An engrossing study of one of the prevalent land forms of the American West. John McPhee offers a brain-pleasing amalgam of science, culture, and sheer storytelling talent. ( )

I've enjoyed John McPhee's other essays, but found this one disappointing.

I think the problem is that McPhee, as he admits, loves the poetry, the sound of geology. This love of the sounds gets in the way of his actually explaining things in a useful fashion.
As a primary example, the book could use some maps and diagrams. (Although I listened to the audiobook, I own Annals of the Former World and looked in it, unsuccessfully, for diagrams that might elucidate what I heard in the car.)
Along the same lines, the book really needs some with explanations of exactly what the various rock terms used mean and, more importantly, what their significance is.
Finally the standard set pieces on deep time and plate tectonics are somewhat tiresome to anyone who knows this stuff.

The one interesting fact I learned that was immediately processable was that over 50% of mineral deposits are hydrothermal --- water dissolves a motley collections of various ions, then, when the temperature and pressure are just right, a particular species of salt will precipitate out, forming a vein of some mineral.

There was enough interesting to justify reading or listening to the others essays in Annals of the Former World, but that's pretty much only because I feel I need to learn more geology, explained from a variety of angles. ( )