if my amazon order ever shows up (supposedly it has already shipped), it will include McPhee's "Annals of a Former World", which is a compendium of four of his previously published works: Basin and Range, a study of the mountainous lands between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas; In Suspect Terrain, a grand overview of the Appalachian mountain system; Rising from the Plains, a history of the Rocky Mountains set largely in Wyoming; and Assembling California, a survey of the ongoing volcanic and tectonic processes; plus a fifth unpublished book, Crossing the Craton, which introduces the continent's ancient core, underlying what is now Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. Reader reviews indicate that there is a bit of repetition, and a lack of clear diagrams to explain some of the more technically challenging processes, but overall it has received stellar feedback.
