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Geologists, says John McPhee, are like dermatologists: “They crowd around
like fleas on the world’s tough hide, exploring every wrinkle and crease, and
try to figure out what makes the animal move.” He has, you’ll agree, a way with
words. In Annals of the Former World, now a thumping 696-page paperback, he
turns his travels across North America into a brilliant exploration of what we
can see of the Earth and what we know about it. Published by Farrar Straus &
Giroux, $18, ISBN 0374518734.