S. Stella Lykes, at work on the west coast of South America. Wonderful stuff. One of his very best books!
November 27, 2024
An interesting mix of essays that I stumbled upon while browsing for an available audiobook on Libby. I like short pieces for listening and most of these were interesting. No themes really other than subjects from the author’s files that he had considered writing about but never gotten around to. I wasn’t familiar with the author but he has quite the list of published books on a multitude of topics, was a staff writer for Time and the New Yorker for decades and a professor of journalism/creative non fiction at Princeton University.
Favorite essay for me was about the leaning tower of Pisa. I liked his style; will look for more of his books. Quite the interesting and energetic life he has led, this book published sometime around his 90th birthday.
Favorite essay for me was about the leaning tower of Pisa. I liked his style; will look for more of his books. Quite the interesting and energetic life he has led, this book published sometime around his 90th birthday.
December 2, 2024
The amazing and ubiquitous John McPhee has been a mainstay in my reading for forty years. He has been a staff writer at the New Yorker for over sixty years, the author of 30+ books, and a winner and four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. He stands head and shoulders with and above the giants of this genre. For me, his books Encounters with the Archdruid, Coming Into the Country, and The Control of Nature rank among his finest.
Tabula Rasa, written and compiled in his 93rd year, is a collection of stories and essays highlighting his style, essence, and ability to write nonfiction as melody.
Read more John McPhee.
Tabula Rasa, written and compiled in his 93rd year, is a collection of stories and essays highlighting his style, essence, and ability to write nonfiction as melody.
Read more John McPhee.
April 10, 2023
Tabula Rasa by John McPhee is a brilliant narration based on a journey through the author’s life experiences. Projects that he meant to do. Meeting and interacting with different people, working with them. Places he visited in his lifetime. His days of learning, of travels and of professional life.
The reader feels like reading a mash-up or going through a roller coaster of the life of the author. The book is a compilation of John McPhee’s memories. Most of the stories revolve around Princeton, New Jersey which happens to be the author’s hometown.
Serving as a writer at Times, The Weekly News magazine, the reader enjoys the meeting between the author and Thornton Wilder in Thornton Wilder at the Century. It amuses how smoothly the story flows with a great amount of knowledge and experience.
The narration is easy to understand. It feels like the book is opening up to stories, with John deeply immersed in his thoughts while narrating them. The sense of place is very much present in the whole book.
In The Bridges of Christian Menn, there is a detailed description of bridges, the picturesque, the people the author mentions interacting with, the building of the footbridge and the vast amount of knowledge and experience that drops with every word of the author himself.
The stories continue getting interesting as one reads with a flow. Each story contains McPhee’s experience, knowledge and learning through his life experiences. The stories are beautifully crafted emerging from the author’s childhood days to when he was young to the present time.
The fascinating details in Extremadura involve a deep sense of place in the story.
The emotions of students and the author himself were beautifully portrayed in Zoom Laude when Covid-19 hit the world, striking the reader with thoughtfulness.
In Writing about Science, the genuine description of the know-how of science itself, and how to put it in writing, is well narrated and leads to an interesting story of the author’s life. Each story holds a significance, and that is very much understood by the reader as one goes deep through the book.
Walking the Province Line, Joseph Henry House, North East Rising Sun, Dams 2020, Breaking Away, Bourbon and Bing Cherries and Beantown and many other stories leave the reader in absolute wonderment at McPhee’s excellent skills in narration.
Tabula Rasa is a wonderful opening up of tales compiled beautifully and narrated amazingly through the author’s pen. It seems that John McPhee has put his heart and soul to bring to the reader some of the very personal experiences of his life. For that, I really honour him. This book is highly recommended to the audience interested in memoirs, biographies and even travelogues. Very well narrated. Enjoyed reading it.
The reader feels like reading a mash-up or going through a roller coaster of the life of the author. The book is a compilation of John McPhee’s memories. Most of the stories revolve around Princeton, New Jersey which happens to be the author’s hometown.
Serving as a writer at Times, The Weekly News magazine, the reader enjoys the meeting between the author and Thornton Wilder in Thornton Wilder at the Century. It amuses how smoothly the story flows with a great amount of knowledge and experience.
The narration is easy to understand. It feels like the book is opening up to stories, with John deeply immersed in his thoughts while narrating them. The sense of place is very much present in the whole book.
In The Bridges of Christian Menn, there is a detailed description of bridges, the picturesque, the people the author mentions interacting with, the building of the footbridge and the vast amount of knowledge and experience that drops with every word of the author himself.
The stories continue getting interesting as one reads with a flow. Each story contains McPhee’s experience, knowledge and learning through his life experiences. The stories are beautifully crafted emerging from the author’s childhood days to when he was young to the present time.
The fascinating details in Extremadura involve a deep sense of place in the story.
The emotions of students and the author himself were beautifully portrayed in Zoom Laude when Covid-19 hit the world, striking the reader with thoughtfulness.
In Writing about Science, the genuine description of the know-how of science itself, and how to put it in writing, is well narrated and leads to an interesting story of the author’s life. Each story holds a significance, and that is very much understood by the reader as one goes deep through the book.
Walking the Province Line, Joseph Henry House, North East Rising Sun, Dams 2020, Breaking Away, Bourbon and Bing Cherries and Beantown and many other stories leave the reader in absolute wonderment at McPhee’s excellent skills in narration.
Tabula Rasa is a wonderful opening up of tales compiled beautifully and narrated amazingly through the author’s pen. It seems that John McPhee has put his heart and soul to bring to the reader some of the very personal experiences of his life. For that, I really honour him. This book is highly recommended to the audience interested in memoirs, biographies and even travelogues. Very well narrated. Enjoyed reading it.
December 28, 2024
The beauty and elegance of John McPhee’s writing is awe inspiring. Tabula Rasa is a collection of projects and unfinished works from his long career. A writer’s memoir of sorts. His inquisitive mind is on full display. I imagined myself spending a leisurely afternoon with him sharing stories from his long and interesting career as a writer and seeker of knowledge. I savored every word.
November 13, 2023
I think Mr McPhee is my favorite non-fiction writer of all, and is a blessing he is still with us. This book does seem to be him wrapping up loose ends a bit, consisting as it does of charming bits and pieces ; and I figure for most people, minor McPhee may be only four stars. Still I am five-star happy to have read it
March 22, 2023
At the beginning of his “Tabula Rasa,� John McPhee recalls when he was invited to lunch with the famous playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder. Asked what he was working on, Wilder replied that he was cataloging plays of Lope de Vega. About four hundred and thirty-one plays by Lope de Vega survived, and Thornton Wilder was sixty-six. It could take years to complete this project. Asked by the about thirty-years old McPhee why anyone would want to do that, Wilder angrily replied, “Young man, do not ever question the purpose of scholarship.�
These words beautifully reflect humans� drive to learn and write - the passion which does not diminish with age. When writing “Tabula rasa,� John McPhee was eighty-eight and said he understood then that the cataloging of Lope de Vega plays was serving to extend Wilder’s life.
“Tabula rasa� is a collection of short chapters which describe many writing projects that John McPhee overtook as a writer for “New Yorker� and “Time,� as well as his independent projects. There are stories about dams in America and their impact on the environment, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the bridges of Christian Menn, a Swiss structural engineer. All the stories in “Tabula Rasa� are beautifully written in the style of the best The New Yorker articles of creative non-fiction. I could never guess that some subjects Mr. McPhee covers would so much spark my interest.
This book also brought up some memories of when I lived in Princeton, New Jersey, where the author was born, and educated, the town very close to his heart. I believe he’s still teaching at Princeton University. I remember the beautiful campus, the rose garden, the main street of Princeton, and the feeling of walking the streets where Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr walked. And Princeton is by no means a museum of past glories� it’s very lively, with the youthful energy of students (their men’s basketball team just advanced to the Sweet 16.)
I hope I will not have to wait long for John McPhee’s volume 2 of “Tabula Rasa.� Reading the thoughtful, intelligent, and informative first volume was a rare treat.
These words beautifully reflect humans� drive to learn and write - the passion which does not diminish with age. When writing “Tabula rasa,� John McPhee was eighty-eight and said he understood then that the cataloging of Lope de Vega plays was serving to extend Wilder’s life.
“Tabula rasa� is a collection of short chapters which describe many writing projects that John McPhee overtook as a writer for “New Yorker� and “Time,� as well as his independent projects. There are stories about dams in America and their impact on the environment, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the bridges of Christian Menn, a Swiss structural engineer. All the stories in “Tabula Rasa� are beautifully written in the style of the best The New Yorker articles of creative non-fiction. I could never guess that some subjects Mr. McPhee covers would so much spark my interest.
This book also brought up some memories of when I lived in Princeton, New Jersey, where the author was born, and educated, the town very close to his heart. I believe he’s still teaching at Princeton University. I remember the beautiful campus, the rose garden, the main street of Princeton, and the feeling of walking the streets where Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr walked. And Princeton is by no means a museum of past glories� it’s very lively, with the youthful energy of students (their men’s basketball team just advanced to the Sweet 16.)
I hope I will not have to wait long for John McPhee’s volume 2 of “Tabula Rasa.� Reading the thoughtful, intelligent, and informative first volume was a rare treat.
December 9, 2023
For me this started poorly and stayed there. He may have written this in hopes of prolonging life but it was at the expense of this reader’s.
October 3, 2023
John McPhee undertook this book of essays as an "old-man project." As an author, McPhee recognizes he may be running shorter on time: a book project may not reach its conclusion. However, essays have limitless potential. Mark Twain was the inspiration, who dictated his autobiography in bits and pieces towards the end of his life.
McPhee's premise has a touch of meta about it: in TABULA RASA, each essay is a topic he meant to write on, but didn't. So here we get glimpses of writing projects of various lengths, snippets of what could have been. We have this retrospective that touches on his huge range of interests, and it's aptly called Volume One, to allow for future installments.
It was a pleasurable read, and I'm drawn to books of essays (as well as poetry and short stories) when my schedule is especially demanding, as it allows me to get closure even if the only time I have to read is a handful of minutes as I wait at school pickup.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)
McPhee's premise has a touch of meta about it: in TABULA RASA, each essay is a topic he meant to write on, but didn't. So here we get glimpses of writing projects of various lengths, snippets of what could have been. We have this retrospective that touches on his huge range of interests, and it's aptly called Volume One, to allow for future installments.
It was a pleasurable read, and I'm drawn to books of essays (as well as poetry and short stories) when my schedule is especially demanding, as it allows me to get closure even if the only time I have to read is a handful of minutes as I wait at school pickup.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)
December 15, 2024
A very uneven collection, but it is still John McPhee who can make almost anything interesting. This book was published when McPhee was 92! The work is primarily short essays discussing the various projects he considered or started but did not finish In one essay, he discussed this as an "old person" project to keep intellectually active. A lot of biographical material and material about Princeton. Even some discussion about Bill Bradley (his profile got McPhee his staff writer position at the New Yorker). Like any collection, some of the works are 4-5 star, while others are 2 star (primarily McPhee's attempts at humor). I could never give McPhee 1 star for anything.
Read
September 21, 2024A bunch of short pieces on writing projects that McPhee never fully fleshed out throughout his career, and some other stuff. At the time I read this, I had only read one of his books (Oranges) so this may have hit better with me if I were more of McPheeite(?), but even if this is middling in his catalog, it's still a great collection of short nonfiction. Especially liked him talking about his students' writing projects & the leaning tower of Pisa.
July 28, 2023
Worth the read if only for the pieces that have been excerpted in the New Yorker over the years. Especially the story about his middle school friends who drowned on an excursion he was meant to join. McPhee is a master and this is a necessary addition to McPheeCanon.
September 9, 2023
Thoroughly enjoyable. This book reads like you're sitting down with a favorite professor or brilliant uncle who has endless great stories...and knows how to tell them. John McPhee has had a fascinating life and finds fascination in life. No chapter (story) is longer than 3-4 pages, some much shorter. All, I think, are about books or articles he thought about writing but did not in his long career as a Pulitzer prize winning author and professor. I loved his sense of humour and wonder and I even learned a thing it two. Eager for volume two (and what that means).
January 1, 2024
Boring. Even more boring since most of the stories take place in Princeton, New Jersey. I thought I would like the concept of the unfinished and unpublished projects McPhee started but they truly feel unfinished, unpolished, and unthoughtful. I’ll give him 2 stars instead of because he’s old and maybe his published stuff is better
April 5, 2024
Gravely overestimates how interesting Princeton University is to the average reader.
June 30, 2024
Lovely book about all the subjects John McPhee never got around to writing about. He is a genius for making it into a full book. I see it is Vol. 1. Let's hope for Vol. 2 soon.
October 1, 2024
3.75 stars
McPhee has the most curious mind of any writer I’ve ever read, and a wit that sometimes takes you completely by surprise. Gets into the weeds with some subjects, but a number of these little vignettes were fascinating.
McPhee has the most curious mind of any writer I’ve ever read, and a wit that sometimes takes you completely by surprise. Gets into the weeds with some subjects, but a number of these little vignettes were fascinating.
January 7, 2025
Astonishing as usual, even if it is just him going through his unused drafts folder. McPhee has had an incredible and enviable life. I'd love to read a memoir, even if parts of this are probably the closest we'll get.
August 3, 2024
What this collection indicates is McPhee can make interesting even the most common place thing - an interaction, a building, a road - with sheer skill. It has to be craft, because attention to the subject is not enough. I have read plenty of one kind, but not the other. Makes me want to read more McPhee. Makes me want to write, even.
A longer version is available .
A longer version is available .
November 4, 2023
The author is a master story teller, though one chapter was extremely annoying to listen to as an audio book.
Read
May 22, 2023This collection of notes and half-formed pieces would be completely unappealing were it not John McPhee’s work.
Such a fun book. Many of the episodes are very short. Great book to read instead of scrolling.
Such a fun book. Many of the episodes are very short. Great book to read instead of scrolling.
Read
February 23, 2023McPhee turns his accumulated notes of stories not written into beautiful, inspirational, thought-provoking vignettes, each one of which I’d like to read more.
July 15, 2023
This is a memoir in fragments, 50 sections here, nearly each dedicated to a piece that McPhee didn't write, a gesture of capability and potential energy. Is there a writer that better captures the open, inquisitive spirit of conscious discovery than McPhee? , perhaps? If you've caught McPhee's pieces in the magazine in the last few years, you've seen the concept at work (, , ).
Early in Tabula Rasa, McPhee shares a story of joining his editor at Time for a lunch with Thorton Wilder (his editor casually swung by, telling John, "you need a little glamor in your life"). Wilder was 66, Our Town was legendary at this point, and McPhee an admiring lunch companion. During their lunch, Wilder shared his current project: cataloguing the some 431 plays of Lope de Vega. McPhee inquired, too bluntly, as to why anyone would want to do that (mindful of what it would entail, given Wilder's advanced age). Wilder provided a curt retort: "Young man, do not ever question the purpose of scholarship." McPhee continues:
So, the pitch is that this memoir project is meant to grant a bit of Promethean fire into his 90s. He's being somewhat arch, in presenting this as work for work's sake, because Tabula Rasa is a cohesive and sharp book with a lovely emergent quality (somewhat similar to Janet Malcolm's late ).
The little bulletins of the book are based on innocuous experience: a curious road sign was enough impetus to chase down a story idea. But he had a catch-and-release spirit, which is why he has so much to share here. Many of the pieces are about Princeton, where he grew up, went to college, and then settled. He shares some stories of working for The New Yorker. McPhee dreamed of writing for the magazine in high school and piled up rejection letters until he broke through in his 30s (this story is covered in "The Dutch Ship Tyger"). He balanced his journalism with teaching at Princeton, taking the course on an emergency basis in 1975, and seeing the journalism program develop around him. His most recent course (I'm pretty sure) was in Spring 2020 so the experience is catalogued here, yes, as "Zoom Laude."
McPhee's writing career started with geology (plate tectonics was an emergent field in his 20s) and has run the gamut of creative nonfiction: Bill Bradley, river management, oranges, the merchant marine. I know his work, mostly, from a friend's recommendations (he alerted me, before I had any sense, how good can be) and varied pieces throughout anthologies. The seriality (Volume 1) offers the possibility of continuity, that this is a project that won't end, but McPhee is aware that Tabula Rasa appears to be a bookend to his career. Soon, I think, I'll need to make the trip to Princeton to see the places that he writes about here, down to designed by a famous Swiss civil engineer. That's the pleasure in reading someone like McPhee: you see, again, what it's like to be devoted to serious noticing.
Early in Tabula Rasa, McPhee shares a story of joining his editor at Time for a lunch with Thorton Wilder (his editor casually swung by, telling John, "you need a little glamor in your life"). Wilder was 66, Our Town was legendary at this point, and McPhee an admiring lunch companion. During their lunch, Wilder shared his current project: cataloguing the some 431 plays of Lope de Vega. McPhee inquired, too bluntly, as to why anyone would want to do that (mindful of what it would entail, given Wilder's advanced age). Wilder provided a curt retort: "Young man, do not ever question the purpose of scholarship." McPhee continues:
I went catatonic for the duration. To the end, Wilder remained cold. My blunder was as naïve as it was irreparable. Nonetheless, at that time in my life I thought the question deserved an answer. And I couldn’t imagine what it might be.
I can now. I am eighty-eight years old at this writing, and I know that those four hundred and thirty-one plays were serving to extend Thornton Wilder’s life. Reading them and cataloguing them was something to do, and do, and do. It beat dying. It was a project meant not to end.
I could use one of my own. And why not? With the same ulterior motive, I could undertake to describe in capsule form the many writing projects that I have conceived and seriously planned across the years but have never written.
So, the pitch is that this memoir project is meant to grant a bit of Promethean fire into his 90s. He's being somewhat arch, in presenting this as work for work's sake, because Tabula Rasa is a cohesive and sharp book with a lovely emergent quality (somewhat similar to Janet Malcolm's late ).
The little bulletins of the book are based on innocuous experience: a curious road sign was enough impetus to chase down a story idea. But he had a catch-and-release spirit, which is why he has so much to share here. Many of the pieces are about Princeton, where he grew up, went to college, and then settled. He shares some stories of working for The New Yorker. McPhee dreamed of writing for the magazine in high school and piled up rejection letters until he broke through in his 30s (this story is covered in "The Dutch Ship Tyger"). He balanced his journalism with teaching at Princeton, taking the course on an emergency basis in 1975, and seeing the journalism program develop around him. His most recent course (I'm pretty sure) was in Spring 2020 so the experience is catalogued here, yes, as "Zoom Laude."
McPhee's writing career started with geology (plate tectonics was an emergent field in his 20s) and has run the gamut of creative nonfiction: Bill Bradley, river management, oranges, the merchant marine. I know his work, mostly, from a friend's recommendations (he alerted me, before I had any sense, how good can be) and varied pieces throughout anthologies. The seriality (Volume 1) offers the possibility of continuity, that this is a project that won't end, but McPhee is aware that Tabula Rasa appears to be a bookend to his career. Soon, I think, I'll need to make the trip to Princeton to see the places that he writes about here, down to designed by a famous Swiss civil engineer. That's the pleasure in reading someone like McPhee: you see, again, what it's like to be devoted to serious noticing.
July 16, 2023
John McPhee turned 92 last March. He also finished penning his 32nd book soon after. A prolific writer of nonfiction, his indefatigable optimism towards his craft, and life in general, is given full expression by the fact that Tabula Rasa is titled Volume 1. McPhee calls this work an ‘old-people projects.� The imaginative logic behind such a venture being, “old people projects keep old people old. You’re no longer old when you are dead.� As ardent readers of his works, we fervently and faithfully wish that McPhee continues to age as imperceptibly as Gandalf so that we can have the pleasure of basking in his reflected glory that is a splendid assemblage of words!
Tabula Rasa is an agglomeration of the unfinished. A paean to projects dumped halfway, stories that did not see the light of the day, and ideas that fermented robustly only to meekly fizzle out. The book is also a delectable mishmash of fuzzy memories and frazzled encounters. McPhee swears that he once met Ernest Hemingway across a table when on a Spanish jaunt. He also manages to incur the wrath of Thornton Wilder over lunch by possessing the temerity to question the prudence of a cataloguing project that would extend over a decade.
Bemoaning the deluge of ‘time-outs� in a game of basketball (one of his favourite sports), to satiate the insatiable demands of capitalistic sponsors, he writes, “time-outs in superabundance violate the spirit of the game, they turn coaches into puppeteers and players into puppets.� McPhee also randomly muses about the time spent in the company of some of the most rambunctious and egregious conservationists railing against the construction of ecologically unfriendly dams.
The randomness attached to the events reflected in the pages of Tabula Rasa pay tribute to the vicissitudes, rigours, and the unpredictability of life. In recounting one particularly tragic episode, McPhee muses over a couple of his friends who urged him to accompany them on a Sunday skating mission. But McPhee’s mother insisted that he honour a commitment given to the Church. As fate would have it, both his friends (12-year-olds), perished in a calamitous manner when a sheet of ice gave way. When their small bodies were recovered the next day both the kids had their arms spread out in front.
Many of the 50 short chapters are peppered and laced with an inimitable sense of humour. When World War II broke out, McPhee along with some other young boys and older women were trained to spot enemy aircraft in preparation for exigencies. Slides containing names and descriptions of aircrafts were shown to the potential ‘spotters.� Describing the plight of some of the women, McPhee writes, “�. Mrs. Hall, Mrs.Hambling, they didn’t know a Focke-Wulf 200 from a white throated sparrow.�
When pandemic forced McPhee to conduct his Princeton course (yes, he still teaches) via Zoom, he recounts some of the projects his students engaged in. One Ian McInnis of Virginia immersed himself in a book recommended by his girlfriend. The book bearing the interminably long and challenging title, The Art of Bundling: Being an Inquiry into the Nature & Origins of That Curious but Universal Folk-Custom, With an Exposition of the Rise & Fall of Bundling in the Eastern Part of North America, dealt with couples courting when fully dressed. In the words of McPhee, “it made a lot of sense if a country boy walked a distance from his farm to spend the evening with his girl, and thanks to bundling, did not have to walk home, often in snow, late at night. Shoes off, clothes intact, further, and separately wrapped in sheets, he and she spent the night in bed, sometimes in her parent’s bedroom.�
McPhee also introduces a plethora of new words, while not sounding pretentious at all in the process. Sample these: fricatives, uncatadromous, ophiolitic, prestidigitational, querencia, pallesthesia, schistose…�. These worlds might mean things delectable for a copy of one of the books penned by McPhee, Coming into the Country ended up being chewed to bits by a grizzly! Thankfully the trapper to whom the inscribed book was gifted to by McPhee was not part of that day’s menu!
Tabula Rasa: Volume 2 � Bring it on!
Tabula Rasa is an agglomeration of the unfinished. A paean to projects dumped halfway, stories that did not see the light of the day, and ideas that fermented robustly only to meekly fizzle out. The book is also a delectable mishmash of fuzzy memories and frazzled encounters. McPhee swears that he once met Ernest Hemingway across a table when on a Spanish jaunt. He also manages to incur the wrath of Thornton Wilder over lunch by possessing the temerity to question the prudence of a cataloguing project that would extend over a decade.
Bemoaning the deluge of ‘time-outs� in a game of basketball (one of his favourite sports), to satiate the insatiable demands of capitalistic sponsors, he writes, “time-outs in superabundance violate the spirit of the game, they turn coaches into puppeteers and players into puppets.� McPhee also randomly muses about the time spent in the company of some of the most rambunctious and egregious conservationists railing against the construction of ecologically unfriendly dams.
The randomness attached to the events reflected in the pages of Tabula Rasa pay tribute to the vicissitudes, rigours, and the unpredictability of life. In recounting one particularly tragic episode, McPhee muses over a couple of his friends who urged him to accompany them on a Sunday skating mission. But McPhee’s mother insisted that he honour a commitment given to the Church. As fate would have it, both his friends (12-year-olds), perished in a calamitous manner when a sheet of ice gave way. When their small bodies were recovered the next day both the kids had their arms spread out in front.
Many of the 50 short chapters are peppered and laced with an inimitable sense of humour. When World War II broke out, McPhee along with some other young boys and older women were trained to spot enemy aircraft in preparation for exigencies. Slides containing names and descriptions of aircrafts were shown to the potential ‘spotters.� Describing the plight of some of the women, McPhee writes, “�. Mrs. Hall, Mrs.Hambling, they didn’t know a Focke-Wulf 200 from a white throated sparrow.�
When pandemic forced McPhee to conduct his Princeton course (yes, he still teaches) via Zoom, he recounts some of the projects his students engaged in. One Ian McInnis of Virginia immersed himself in a book recommended by his girlfriend. The book bearing the interminably long and challenging title, The Art of Bundling: Being an Inquiry into the Nature & Origins of That Curious but Universal Folk-Custom, With an Exposition of the Rise & Fall of Bundling in the Eastern Part of North America, dealt with couples courting when fully dressed. In the words of McPhee, “it made a lot of sense if a country boy walked a distance from his farm to spend the evening with his girl, and thanks to bundling, did not have to walk home, often in snow, late at night. Shoes off, clothes intact, further, and separately wrapped in sheets, he and she spent the night in bed, sometimes in her parent’s bedroom.�
McPhee also introduces a plethora of new words, while not sounding pretentious at all in the process. Sample these: fricatives, uncatadromous, ophiolitic, prestidigitational, querencia, pallesthesia, schistose…�. These worlds might mean things delectable for a copy of one of the books penned by McPhee, Coming into the Country ended up being chewed to bits by a grizzly! Thankfully the trapper to whom the inscribed book was gifted to by McPhee was not part of that day’s menu!
Tabula Rasa: Volume 2 � Bring it on!
May 31, 2023
My thank to both NetGalley and the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advance copy of this collection of story ideas, bits of memories, memoir and where ideas come from, and why they sometimes never leave the draft stage.
I was in my second year of working at a chain bookstore, and my second year of college when opening a box of books I saw a white hardcover with a picture of a boat (yes it was a ship and upon reading the book under discussion I learned the difference) on the cover with the title of Looking for a Ship. I had never heard of the author bur remembered a review I had seen on the book, and thought about looking at it better on break. I still have the copy, the first of many John McPhee books I have bought over the years. An author who made me care about things I never really thought about. Alaska, geology, building canoes, even oranges. A writer who taught me about reading and always questioning why things are. And the stories that are all around us. Tabula Rosa Volume 1 is a look at those ideas that got away, along with bits about the authors life, adventures on the road, friends, his family, and even more importantly never stop thinking or creating.
The book begins with an invitation to lunch with Thorton Wilder. McPhee is impressed the meet the writer, playwright, but is confused as to why at his age Wilder was starting a project that would take so much time, might never be completed, and really for what reason. Wilder was miffed at what he thought was a dumb question, one that it took McPhee many years to figure out. Wilder wanted a project to give him a reason to continue to be creative. McPhee 92 at the time of this writing, knows that the longer book works are probably in the past, but he still has ideas, many that have never left the notes he made them on, and has decided to explore them. Some of these are longer pieces, about a trip to Pisa, the Tower and attempts to straighten it. Others are shorter, a name on a sign that might have been a story, but McPhee never got to. There is a lot about growing up in Princeton, including a work of autobiography by McPhee's mother about growing up, and becoming who she was.
I really can't talk about John McPhee enough. McPhee has made me read books on sports, and on fishing, and I love them as much as books about transportation, ships, or about fruit. McPhee Draft No. 4 is one of my favorite books on writing. This is a book at where ideas come from, and sadly where many ideas go to die. Either from lack of interest from editors, or just the writer forgetting and moving on. A lot of his ideas are just plain old luck, hearing a statement, seeing a sign, and going, hmm there is something there. Plus there is something inspirational about watching a person age, but still writing at the top of his game, teaching on Zoom, and working to clear his desk of all those things that time got ahead of him on. The writing is wonderful. Ideas are clear, even when discussing science terms, or bridge construction one can follow along and learn so much. The wonder he has in just seeing everyday things, and learning about them, and caring enough to try and share it.
Maybe it is age, maybe it is the pandemic, maybe it is the fact that stupid seems to be norm, but I am noticing a lot of things going away. To think at some point there might not be another John McPhee book coming really filled me with sadness. I really do hope for many, many volumes in this Tabula Rosa series. Recommended as a primer for McPhee especially if one is unfamiliar with McPhee's writing or books, or as a gift for someone you would like to introduce to a great writer.
I was in my second year of working at a chain bookstore, and my second year of college when opening a box of books I saw a white hardcover with a picture of a boat (yes it was a ship and upon reading the book under discussion I learned the difference) on the cover with the title of Looking for a Ship. I had never heard of the author bur remembered a review I had seen on the book, and thought about looking at it better on break. I still have the copy, the first of many John McPhee books I have bought over the years. An author who made me care about things I never really thought about. Alaska, geology, building canoes, even oranges. A writer who taught me about reading and always questioning why things are. And the stories that are all around us. Tabula Rosa Volume 1 is a look at those ideas that got away, along with bits about the authors life, adventures on the road, friends, his family, and even more importantly never stop thinking or creating.
The book begins with an invitation to lunch with Thorton Wilder. McPhee is impressed the meet the writer, playwright, but is confused as to why at his age Wilder was starting a project that would take so much time, might never be completed, and really for what reason. Wilder was miffed at what he thought was a dumb question, one that it took McPhee many years to figure out. Wilder wanted a project to give him a reason to continue to be creative. McPhee 92 at the time of this writing, knows that the longer book works are probably in the past, but he still has ideas, many that have never left the notes he made them on, and has decided to explore them. Some of these are longer pieces, about a trip to Pisa, the Tower and attempts to straighten it. Others are shorter, a name on a sign that might have been a story, but McPhee never got to. There is a lot about growing up in Princeton, including a work of autobiography by McPhee's mother about growing up, and becoming who she was.
I really can't talk about John McPhee enough. McPhee has made me read books on sports, and on fishing, and I love them as much as books about transportation, ships, or about fruit. McPhee Draft No. 4 is one of my favorite books on writing. This is a book at where ideas come from, and sadly where many ideas go to die. Either from lack of interest from editors, or just the writer forgetting and moving on. A lot of his ideas are just plain old luck, hearing a statement, seeing a sign, and going, hmm there is something there. Plus there is something inspirational about watching a person age, but still writing at the top of his game, teaching on Zoom, and working to clear his desk of all those things that time got ahead of him on. The writing is wonderful. Ideas are clear, even when discussing science terms, or bridge construction one can follow along and learn so much. The wonder he has in just seeing everyday things, and learning about them, and caring enough to try and share it.
Maybe it is age, maybe it is the pandemic, maybe it is the fact that stupid seems to be norm, but I am noticing a lot of things going away. To think at some point there might not be another John McPhee book coming really filled me with sadness. I really do hope for many, many volumes in this Tabula Rosa series. Recommended as a primer for McPhee especially if one is unfamiliar with McPhee's writing or books, or as a gift for someone you would like to introduce to a great writer.
Read
July 15, 2023This is a brilliant way for an old guy to keep working even when he doesn't have the energy to do his old job.
McPhee is the greatest writer of "New Yorker" style long form nonfiction. He was the guy who everyone agreed could write an interesting long article or short book about anything and make it fascinating. Oranges, an oil tanker, Bill Bradley, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a French Restaurant in Milford, Pennsylvania, shad, family doctors in Maine and the Swiss Army, have each been the subject of brilliant articles or book by McPhee.
(I must note that there was one exception. McPhee became obsessed with geology. Around about his third book on geology, I was satisfied that he had found a subject that he could be boring on.)
McPhee is 92 now. In his 2017 book, "Draft No. 4, On the Writing Process" he describes, in detail, how much hard work is involved in the kind of long form nonfiction that he writes. It seems that, with good reason, he has given up on that kind of ordeal.
At the same time, he has been writing every day for over 70 years. He has always had a project to work on. He came up with a brilliant solution. This is a collection of short pieces on all of the many articles and books that he did not write. Some are just notions that he never pursued; some are ideas that he worked on for a long time before deciding that they just weren't right for him. It also gives him a chance to give us pieces of memoir, short essays, portraits of interesting people he has met, and to tell a few good stories.
He explains why he never wrote the article about Bing Cherries, as a companion to his piece on Oranges. Or he never wrote the article about the glories of traveling across territory in a beeline, as straight as possible. Or he never wrote his piece on Edward Abbey, who he calls "a walking profile subject", but he does give us a great Edward Abbey story.
Honestly the gimmick of the book, pieces I didn't write, is really just an excuse to gather short thoughts, memories, theories, etc. into a collection. I am a sucker for this kind of salmagundi.
The generic names of drugs never include the letters h, j, k, w or y, because some languages don't have those letters. I agree with McPhee, in a classic old guy rant, that the blizzard of late game timeouts in Basketball and Football ruins what should be great thrilling finishes. His tribute to Peter Benchley, the author of "Jaws", is moving.
This is a beautifully written entertaining book. It seems churlish to say, "for a 92 year old."
McPhee is the greatest writer of "New Yorker" style long form nonfiction. He was the guy who everyone agreed could write an interesting long article or short book about anything and make it fascinating. Oranges, an oil tanker, Bill Bradley, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a French Restaurant in Milford, Pennsylvania, shad, family doctors in Maine and the Swiss Army, have each been the subject of brilliant articles or book by McPhee.
(I must note that there was one exception. McPhee became obsessed with geology. Around about his third book on geology, I was satisfied that he had found a subject that he could be boring on.)
McPhee is 92 now. In his 2017 book, "Draft No. 4, On the Writing Process" he describes, in detail, how much hard work is involved in the kind of long form nonfiction that he writes. It seems that, with good reason, he has given up on that kind of ordeal.
At the same time, he has been writing every day for over 70 years. He has always had a project to work on. He came up with a brilliant solution. This is a collection of short pieces on all of the many articles and books that he did not write. Some are just notions that he never pursued; some are ideas that he worked on for a long time before deciding that they just weren't right for him. It also gives him a chance to give us pieces of memoir, short essays, portraits of interesting people he has met, and to tell a few good stories.
He explains why he never wrote the article about Bing Cherries, as a companion to his piece on Oranges. Or he never wrote the article about the glories of traveling across territory in a beeline, as straight as possible. Or he never wrote his piece on Edward Abbey, who he calls "a walking profile subject", but he does give us a great Edward Abbey story.
Honestly the gimmick of the book, pieces I didn't write, is really just an excuse to gather short thoughts, memories, theories, etc. into a collection. I am a sucker for this kind of salmagundi.
The generic names of drugs never include the letters h, j, k, w or y, because some languages don't have those letters. I agree with McPhee, in a classic old guy rant, that the blizzard of late game timeouts in Basketball and Football ruins what should be great thrilling finishes. His tribute to Peter Benchley, the author of "Jaws", is moving.
This is a beautifully written entertaining book. It seems churlish to say, "for a 92 year old."
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