{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374518734?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0374518734","authors":["John McPhee"],"book_id":"9780374518738","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/annals-of-the-former-world-9780374518738","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780374518738.jpg?v=9932b5becc66e7b6","description":"The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, across the fortieth parallel and down through 4.6 billion years Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the style of the geologists he traveled with. The structure of the book never changed, but its breadth caused him to complete it in stages, under the overall title Annals of the Former World . Like the terrain it covers, Annals of the Former World tells a multilayered tale, and the reader may choose one of many paths through it. As clearly and succinctly written as it is profoundly informed, this is our finest popular survey of geology and a masterpiece of modern nonfiction. Annals of the Former World is the winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780374518738","publication_date":"20000615","publisher":"Farrar Straus &amp; Giroux","slug":"annals-of-the-former-world","subtitle":"","title":"Annals of the Former World"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"NAT045040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Wilderness & Wild Places","score":0.7575,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036140","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Western U.S. History","score":0.7533,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV026090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Literary Travel","score":0.7531,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"NAT045040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Wilderness & Wild Places","score":0.7575,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036140","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Western U.S. History","score":0.7533,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV026090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Literary Travel","score":0.7531,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"SCI020000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Ecology","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI027000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Evolution","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI031000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Geology","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Wilderness & Wild Places","score":0.7575,"slug":"wilderness-wild-places"},{"label":"Western U.S. History","score":0.7533,"slug":"western-u-s-history"},{"label":"Literary Travel","score":0.7531,"slug":"literary-travel"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in accessible surveys of geology","Readers curious about geologists and how they work"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["John McPhee","Betty Crumley"],"book_id":"9780374514310","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780374514310.jpg?v=8c01285e934614a6","score":0.6934,"title":"Encounters With the Archdruid","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780374514310"},{"authors":["Bill Bryson"],"book_id":"9780767908184","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780767908184.jpg?v=3bf36bb93a000489","score":0.691,"title":"A Short History of Nearly Everything","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780767908184"},{"authors":["Kenneth A. Brown"],"book_id":"9780060927592","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060927592.jpg?v=3e744523b213170c","score":0.6904,"title":"Four Corners","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060927592"},{"authors":["Susan Orlean","Jaime Green"],"book_id":"9780063414211","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063414211.jpg?v=bda19665136f4df8","score":0.6767,"title":"The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063414211"},{"authors":["Simon Winchester"],"book_id":"9780060572006","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060572006.jpg?v=cb47fed0a2dda393","score":0.6717,"title":"A Crack in the Edge of the World","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060572006"},{"authors":["Geert Mak"],"book_id":"9780307280572","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780307280572.jpg?v=e220d3080fe22539","score":0.6702,"title":"In Europe","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780307280572"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:natural history"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:earth science"],"label":"Science","score":0.1776,"slug":"science"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Geology, North American terrain, Earth's deep history.","Themes: History, Science.","Reading lane: Wilderness & Wild Places and Western U.s. History."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.94,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in accessible surveys of geology","Readers curious about geologists and how they work"],"themes":["Geology","North American terrain","Earth's deep history"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":4404,"goodreads_reviews_count":356,"quality_score":0.9312}}