About this title: The American shad--a species beloved of sportsmen since George Washington--provides the remarkable focus of this book, its every specimen carrying its autobiography within its scales and coursing through the water routes of U.S. political history.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 2002-10-13
ISBN-13:9780374104443ISBN:0374104441
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. VG/VG. Very Good Hardcover book with Very Good Dust Jacket. Binding tight and straight. Pages clean and unmarked. read more
Edition: First edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar
Date Published: 2002
Description: Fine and bright in like price-clipped dustjacket with crisp bright text throughout. NOT a remainder copy: former owner's personalized fleck mark to top edge which bothers none of the text. A sharp copy. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780374104443ISBN:0374104441
Description: Very Good/Very Good. . Hardcover, very good condition, w. v. ltly slanted, v. ltly compressed sp, v. ltly bumped corners. Ltly tanned top and bottom brd edges. V. ltly tanned p. edges. Cln, tight, unmarked. Dj very good, ltly rubbed, sme lt marks and soil. read more
Description: Shelf 924. 5.5 by 8.5 inches. Hardcover with dj. Published by Farrar Straus and Giroux 2002. 1st printing. Book Fine. Dj near fine. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 2002-10-13
ISBN-13:9780374104443ISBN:0374104441
Description: Very Good. Very good 1st edition hardcover with DJ. Pages are clean and unmarked. Minor stain on page edge. Covers show minor shelf wear. Binding is tight, hinges strong. Dust jacket shows light edge wear.; 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Free Delivery Confirmation! Ships same or next business day! read more
Edition: First edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, New York
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780374528836ISBN:0374528837
Description: Near Fine. 358 pgs. Very slight shelf wear, otherwise book is like new! **We provide professional service and individual attention to your order, daily shipments, and sturdy packaging. FREE TRACKING ON ALL SHIPMENTS WITHIN USA. read more
"Okay, I'm a naturalist. And admittedly, I have tried reading McPhee. Other than Encounters with the Archdruid. I couldn't do it. I couldn't even get started in The Pine Barrens. His one about the geology of California should be good, but I didn't get into it. I think I have discovered that I like fish a lot more than I like rocks though. The Founding Fish is a book about the American Shad, the decline, the rise, the fall, the fishermen who pursue it, the river restoration efforts that surround it. McPhee is a fisherman in this one, and he speaks with a fisherman's love of the sport and a naturalist's appreciation of the living creature. I listened to this one on my way across the country. I didn't finish it. I still loved it. I will one day listen to the rest."
"Well, we've finally come to the first abandoned McPhee book....
At 358 pages, it is the largest single McPhee book (counting Annals as the three books that it actually was) - and this isn't one of those that is a collection of long essays. 358 pages about Shad, a fish that, frankly, I'd never heard of before - and I expected McPhee would make me care deeply about, that he would almost make me want to drop everything and go fishing. (I mean, seriously, McPhee....this one even has an Appendix!...of Shad recipes!)
Founding immediately precedes Uncommon in the McPhee bibliography, and I think that's why I had such great hope for this one. I haven't read any of the single-topic-biology McPhee's yet (Oranges, etc)...and while of all the unread McPhee, I held out the most hope for Oranges, and still do....I made it to around 200.
I would have quit sooner - in the middle of the Colonial era history of the shad, which had nearly no redeeming qualities (with the exception of the paragraph on taphonomy and paleoecology), but thought the next chapter would be better.
I thought the beginning wasn't that bad....but it never got better, and for a lengthy section in the middle was much worse; but perhaps worst of all, it never got different.
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