book
by John McPhee
McPhee spent two decades travelling roughly along the 40th parallel with geologists, and the result is the great literary account of deep time. Plate tectonics, the Basin and Range, the Rockies and the piecemeal assembly of California are all told through the rocks at the roadcut and the people who read them. It runs to nearly 700 pages, won the Pulitzer, and permanently changes how you look at a landscape.
July 20, 2026
Dynomight on the coming end of pseudonymity, Brian Potter scores 239 laws against their promises, and a Sears-catalog rewrite of American growth.
July 13, 2026
Scott Alexander's team publishes its plan for AI going well, Joel Mokyr defends his Nobel thesis, and Ted Gioia argues the Odyssey belongs in the music department.
March 30, 2026
Veritasium tells the story of antimatter's discovery, PBS Space Time asks if we can test quantum gravity, and Experimental History on why being serious matters.
