麻豆传媒

Geologists, says John McPhee, are like dermatologists: 鈥淭hey crowd around
like fleas on the world鈥檚 tough hide, exploring every wrinkle and crease, and
try to figure out what makes the animal move.鈥� He has, you鈥檒l 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.