Book: Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee

| posted in: diversions 


My father introduced me to author John McPhee years ago with a volume entitled, The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed. The unlikely title referred to a new lifting vehicle, or rigid lighter-than-air balloon. McPhee’s essays are about people and things, and are told with rare grace and deft use of language. They are a joy to read.

Uncommon Carriers is about coal trains, and barge traffic on the Illinois River. It’s about over-the-road trucking, and the package sort at UPS in Memphis. It’s mostly about the people who inhabit these uncommon modes of moving goods.

Rating: Uncommonly good.

Author's profile picture

Mark H. Nichols

I am a husband, cellist, code prole, nerd, technologist, and all around good guy living and working in fly-over country. You should follow me on Mastodon.