Although still good, to my mind the weakest section of McPhee’s Annals. Not enough geology and too biography heavy. The Love family saga carries things romantically offtrack and becomes reminiscent of Stegner’s Angle of Repose.

Almost 5 stars, but I just don't know enough about geology to have grasped the technical parts of this book. Still, I am so glad I read this book, that McPhee saw what made Wyoming special and wanted to write about it and that the geologist David Love was willing to tell his story and Wyoming's story to McPhee. For those who love Wyoming, geology or both!

This book was phenomenal.
It is a must read for anyone interested in Rocky Mountain geology, or in getting a glimpse into the American west.

This book has been republished in McPhee's larger Annals of a Former World. It is a biography of the famous Wyoming geologist, J. David Love. But it also gives a beautiful overview of the geology of Wyoming through Love's eyes.

Some of the geology is a bit outdated, but it does not distract from the greater good.

4.5. More focused than previous entries in the Annals series. Captures spirit of the the West.

David Love is the Geologist that McPhee travels with in Rising from the Plains. We also learn about Love’s parents and their adventures running a ranch in Wyoming. This is the third book in a series about geology and geologists.

2.5 stars. Interesting book and I learned some broad strokes of geology in the region. However, I could have learned a lot more if either a). I had a stronger background in geology or b). the book had utilized maps and diagrams to explain the points being made. The parts on 19th century life in Wyoming were the best (and needed no maps or diagrams).

McPhee at his best. The author mixes geology, history and humans into a tightly woven story.
Wyoming could not be more alive than in this story about the early 20th century settlers.
John Love settled at the epicenter of Wyoming and has two sons and a daughter. His son, David Love, took up geology of Wyoming in a large way and his observations and tact are the center of McPhee's writing. A well-spun yarn.

Given that my love for geology started in Wyoming, this book is one I will lug around with me for life. Wonderful history of David Love and his family, his geological career working in various industries, and his conflicting feelings on some of the work he is asked to do.

One of 5 volumes of geology with a personal twist that McPhee has written. I have not read McPhee in so long - glad to get back to him.
This is the story of the geology of Wyoming - and a fascinating story it is! McPhee gives it that personal note by telling us the story of the Love family and traveling w/ geologist David Love. His mother was a Wellesley grad who came to WY to teach in a one room schoolhouse, and was wooed by cowboy John Love. The journals of his mother, Ethel Waxman Love, have since been published, and parts were used for Ken Burns' PBS documentary "The West".
For the most part the geology (helps to know your periods, but a graph of them is included in the book) easily holds your interest, but about 2/3rd's of the way through there is a pretty dry patch of about 30 pages that is rough going. Part of the problem is that it is less about WY and more about the over-all geology of the world.
Published in 1986, the changing ecology brought about by the removal of coal, shale, oil, and uranium is already an issue. Even more so today as WY and western ND are booming energy economies (including wind now).
The nice mix of the Love family's story and the geology of 100's of billions of years of the area grabbed me from the get go. Also, it has made the 4 hour drive via I-25 from Denver to Casper, WY and back to see the lady friend more interesting. I now know what it is I am looking at, and notice the different layers in the road cuts.
Highly recommended. His "Basin and Range" is up next for me.

Loved it! Combination of archeology, paleontology, geology, ancient history, American history, and current events. I was entertained and educated. A perfect combination.

There are two related and interconnected stories here: (1) geologist David Love's family's pioneering history in central Wyoming and (2) the geology of Wyoming. McPhee does his darnedest to mash and interweave them together, but he doesn't always succeed elegantly. Unlike his first book in the Annals of the Former World series, In Suspect Terrain, in which McPhee relates details of his travels on Interstate 80 west from New York to the Indiana border with geologist Anita Harris in a fairly linear and straightforward narrative, Rising from the Plains jumps around Wyoming exploring the state's geology piecemeal. Furthermore, McPhee interrupts the geology tour with the saga of the Love family and with David Love's academic training. The resulting book is scattered and sometimes difficult to put together.

McPhee is a geological and geographical name dropper, and it gets irritating ("Aren't I smart?"); sometimes, it feels like McPhee knows these names because he completes the New York Times crossword puzzle and picks up the names of obscure places and geographical features in the process.

Nevertheless, the book is interesting, both in its treatment of Wyoming's geology and the pioneering ranch family's hard luck and resilience.

I wish McPhee would have include some geological cross sections; they would have made some of the written geological descriptions so much easier to understand. Unlike in the other two books in the  series, though, at least there's a map of Wyoming in this book highlighting many of the places McPhee visited.

Very interesting book about the geology of Wyoming & surrounding states. Since I’ve traveled all over the state, it was cool to understand the topography a little more. Written in a way that a lay-person could understand with plenty of personal historical stories scattered throughout.