Assembling California - John McPhee

Assembling California John McPhee

This is another of the road trips that McPhee has taken to understand our geology and landscape.  In California he and his geologist friend come to an amazing exposure that completely overwhelms the geologist – You need another geologist for this land.  Wonderful honesty and a good metaphor for the complex nature of CA.  

The Sutter Mill and the gold fever are part of the story, but even with the stories such as Sutter trying to hide the gold fine so his mill and farm would not be affected, this is about where the gold came from and all the other amazing rocks.  There is often a lack of logic and it could not have been sorted out without plate tectonics which help explain these immigrant rock formations that have traveled from the Pacific to the continent.

This is the fourth of the geological books that I have read – Basin and Range will always be my favorite, but this one might rank second for me because the stories are compelling and the geology is difficult and explained well.

In the middle of the book McPhee and his geology buddy Moores are in Greece and we learn the assembling of this landscape which should serve as a model for some of the CA assembly.  However, it is more likely just a fun place for the wandering rock hounds to investigate and McPhee gets to write it off as book research – lucky guy.

The book diverges from CA to corollary stories around the world and it is filled with stories and experiences.  There is a lot of information on the following topics:

1.       The gold rush and gold mining
2.       Plate tectonics
3.       Terrains added to the continent to create the California we know today
4.       Earthquakes – the energy, events, predictions and reality

To understand and  recall all the information that is packed in this book will require multiple readings. 

Thirty years ago, the theory that continents are comprised of drifting plates - plate tectonics - evoked more scorn than serious research. Today, this revolutionary theory continues to dazzle and challenge geologists and laymen alike. Assembling California explores an area uniquely demonstrative of the plate tectonic theory: California, which according to "tectonicists," is breaking apart at its seams. (audible Inc).