{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374514429?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0374514429","authors":["John McPhee"],"book_id":"9780374514426","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-pine-barrens-9780374514426","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780374514426.jpg?v=ae13b8a7bdbf3318","description":"“It will be a long time before another book appears to equal the literary quality and human compassion of this one.” — The New York Times Book Review Most people think of New Jersey as a suburban-industrial corridor that runs between New York and Philadelphia. Yet in the low center of the state is a near wilderness, larger than most national parks, which has been known since the seventeenth century as the Pine Barrens. The term refers to the predominant trees in the vast forests that cover the area and to the quality of the soils below, which are too sandy and acid to be good for farming. On all sides, however, developments of one kind or another have gradually moved in, so that now the central and integral forest is reduced to about a thousand square miles. Although New Jersey has the heaviest population density of any state, huge segments of the Pine Barrens remain uninhabited. The few people who dwell in the region, the “Pineys,” are little known and often misunderstood. Here John McPhee uses his uncanny skills as a journalist to explore the history of the region and describe the people—and their distinctive folklore—who call it home.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780374514426","publication_date":"19780501","publisher":"Farrar Straus & Giroux","slug":"the-pine-barrens","subtitle":"","title":"The Pine Barrens"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"NAT045040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Wilderness & Wild Places","score":0.7148,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Atlantic History","score":0.7013,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV025050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Atlantic Travel (NJ, NY, PA)","score":0.694,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"NAT045040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Wilderness & Wild Places","score":0.7148,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Atlantic History","score":0.7013,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV025050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Atlantic Travel (NJ, NY, PA)","score":0.694,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"NAT014000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Forests & Rainforests","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"NAT024000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Nature Writing","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"TRV025050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Middle Atlantic Travel (NJ, NY, PA)","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Wilderness & Wild Places","score":0.7148,"slug":"wilderness-wild-places"},{"label":"Middle Atlantic History","score":0.7013,"slug":"middle-atlantic-history"},{"label":"Middle Atlantic Travel (NJ, NY, PA)","score":0.694,"slug":"middle-atlantic-travel-nj-ny-pa"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in the history of New Jersey’s Pine Barrens","Good for readers interested in the region’s people and distinctive folklore"],"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":0.6723,"title":"Encounters With the Archdruid","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780374514310"},{"authors":["John McPhee"],"book_id":"9780374518738","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780374518738.jpg?v=9932b5becc66e7b6","score":0.6494,"title":"Annals of the Former World","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780374518738"},{"authors":["Daniel Mason"],"book_id":"9780593597040","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593597040.jpg?v=aeaa66d75a09eade","score":0.6348,"title":"North Woods","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593597040"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:new jersey history"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Pine Barrens history, Regional folklore, Pine Barrens landscape.","Themes: History.","Reading lane: Wilderness & Wild Places and Middle Atlantic History."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.92,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in the history of New Jersey’s Pine Barrens","Readers interested in the region’s people and distinctive folklore"],"themes":["Pine Barrens history","Regional folklore","Pine Barrens landscape"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":4260,"goodreads_reviews_count":354,"quality_score":0.9309}}