Customer Reviews

The Pine Barrens

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I'm a big fan of McPhee (I think the "Curve of Binding Energy" is his best work) and this is one of his absolute best. I lived in New Jersey for most of my life but was unaware of what the Pine Barrens had been. McPhee's description of the natural wonders of the place is compelling and I was utterly fascinated by his stories of the pre-colonial settlers there. After reading the book, I've taken the long drive down Route 202 to visit and it is an other-worldly place to this day. Just as he described it years earlier, I found myself swimming in crystal clear, deep burgundy spring water, turned red by the rich iron deposits in the soil.

Do yourself and favor and read this book.

I live out west now. I just returned to the east for a visit. I drove down to the NJ Pine Barrens and I camped out one night in the Plains (the dwarf forest), no doubt in violation of millions of New Jersey rules and regulations. The benign peacefulness of the place, the smell of the pines, the sound of the wind, all swept over me. I used to live in Manhattan. I'd often make the 2 1/2 or 3 hour drive to hike and canoe and camp in the Barrens. I love that magical forest, the dark bogs, the open plains, the pure rivers, the endless sandy roads. John McPhee's book truly captures the atmosphere of this very special place in the world.

Those of us from the Northeast know that wilderness can be found if you're willing to hit the road and search for it, and also that it's precious and worth protecting from the onslaught of industry and sprawl. But even those familiar with the region's wilderness offerings will be surprised by the natural bounty and remoteness of New Jersey's Pine Barrens area. The masterful essayist John McPhee published this travelogue and study of the area back in 1967, when the depths of the Pine Barrens still offered genuine seclusion form the outside world, with hardy folks still living off the land by picking berries or making charcoal. And this beautiful area was surrounded on all sides by the most urbanized and industrialized blight on Earth. Things aren't quite so rustic there anymore, but reading McPhee's engaging treatise on the area should make modern folks wish to both visit the Pine Barrens area as a valuable slice of nature, and to protect it as a precious and dwindling resource. That's what makes this short but lovable book from the great McPhee a timeless classic for nature lovers. [~doomsdayer520~]

When I was growing up in New Jersey, people occasionally spoke of "The Pines", a mysterious forest to the south that was home to an asylum where escapees roamed and murdered unsuspecting travelers. McPhee not only explains the origins of this half-myth, he also divulges numerous other secrets about the the New Jersey pine barrens and their fascinating inhabitants, affectionately known as "Pineys." This remarkable and enormous wilderness area lies directly between New York and Philadelphia and, incredibly, remains undeveloped, but it's full of history and a wealth of extraordinary flora and fauna. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to New Jersey-ites and anyone else interested in unique natural places.

While John McPhee's best known bit of nature writing is his tribute to Alaska, "Coming into the Country", before it he wrote "The Pine Barrens". The Pine Barrens were a chunk of New Jersey (!) that was mostly unspoiled sandy woodlands in 1968. Filled with colorful folks, and even more colorful tradition, the Barrens were a retreat for those who knew to escape to them from the cities that surrounded it. Now, alas, development has slunk deep into the Barrens, were there was once dirt roads and craftsmen still making bark canoes, now there are commuter suburbs with cutesy names like "Piney Haven". Please don't think that the book isn't worth your time, just because most of what it describes has passed. The genius of McPhee is that his prose is so wonderfull and timeless, that the people and places of the Pine Barrens still live in the book. Read it, and resolve to maintain the little slice of nature near you that is still there. Don't know where it might be? This book will inspire you to find it, around the corner and back behind something. When you find it, you'll know it, and you'll want to help it survive.

This is not the kind of book I normally read but, since it is being promoted by the NJ Library Association and the NJ State Library as the One Book New Jersey selection for 2004, and I am a New Jersey librarian, I felt I ought to. Having said that, and having read the book, I must say that those librarians who lobbied for The Pine Barrens, certainly chose wisely. The book is utterly charming. Mr. McPhee's prose style is elegant in an unshowy way and thoroughly engaging. I felt as if I was gliding through the book and picking up the most interesting information about the Pine Barrens and its inhabitants along the way. I can't imagine anyone not liking this book.

This amazing, still relevant book is the Main Selection for ONE BOOK NEW JERSEY- a state wide reading initiative that supports literacy and celebrates New Jersey's Libraries. John McPhee's elegant hand offers the whole world focused through the filter of the New Jersey Pine Barrens
** Check out all the details at www.OneBookNewJersey.org**
  1999 Pulitzer Prize Winner and native New Jerseyan John McPhee spoke compellingly at the 'kick-off' press conference recently at the Princeton Public Library and mentioned that having the chance to revisit "The Pine Barrens" through the new statewide reading program has presented him with a rare opportunity. "One of the things in my work," he said, "is that you have to move on to the next thing. But I have a lot of nostolgia for the things I write about."
  In "The Pine Barrens," Mr. McPhee combines detailed descriptions of the region's culture, ecology and history with anecdotes gleaned from meeting its residents through his travels.
  Born and raised in Princeton and a professor at his alma mater, Princeton University, Mr. McPhee said the selection of his book is terrific. "I was really quite amazed that 40 years after I started in on it," it's still relevant, he said. "I'm glad it's alive."
  A friend from his days at Princeton High School suggested the Pine Barrens as a subject, Mr. McPhee said. "He said there are holes in the ground so deep there's no bottom and the people, they're dangerous and all that," Mr. McPhee recalled.
  The Pinelands, totaling 1.1 million acres and encompassing 22 percent of New Jersey's land area, is host to legends, myth and intrigue about its residents, sometimes referred to as the Pineys.
  Mr. McPhee found no bottomless holes and discovered the Pine Barrens residents were "wonderful," and many strongly believed in the Jersey Devil and other myths.
  Fortunately the Pine Barrens, a spectacular and unique part of the beautiful and varied state of NJ, has changed little in the 37 years since the book was published and ONE BOOK NEW JERSEY 2004 offers people a chance to read, re-read and discuss this essential and beautifully written piece of non-fiction.
  At age of 15 it opened me up to the powerful world of non-fiction -- let it do the same for you!!

John McPhee's book about the still-wild region of New Jersey called the Pine Barrens is a must-read for anyone interested in ecology or regional culture. When it was written in 1967, a great disservice had been done to the people of the Pines (called "Pineys") through the release of studies claiming they were all slow, stupid, and inbred; McPhee did much to dispell these harmful myths. He also discusses the unique flora and fauna of the area, and the possibility of development, which fortunately never occured. I also recommend _Cranberry Queen_ by Kathleen DeMarco for a fictional taste of the Pine Barrens region.

My wife gave me this book in 1978, and I devoured it in one evening. I have since been all over the world, and no matter where I go, the pines are always the reference point for me. My teen years were spent in the pines, with my good friend Tom, where we would travel its dirt roads, canoe its streams and fish its lakes, and hike its trails and roads. Mr. McPhee weaves a story that is so true, so historically rich, and for me, so reminiscent of the years of my youth. Please read this book, and then go and make your own memories.

Ecological, both natural and social, books abound these days, but that wasn't the case back in 1967 when this book was first published. Hopefully in the intervening years, McPhee's elegant but spare prose has helped remove or at least, temper the damage done early in the Twentieth Century to the reputation of the Pine Barrens and its denizens by well-meaning, if arrogant, social scientists. The Barrens is truly a glorious piece of nature and those who dwell there have their own unique charm and grace. McPhee, a consummate raconteur, reveals both with intelligence and a warm empathy. It's still hard to believe that the Barrens exist, mere miles from the rambunctious urbanity of Philadelphia and New York City, but McPhee's book, still vital and relevant after all these years, truly makes you want to visit and maybe even stay.