Comments on: Shepherd, Shepard, Sheperd

By: Carol

Carol — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:05:02 +0000

But you will never think “misread” should be comparable to “misled,” which as a child I pronounced something like “mizzled,” analogizing to “puzzled,” perhaps, and certainly misled by a not yet educated reading of “sled” as an ending. I also pronounced all the letters in “Goethe,” unable to analogize from the name of a local department store, Titche-Goettinger. Sometimes I think half the purpose of language is to confuse, not enlighten. Of course!

By: dc

dc — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:25:44 +0000

Carol: I don’t disagree about McPhee. It was only when I digested a large amount at once that it started tasting a little less good, but that can be true for almost anything. I still read most of his new stuff, or at least I did until I let my NYer subscription lapse.

That last sentence reminds me how annoying I find it that the present and past tenses of ‘read’ are spelled the same way. It’s amazing how often I end up rewriting a sentence because the ambiguity of the tense bothers me.

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:40:11 +0000

Perhaps, Dave, but I see him more as an enthusiast, and someone who finds himself lucky to be one. So yes, he is self-satisfied but not egoistic, At least imo.

Bo, I first read about the Pine Barrens after traveling from Newark Airport to Cape May to meet some future in-laws. We went through the edge, of course, and I was fascinated to find a strange landscape there. Upon reading McPhee I learned the landscape was not the only strange thing about this part of New Jersey.

By: dc

dc — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:51:08 +0000

I have a copy of Coming Into the Country, but I haven’t read it. I bought it about 5 or 6 years ago when I was reading a lot of old McPhee all at once, but I never got around to that one. I’ve been to Alaska twice since I bought it, so I would like to read it sometime. I didn’t realize it was considered (at least by you two) among his best. I enjoy his stuff, but after reading a lot of his work all at once, the tone started grating on me a bit. A bit self-satisfied or something — “look at me, I’m writing about subject X that no one thought they would be interested in reading about, and I’m making it fascinating.” And, damn him, he usually does make it fascinating, or at least a nice read. Maybe I’m just envious…

By: John A. Abel

John A. Abel — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:23:16 +0000

Carol I agree with you about McPhee and Coming into the Country is my fave.There is also a McPhee reader that is pretty good with tales of the Jersey Pine Barrens,Growing Oranges in Florida etc.I love his book on Shad.I think the first time I read him was in the New Yorker in the 70′s? when he did the long article on the guy making Birch Bark canoes in New England by hand that led to a book.

By: jabel

jabel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:05:27 +0000

I’m going back to College!!!! or University.

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:05:45 +0000

My favorite thing about John McPhee’s writing is that he can make me be interested in things I probably never would have thought about except that he introduced me to them. (This quality is what distinguishes all the regular New Yorker contributors imo.) The geology books are probably his greatest achievement, but even shad fishing has its moments. DAVE, have you not read Coming into the Country (McPhee on Alaska)? It’s quite wonderful.

By: dc

dc — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:03:00 +0000

Jabel: Ah, I didn't realize that your college career involved lighting the herb at a frat house in Brookline and in a red Datsun in the Oakland hills. I'm pretty sure that lighting the herb while driving is frowned upon these days, even here in the home of Oaksterdam University.

By: jabel

jabel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:43:07 +0000

PS,I love all the John McPhee books.

By: jabel

jabel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:40:59 +0000

Yikes I left an H out.The Geology blog is great because I spent the summer of 70 as a fifteen year old in Berkeley and then 1975 as a freshman taking classes at Merritt and UC and usually driving back through Redwood in75 .A lot of stops in the Oakland Hills to take in the views and light the herb in a red datsun 510 or was it 310.