John McPhee, Coming into the Country (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976).

Now that I am a confirmed John McPhee fan, I have been putting off reading his book about Alaska until I felt that I had earned a little treat. The book is much bigger than a little treat. It contains three books in one: Book I - At the Northern Treeline - The Encircled River; Book II - In Urban Alaska - What They Were Hunting For; and Book III - In the Bush - Coming into the Country. What a rich treat! John McPhee does such a good job of character development that the reader is convinced that we have known the characters for many years. I savored the descriptions of places almost as much as I did the descriptions of people. The book is a genuine joy for those who aspire to visit Alaska and who have entertained fantasies of living in the north country.

The book was worth the wait and a joy to read from start to finish.