Rating: 
Summary: A very easy book to read
Review: I thought an entire book about oranges would be pretty boring, but I found myself staying up until 2 in the morning reading this book. I found this book very interesting and very easy to read. McPhee does a wonderful job researching his topic.
Rating: 
Summary: Oranges
Review: If you like John Mcphee, you'll like this book as much as his others. If you are about to vacation in Florida - BRING THIS BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: Oranges
Review: If you like John Mcphee, you'll like this book as much as his others. If you are about to vacation in Florida - BRING THIS BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: An Oranges book? Kidding, right?
Review: Nope, I'm not; but that was my reaction when I first picked this book up and began browsing through it. Now I have read and re-read it many times, getting different things out of it each time. It is an old friend of mine.
Rating:
Summary: Favorite McPhee
Review: Oranges was my first and remains my most favorite McPhee book! I have always been a fan of non-books: dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedia. So, McPhee's Oranges certainly resonated with me. He is one of the few authors of non-fiction who writes beautifully - even his lists are fantastic. Oranges shows in a succinct format the beauty and creativity possible in natural history writing, especially when nature is so entertwined with culture. I have recommended Oranges to my friends and colleagues who like natural history, food, and/or poetry. Oranges is a must-read. If you enjoy it, follow up with any of McPhee's other books.
Rating:
Summary: The "Orange" thief strikes twice...
Review: Yes, I am the person who liberated this exquisite book from the lending library at Del Bocca Vista, the over 55 condo association in southern Florida, while on vacation last December. I tucked it under my shirt then biked over to the pool where I peeled its thin skin, and read it while the juice of an orange (which I had snatched on the way to the pool from the overloaded tree of an unsuspecting neighbor...trusting our secret is safe), ran down my arm depositing its sweetness at the crook of my elbow. It was truly the best orange I ever tasted, made even more succulent by my inadvertently applying McPhee's lesson that oranges taken from the interior southwest portion of a tree are typically the tastiest. As a bonus, and a tribute to the domino effect of knowledge, I recently began reading "The Poisonwood Bible," the story of a woman, her missionary husband and their four children in the 1960's Belgian Congo. I was pleased to make the connection between "the blood red juice" of an orange the mother was opening, and the description read earlier in the McPhee book about blood red oranges. I am certain the passage about this atypical (to us) orange in "The Poisonwood Bible" would have made no sense whatever had I not read about blood red oranges in the McPhee "bible of oranges." I am also more aware of the fact that the taste of oranges differs not only from tree to tree but within the same tree and I have a much more inspired interest and understanding of the history and growth of Florida though the citrus industry. All hail McPhee.
Rating:
Summary: The "Orange" thief strikes twice...
Review: Yes, I am the person who liberated this exquisite book from the lending library at Del Bocca Vista, the over 55 condo association in southern Florida, while on vacation last December. I tucked it under my shirt then biked over to the pool where I peeled its thin skin, and read it while the juice of an orange (which I had snatched on the way to the pool from the overloaded tree of an unsuspecting neighbor...trusting our secret is safe), ran down my arm depositing its sweetness at the crook of my elbow. It was truly the best orange I ever tasted, made even more succulent by my inadvertently applying McPhee's lesson that oranges taken from the interior southwest portion of a tree are typically the tastiest. As a bonus, and a tribute to the domino effect of knowledge, I recently began reading "The Poisonwood Bible," the story of a woman, her missionary husband and their four children in the 1960's Belgian Congo. I was pleased to make the connection between "the blood red juice" of an orange the mother was opening, and the description read earlier in the McPhee book about blood red oranges. I am certain the passage about this atypical (to us) orange in "The Poisonwood Bible" would have made no sense whatever had I not read about blood red oranges in the McPhee "bible of oranges." I am also more aware of the fact that the taste of oranges differs not only from tree to tree but within the same tree and I have a much more inspired interest and understanding of the history and growth of Florida though the citrus industry. All hail McPhee.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful novel of the orange through history
Review: You might think that a whole book on oranges was just too much, but I read this book as eagerly as if it was a mystery and I couldn't wait to see what was on the next page. It is worth reading for the writing alone, as McPhee's style brings the groves to life and makes you laugh aloud at times with subtle humor. In addition to describing the origin of oranges, their cultivation and rising popularity from when the Hesperides would watch them to the present of the book (1967), he explains how it came to be that most of us have orange juice for breakfast. There is some very interesting science in the book as well, and it seems quite thorough in every respect (after all, it is an entire book on oranges!). There are some excellent character descriptions of the original settlers and orange barons as well: "The Indians hated Russell and always had. One of them fired at him and nicked him the arm. Feeling pain that night, Russell went into the boat's cabin and groped in the dark for a bottle of salve. Picking up a bottle of ink by mistake, he poured it over his arm. When the sun came up, he thought he had gangrene. The others knew that it was ink, but they thought even less of Russell than the Indians did, and they said nothing." It is a must-read for anyone who is traveling to FL and wants to know more about the real FL and less about theme-parks! The only disappointment might be for those who live in California, as although CA oranges are given a place, the main focus is on FL. A great read!
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