I didn't know about John McPhee before I read this book, and now I'm intrigued to read more of his works. Tabula Rasa is a masterful exploration of the unwritten. This collection of unfinished projects and discarded ideas is proof that everything in life can be turned into a compelling story. I really liked McPhee's writing style. His prose is clear, vivid and highly descriptive. He has a remarkable ability to weave together seemingly disparate threads into a coherent and engaging narrative. Despite being unfinished, McPhee's careful observations and knowledge of his topics are evident in each essay. Each essay is intriguing, insightful, and engaging. Some of my favorites include On the Campus, Blind Skier and Impostor Syndrome. Highly recommend!

John McPhee undertook this book of essays as an "old-man project." As an author, McPhee recognizes he may be running shorter on time: a book project may not reach its conclusion. However, essays have limitless potential. Mark Twain was the inspiration, who dictated his autobiography in bits and pieces towards the end of his life. 

McPhee's premise has a touch of meta about it: in TABULA RASA, each essay is a topic he meant to write on, but didn't. So here we get glimpses of writing projects of various lengths, snippets of what could have been. We have this retrospective that touches on his huge range of interests, and it's aptly called Volume One, to allow for future installments.

It was a pleasurable listen, and I'm drawn to books of essays (as well as poetry and short stories) when my schedule is especially demanding, as it allows me to get closure even if the only time I have to listen is a handful of minutes as I wait at school pickup.

The audiobook is narrated by Grover Gardner, a perfect pairing. Gardner can sound professorial when the occasion warrants, but then his voice alters to sound as if he's about to laugh if the topic is amusing.

(I received a digital ALC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

"Tabula Rasa" by John McPhee was just an absolute pleasure--reading it felt like sinking into a cozy armchair in his study with a cup of coffee (or perhaps the bourbon that he writes about here) and watching as he rummages through scraps of paper from his desk and bookshelves and fondly reminisces about the projects that never were. In contrast to his long form pieces for The New Yorker, the bits of writing collected here are bite-sized morsels, some tasty enough that you wish McPhee and his editor at The New Yorker, the redoubtable Mr. Shawn, had decided to spin them out into full length articles, and others the kind of fun but half-baked concepts that were clearly not meant to be. Reading about them all, however, is nothing less than interesting (and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny) and reinforces why McPhee is an undisputed master of his craft. He jokingly refers to this as “Volume 1,” calling it the kind of “old-person project” meant to “keep the old writer alive by never coming to an end.” We can only hope that a “Tabula Rasa: Volume 2” is forthcoming.

I sometimes listened to the audiobook of this title and sometimes read the digital ARC and loved both experiences. Narrator Grover Gardner was an inspired choice to read the audiobook; his narrative skill was particularly impressive when he was reading an entire passage written in Spanish (in “La Torre Pendente”); a piece that was clearly not meant to be read aloud (“Hyperlincs, the Gettysburg Addresses, or the Shot Heard Round the Web”); or a piece entitled “The Monks of Pharma,” about the intentionally difficult to pronounce and remember names of generic drugs. Kudos to him for making even these pieces a pleasure to listen to. I will definitely be adding the lovely hardcover edition to my reference shelf. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review, and to Recorded Books for providing the audiobook.

Tabula Rasa means “clean slate”. McPhee calls this project his slate clearing as he looks through old files and thinks about the stories that didn’t get all the way written. He says this is an “Old man’s project”, one he describes as one that has no end or an end so far away that it instills in the back of one’s mind the belief that one will continue to live in order to complete it. It gives a purpose to each new day.
“To Keep writing is to keep living.” He said in a recent interview.

I graduated from journalism school at a time before computers, when we were herded into a back room that might have been used by a secretarial school, with rows and rows of typewriters. It will age us both, McPhee and I, in those days John McPhee, a writer of pieces for the New Yorker and long essay type books was held as the gold standard for a type of writing he is credited to have perfected in those years, that of Creative Non-fiction. Now he teaches students to do the same. McPhee has written lots and lots of books in this field through the years and this latest in a compilation of stories that might have been written for various publications through his writing career or pieces for books that he did write and these bits just didn’t fit or grow into anything.

He says that these are scenes in need of stories and that’s exactly what they are. They are small bites of what might have made an interesting meal or really had so little substance or flavors to chew on and were better left aside. I listened to the audio and like a short story collection there were pieces I loved and several I had little interest in. McPhee often wrote books about landscape and geography and there are several pieces that fit into that genre of his writing, but I found the ones I liked best were of a more personal nature, describing his growing up in and around Princeton University, his father was an doctor for some of the sports teams, his later attending there and now as a professor of writing. Some of this runs through many of the unfinished pieces and there are several that are in a more polished present-day form. They are the best in the collection for sure. In particular one discussing teaching classes remotely during covid was excellent.
A great collection especially in audio, read by Grove Gardner. I felt the narration was well done, so easy to listen to and with the occasional really great pieces spread throughout I found this collection quite thought provoking and made me want to go back and enjoy some of McPhee’s other works.

Life experiences from John Mcphee. Pretty entertaining. A bit slow at first which made me hesitant to finish it. But quite alright for understanding the thoughts of a man.

This is a collection of essays by John McPhee who, despite his apparent stature, I have never heard of.

However there are some really interesting pieces in this volume and there's a fair bit of name dropping that goes on but then what do you expect from a distinguished Rhodes scholar man from Princeton.

I was fascinated by some of the articles, especially the one about Princeton University's Advanced Study Department or the story about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are several pieces about architecture and some about sports so I can only gather that John McPhee had a wide range of interests and specialisms. He certainly writes in a very engaging manner. Some of it reminded me of Joan Didion's White Album.

Recommended for fans of McPhee or just those (like me) who enjoy an interesting mix of essays.

John McPhee is a renowned American writer, considered one of the pioneers of narrative nonfiction and a four time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Annals of the Former World would win this prize in 1999. Tabula Rasa: Volume 1 finds McPhee looking back at his career, exploring all the works he had at different points intended to write, but never did. Sections range through topics such as an imagined biography of a friend who died in his youth, works inspired by names on highway signs, the difficulty of having your work published, the many different impacts of Princeton on his life, and many other ideas. While mostly centered on his projects, one section details McPhee's exploration of the unfinished memoirs of his parents.

This book serves as both a miscellany highlight of his work and an unchronological biography, and by being title volume 1 offers the possibility of additional volumes. McPhee writes well, with his strong journalistic background he provides plenty of detail but also has a clarity to his writing. Moods can differ according to the subject of the section, many indulge a wry humor but others show empathy or sorrow.

Wide ranging, and very entertaining, Grover Gardner skillfully narrates the book. His tone well matching the content being both playful and serious as the section demands. This book should appeal to any reader of nonfiction or those looking for insight into the craft of writing.