Tabula Rasa: Volume 1

by John McPhee

A literary legend’s engaging review of his career, stressing the work he never completed, and why.

Over seven decades, John McPhee has set a standard for literary nonfiction. Assaying mountain ranges, bark canoes, experimental aircraft, the Swiss Army, geophysical hot spots, ocean shipping, shad fishing, dissident art in the Soviet Union, and an even wider variety of other subjects, he has consistently written narrative pieces of immaculate design.

In Tabula Rasa, Volume 1 , McPhee looks back at his career from the vantage point of his desk drawer, reflecting wryly upon projects he once planned to do but never got around to―people to profile, regions he meant to portray. There are so many examples that he plans to go on writing these vignettes, an ideal project for an old man, he says, and a “reminiscent montage” from a writing life. This first volume includes, among other things, glimpses of a frosty encounter with Thornton Wilder, interrogative dinners with Henry Luce, the allure of western Spain, criteria in writing about science, fireworks over the East River as seen from Malcolm Forbes’s yacht, the evolving inclinations of the Tower of Pisa, the islands among the river deltas of central California, teaching in a pandemic, and persuading The New Yorker to publish an entire book on oranges. The result is a fresh survey of McPhee’s singular planet.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir, Writing, Biography, Audiobook, Literature

192 pages, Hardcover

Published July 11, 2023

About the author

John Angus McPhee is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth occasion in 1999 for Annals of the Former World (a collection of five books, including two of his previous Pulitzer finalists). In 2008, he received the George Polk Career Award for his "indelible mark on American journalism during his nearly half-century career". Since 1974, McPhee has been the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University.

Reviews

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

McPhee's prose is, as always, a joy to read here. Like most of his books (even those that are nominally dedicated to a single subject), this is a collection of essays, unrelated on the surface but bound together by the twine of the author's interests. We read a lot here about basketball, about fly fishing, about Scotland and about Princeton, New Jersey and the large number of friends he made there. About canoeing in the wilderness, and the pleasures of rivers in general.

The three stars may raise eyebrows, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I always enjoy reading him. It just means it didn't break any new ground for this author and I enjoyed it pretty much exactly as much as I expected to. This doesn't really compare to the five-star books he wrote about geology or Alaska or the merchant marine.

But here's a fun section, quoted at length, about the environmental writer Edward Abbey:

[During a guest lecture at Princeton] Most of the questions asked by the crowd in Stevenson Hall of course had to do with Desert Solitaire, including one from a woman who appeared to be at least Abbey's age, which was forty-five. She brought up an "experiment" he describes in the book when he "volunteered" a passing rabbit as the experimentee. He picked up a rock, fired it at the rabbit, and brained it on the spot. The woman in Princeton said to him, "How could you do that? How could you be so cruel? How could you..." and so forth. She really lit into him. Sitting back in the upholstered armchair with his legs at full stretch, one boot across the other, there was a long silence. Abbey silent, everyone in the room silent. And more silence. Finally, Abbey said, "I won't do it again." Muted laughter rippled here and there. And again Abbey fell silent, for an even longer time, and then he said, "Not to that rabbit."

Also, we are all aware that drugs have unusual names, like 'Xanax' and 'Fentanyl,' but most of us have probably never thought about who comes up with these names. They are highly trained, and McPhee notes that the names 'never begin with h, j, k, w, or y, because those letters don't exist in some languages'. Which is interesting, but the existence of Keytruda makes me question how current his information is.

I'm happy to have checked this out of the library and read it, but it's unlikely to end up on my McPhee shelf of physical books.

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays by John McPhee who, despite his apparent stature, I have never heard of.

However there are some really interesting pieces in this volume and there's a fair bit of name dropping that goes on but then what do you expect from a distinguished Rhodes scholar man from Princeton.

I was fascinated by some of the articles, especially the one about Princeton University's Advanced Study Department or the story about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are several pieces about architecture and some about sports so I can only gather that John McPhee had a wide range of interests and specialisms. He certainly writes in a very engaging manner. Some of it reminded me of Joan Didion's White Album.

Recommended for fans of McPhee or just those (like me) who enjoy an interesting mix of essays.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an audio recording of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:

Tabula Rasa means “clean slate". McPhee tells the reader that this project is a slate clearing. In it he looks through old files and thinks about the stories that didn’t get all the way written. He says this is an “old man’s project”, one he describes as one that has no end or an end so far away that it instills in the back of one’s mind the belief/hope that one will continue to live in order to complete it. It gives a purpose to each new day.

“To Keep writing is to keep living.” He said in a recent interview. McPhee is currently 92 and still writing lots.

I graduated from NYU Journalism school at a time before computers, when we were herded into a back room that might have been used by a secretarial school, with rows and rows of typewriters. It will age us both, McPhee and me to admit in those days (the early 1980's) John McPhee was considered the gold standard for writing narrative non-fiction. His pieces were often held up as a writer or type of writing we should try to emulate, in bringing a story to print. These are the type Journalistic pieces that are meant to teach as well as entertain. McPhee still writes for the New Yorker and also writes books of essays on a variety of subjects that are best described as Creative Non-fiction. He now primarily teaches students in this special art.

McPhee has written lots and lots of books that are labeled as Narrative Non-fiction, discussing a subject as if telling a story. This latest is a compilation of stories that might have been written for various publications through his writing career or pieces for books that he did write and these bits just didn’t fit or grow into anything.

He calls these, scenes in need of stories and that’s exactly what they are. They are small bites of what might have made an interesting meal or really had so little substance or flavors to chew on and were better left aside. I listened to the audio and like a short story collection there were pieces I loved and several I had little interest in. McPhee often wrote books about landscape and geography and there are several pieces that fit into that genre of his writing. Yet, I found the ones I liked best were of a more personal nature, describing his growing up in and around Princeton University. McPhee's father was a doctor for some of the sports teams there. McPhee attended Princeton high school and is a graduated from the university. He now teaches writing there. Descriptions of this runs through many of the unfinished pieces and there are several that are in a more polished present-day form. They are the best in the collection for sure. In particular one discussing teaching classes remotely during covid was excellent.

A great collection especially in audio, read by Grove Gardner. I felt the narration was well done, so easy to listen to and with the occasional really great pieces spread throughout I found this book of essays quite thought provoking and it made me want to go back and enjoy some of McPhee’s other works.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any new McPhee book is an automatic TBR for me. Here's LitHub's recommendation:
"John McPhee, often heralded as one of our greatest of nonfiction chroniclers (for good reason), has written about what seems like every imaginable topic, from oranges to Alaskan fur trappers to Wimbledon’s legendary Center Court… But what about all the pieces McPhee didn’t write? Serving as something of answer to that question, Tabula Rasa is a charming compendium of McPhee stories in various states of incompletion, the beginnings and sketches of scores of profiles and wanderings that never quite made it to print. Necessary reading for lovers of serious nonfiction."

John McPhee is now 92, and was looking for a project to keep himself going. This is the result, and it's (mostly) worthwhile. He whined to a friend that publishing this kind of defeated the purpose. The friend advised "Just call it Volume 1." Voila!

So. Not all of these are prime McPhee. But enough are that I had fun with the book, even after seeing some of these in the magazine. The best stuff is towards the front, sensibly enough. And of course I liked some more than others. Overall the collection rates a weak 4 stars from me. But, hey, how much more stuff are we going to get from the Old Master? Required reading for McPhee's many fans. Let's hope for Volume 2!

I read an ebook copy from our public library. It's a short enough book that the clunky formatting didn't get annoying.

Besides the book, these essays were also published in the New Yorker. Links for subscribers:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Actually, by recollection, NYer gives non-subscribers a certain number of free reads. So worth a try. I'd start with vol. 2, which is all top-notch stuff. Captain Washburn, the "Looking for a Ship" guy! Which itself is a 5-star book, and you should read (or re-read) it. The S.S. Stella Lykes, at work on the west coast of South America. Wonderful stuff. One of his very best books!

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mix of essays that I stumbled upon while browsing for an available audiobook on Libby. I like short pieces for listening and most of these were interesting. No themes really other than subjects from the author’s files that he had considered writing about but never gotten around to. I wasn’t familiar with the author but he has quite the list of published books on a multitude of topics, was a staff writer for Time and the New Yorker for decades and a professor of journalism/creative non fiction at Princeton University.

Favorite essay for me was about the leaning tower of Pisa. I liked his style; will look for more of his books. Quite the interesting and energetic life he has led, this book published sometime around his 90th birthday.

[Doug Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amazing and ubiquitous John McPhee has been a mainstay in my reading for forty years. He has been a staff writer at the New Yorker for over sixty years, the author of 30+ books, and a winner and four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. He stands head and shoulders with and above the giants of this genre. For me, his books Encounters with the Archdruid, Coming Into the Country, and The Control of Nature rank among his finest.

Tabula Rasa, written and compiled in his 93rd year, is a collection of stories and essays highlighting his style, essence, and ability to write nonfiction as melody.

Read more John McPhee.

[Urooj Aslam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tabula Rasa by John McPhee is a brilliant narration based on a journey through the author’s life experiences. Projects that he meant to do. Meeting and interacting with different people, working with them. Places he visited in his lifetime. His days of learning, of travels and of professional life.

The reader feels like reading a mash-up or going through a roller coaster of the life of the author. The book is a compilation of John McPhee’s memories. Most of the stories revolve around Princeton, New Jersey which happens to be the author’s hometown.

Serving as a writer at Times, The Weekly News magazine, the reader enjoys the meeting between the author and Thornton Wilder in Thornton Wilder at the Century. It amuses how smoothly the story flows with a great amount of knowledge and experience.

The narration is easy to understand. It feels like the book is opening up to stories, with John deeply immersed in his thoughts while narrating them. The sense of place is very much present in the whole book.

In The Bridges of Christian Menn, there is a detailed description of bridges, the picturesque, the people the author mentions interacting with, the building of the footbridge and the vast amount of knowledge and experience that drops with every word of the author himself.

The stories continue getting interesting as one reads with a flow. Each story contains McPhee’s experience, knowledge and learning through his life experiences. The stories are beautifully crafted emerging from the author’s childhood days to when he was young to the present time.

The fascinating details in Extremadura involve a deep sense of place in the story.

The emotions of students and the author himself were beautifully portrayed in Zoom Laude when Covid-19 hit the world, striking the reader with thoughtfulness.

In Writing about Science, the genuine description of the know-how of science itself, and how to put it in writing, is well narrated and leads to an interesting story of the author’s life. Each story holds a significance, and that is very much understood by the reader as one goes deep through the book.

Walking the Province Line, Joseph Henry House, North East Rising Sun, Dams 2020, Breaking Away, Bourbon and Bing Cherries and Beantown and many other stories leave the reader in absolute wonderment at McPhee’s excellent skills in narration.

Tabula Rasa is a wonderful opening up of tales compiled beautifully and narrated amazingly through the author’s pen. It seems that John McPhee has put his heart and soul to bring to the reader some of the very personal experiences of his life. For that, I really honour him. This book is highly recommended to the audience interested in memoirs, biographies and even travelogues. Very well narrated. Enjoyed reading it.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Mr McPhee is my favorite non-fiction writer of all, and is a blessing he is still with us. This book does seem to be him wrapping up loose ends a bit, consisting as it does of charming bits and pieces ; and I figure for most people, minor McPhee may be only four stars. Still I am five-star happy to have read it

[Mike Dennisuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty and elegance of John McPhee’s writing is awe inspiring. Tabula Rasa is a collection of projects and unfinished works from his long career. A writer’s memoir of sorts. His inquisitive mind is on full display. I imagined myself spending a leisurely afternoon with him sharing stories from his long and interesting career as a writer and seeker of knowledge. I savored every word.

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning of his “Tabula Rasa,” John McPhee recalls when he was invited to lunch with the famous playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder. Asked what he was working on, Wilder replied that he was cataloging plays of Lope de Vega. About four hundred and thirty-one plays by Lope de Vega survived, and Thornton Wilder was sixty-six. It could take years to complete this project. Asked by the about thirty-years old McPhee why anyone would want to do that, Wilder angrily replied, “Young man, do not ever question the purpose of scholarship.”

These words beautifully reflect humans’ drive to learn and write - the passion which does not diminish with age. When writing “Tabula rasa,” John McPhee was eighty-eight and said he understood then that the cataloging of Lope de Vega plays was serving to extend Wilder’s life.

“Tabula rasa” is a collection of short chapters which describe many writing projects that John McPhee overtook as a writer for “New Yorker” and “Time,” as well as his independent projects. There are stories about dams in America and their impact on the environment, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the bridges of Christian Menn, a Swiss structural engineer. All the stories in “Tabula Rasa” are beautifully written in the style of the best The New Yorker articles of creative non-fiction. I could never guess that some subjects Mr. McPhee covers would so much spark my interest.

This book also brought up some memories of when I lived in Princeton, New Jersey, where the author was born, and educated, the town very close to his heart. I believe he’s still teaching at Princeton University. I remember the beautiful campus, the rose garden, the main street of Princeton, and the feeling of walking the streets where Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr walked. And Princeton is by no means a museum of past glories– it’s very lively, with the youthful energy of students (their men’s basketball team just advanced to the Sweet 16.)

I hope I will not have to wait long for John McPhee’s volume 2 of “Tabula Rasa.” Reading the thoughtful, intelligent, and informative first volume was a rare treat.

[Victor · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this started poorly and stayed there. He may have written this in hopes of prolonging life but it was at the expense of this reader’s.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

John McPhee undertook this book of essays as an "old-man project." As an author, McPhee recognizes he may be running shorter on time: a book project may not reach its conclusion. However, essays have limitless potential. Mark Twain was the inspiration, who dictated his autobiography in bits and pieces towards the end of his life. 

McPhee's premise has a touch of meta about it: in TABULA RASA, each essay is a topic he meant to write on, but didn't. So here we get glimpses of writing projects of various lengths, snippets of what could have been. We have this retrospective that touches on his huge range of interests, and it's aptly called Volume One, to allow for future installments.

It was a pleasurable read, and I'm drawn to books of essays (as well as poetry and short stories) when my schedule is especially demanding, as it allows me to get closure even if the only time I have to read is a handful of minutes as I wait at school pickup.

(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

[Hamish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing as usual, even if it is just him going through his unused drafts folder. McPhee has had an incredible and enviable life. I'd love to read a memoir, even if parts of this are probably the closest we'll get.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very uneven collection, but it is still John McPhee who can make almost anything interesting. This book was published when McPhee was 92! The work is primarily short essays discussing the various projects he considered or started but did not finish In one essay, he discussed this as an "old person" project to keep intellectually active. A lot of biographical material and material about Princeton. Even some discussion about Bill Bradley (his profile got McPhee his staff writer position at the New Yorker). Like any collection, some of the works are 4-5 star, while others are 2 star (primarily McPhee's attempts at humor). I could never give McPhee 1 star for anything.

[Dylan]

A bunch of short pieces on writing projects that McPhee never fully fleshed out throughout his career, and some other stuff. At the time I read this, I had only read one of his books (Oranges) so this may have hit better with me if I were more of McPheeite(?), but even if this is middling in his catalog, it's still a great collection of short nonfiction. Especially liked him talking about his students' writing projects & the leaning tower of Pisa.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the read if only for the pieces that have been excerpted in the New Yorker over the years. Especially the story about his middle school friends who drowned on an excursion he was meant to join. McPhee is a master and this is a necessary addition to McPheeCanon.

[Aisling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable. This book reads like you're sitting down with a favorite professor or brilliant uncle who has endless great stories...and knows how to tell them. John McPhee has had a fascinating life and finds fascination in life. No chapter (story) is longer than 3-4 pages, some much shorter. All, I think, are about books or articles he thought about writing but did not in his long career as a Pulitzer prize winning author and professor. I loved his sense of humour and wonder and I even learned a thing it two. Eager for volume two (and what that means).

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring. Even more boring since most of the stories take place in Princeton, New Jersey. I thought I would like the concept of the unfinished and unpublished projects McPhee started but they truly feel unfinished, unpolished, and unthoughtful. I’ll give him 2 stars instead of because he’s old and maybe his published stuff is better

[Tyler McGaughey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gravely overestimates how interesting Princeton University is to the average reader.

[Peg Lotvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book about all the subjects John McPhee never got around to writing about. He is a genius for making it into a full book. I see it is Vol. 1. Let's hope for Vol. 2 soon.

[Debs · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

McPhee has the most curious mind of any writer I’ve ever read, and a wit that sometimes takes you completely by surprise. Gets into the weeds with some subjects, but a number of these little vignettes were fascinating.

[Seregnani · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 ⭐️

[Katherine Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of lovely prose—I'd be interested in reading John McPhee's other work! In some ways this brief book felt like a meditation on Princeton as a place (though he touches on lots of other topics and places as well). I found it oddly disconcerting to read about my hometown through someone else's eyes—McPhee and I graduated from the same high school, 74 years apart. It also made me think about how privileged I have been to live here and be a student here—and how insulated it is from the rest of the world.

[Abhishek · Rating 3 out of 5]

What this collection indicates is McPhee can make interesting even the most common place thing - an interaction, a building, a road - with sheer skill. It has to be craft, because attention to the subject is not enough. I have read plenty of one kind, but not the other. Makes me want to read more McPhee. Makes me want to write, even.

A longer version is available here.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is a master story teller, though one chapter was extremely annoying to listen to as an audio book.

[Richard Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book, published in 2023 by the then 91 year old John McPhee and including a number of more recent, short pieces written for the New Yorker. The back cover suggests that the common thread is reminiscences about subjects that he'd always thought of writing about but never did -- and that's more or less accurate, but really, the book is an autobiography of sorts. McPhee slyly gives this away in the first several pages, when a description of a meeting between his young self and an old Thornton Wilder leads him to discuss "old people projects" -- i.e., something to do that beats dying -- and then to the example of Mark Twain's autobiography, dictated in his seventies, randomly, without structure, in total disregard of consistent theme or chronology, which McPhee pronounces the greatest old-man project there ever was. And that's pretty much what this is. Yes, a number of the pieces are brief vignettes about some topic or other that McPhee once considered writing about in depth (but didn't), but sprinkled in with these are stories about his childhood and adolescence, his parents, famous people he met just once, various travel anecdotes, recollections about pieces that he did actually write . . . and all in no particular order (that I could discern). As a McPhee fan, to me it was like being on a long cross-country train ride and finding myself seated next to a charming, genteel elderly gent with a seemingly endless reservoir of fascinating or amusing stories about almost any topic imaginable, and just being completely in his spell. (Except for when he gets on to talking about geology, and twenty seconds later I'm like, ZZZZZZZ. But thoughtfully, he doesn't do that very much in this book.)

(4 1/2 stars)

[Amey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say 3.5 stars if I could.

This is a truly challenging book to rate, largely because I've never encountered anything quite like it. This was an impulse airport purchase, and I'm genuinely surprised I hadn't come across John McPhee before, given his prolificacy and apparently considerable reputation in the literary world. While I've read creative non-fiction previously, this felt distinctly different.

This book is a ninety-year-old metaphorically emptying his desk drawers and notebooks. The title itself, Tabula Rasa, hints at this clearing house of a life lived and observed. Many times, it feels decidedly purposeless, a collection of vignettes that drift and meander.

And that is what makes up a significant part of its beauty. Reading it was like listening to your grandfather recount stories from a rich and varied life – not necessarily the grand narratives, but the smaller, perhaps more personal, observations and undeveloped threads. And in this case, the grandfather is someone who has truly lived and has had a keen eye for detail and an absolute treasure of experiences.

However, much like settling in for those familial anecdotes, this is a book that requires patience. Despite its modest length, I needed my time with it. It's not a book to be rushed through, but rather savored in bites.

Overall, Tabula Rasa is a fascinating, if at times formless, glimpse into the mind of a skilled non-fiction author. It's a testament to the power of accumulated observations and the quiet dignity of looking back, even at the paths not taken and pieces not written.

[Richard Subber · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s potentially thrilling when a talented author decides to clear his plate and clear his mind of the old ideas that haven’t been transformed to words.
I dare to suggest that McPhee’s title, Tabula Rasa, was chosen with tongue firmly pressed against cheek. His mind was working and his imagination was full when he picked the best words for his TO DO list.
Some of the appeal of Tabula Rasa is that his short pieces (50 of them) were collected but not organized. Each one is at least around the corner from the next one, and it’s easy to guess that McPhee never was bored while he wrote them.
This is a literate and thought-filled way to clear the deck.
Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com

[Cameron]

This collection of notes and half-formed pieces would be completely unappealing were it not John McPhee’s work.

Such a fun book. Many of the episodes are very short. Great book to read instead of scrolling.

[Donna]

McPhee turns his accumulated notes of stories not written into beautiful, inspirational, thought-provoking vignettes, each one of which I’d like to read more.