[.ca] Uncommon Carriers (ISBN 0374280398)

Travel tales:
John McPhee is the ultimate observer. He has an uncanny ability to reveal interesting details in the most mundane surroundings. Much of what he discloses are things we often overlook. Better yet, he imparts what he sees with impressive clarity and delightful wit. He draws on extensive experience, from purposely stalling aircraft \oTable of Contents\c to great ships roaming the seas \oLooking For A Ship\c. The underlying theme of this volume is a bit more ground-based, as he joins truckers, bargemen, train engineers and his son-in-law. With these companions, he exposes a bit more of our world to us. McPhee may not be able to engage in "talking shop" with the men he deals with in this book, but he's a master at "listening shop". What he hears from them is conveyed to us in a way that puts us right next to him, attending closely. Most of this book is about massive conveyors and who operates them. McPhee opens with an account of Don Ainsworth's huge truck, 20 metres long carrying 36 tonnes of various "hazmat" over US roads. He rides Illinois River barges, watching 15 of them stretch over 300 metres before his perch in the pilot house. A driving snowstorm doesn't intrude as he sits in the cab of a diesel locomotive pulling over two kilometres of coal-filled cars. One conveyer doesn't even move on its own. Instead, a network of ramps and moving belts shifts cargo from one carrier to another in the great UPS transhipment centre between two runways in Kentucky's major airport. Lest you don't consider the distance between aircraft runways sufficiently impressive, to walk around the building entails a hike of 8 kilometres. It is fifteen times the size of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain. The manager has to ask directions if he strolls through the facility. Not everything in this collection is about great size or great speed. The coal train, for example, must move at less than 2 metres per second at one point. McPhee is even allowed to do his own driving, although under direction. He "drives" a 12 metre long model ship in a lake near the French Alps. Ship captains from around the world gather in Port Revel to learn the finer points of maneuvering. Docking and close navigation require precise knowledge of water and wind conditions and how these act on the ship. The ship itself will exhibit its own characteristics, which must also be mastered. In one exercise McPhee relates, not one captain passed the test. Scaling down yet further, McPhee performs a modern update of Henry David Thoreau's journey on New England rivers. The essay may seem a non-sequitor to the theme of the book, but it truly fits as a comparison to how the pace of travel has changed. McPhee's observational powers reach well beyond the given moment. His description of eastern Washington State declares it could be like Umbria in Italy - "just add water". The Illinois River's bizarre history is recalled - having flowed north for millions of years, it was reversed to provide a drainage route. Efficient delivery techniques can allow Nova Scotia lobster to underprice their Swedish cousins - for a Nobel dinner! After riding the coal train to a power-generating station, he totals up what has been achieved. Twenty-three thousand coal trains emerge from the Powder River Basin each year. This is the equivalent of thirty-four thousand miles of rolling coal "going off as units to become carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide" and other pollutants to air-condition a population so needful of comfort that it consumes more coal in the summer than in the winter. McPhee's mastery of language and observational skills make him the leading essayist in the US. He's kept that title for a long time, and this book demonstrates why. Always clear and interesting, this collection exhibits fully his enduring skills. \ostephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada\c