Uncommon Carriers

By: John McPhee

Narrated by: John McPhee

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

From Pulitzer Prize-winner John McPhee, author of The Founding Fish, comes the fascinating story of an often overlooked, yet vitally important part of America. This first-hand account of the transportation sector features evocative portraits of the men and women who deliver our consumer and industrial goods.

McPhee begins his adventure riding with Don Ainsworth, owner and operator of an 18-wheeler hauling nearly 30 tons of highly toxic chemicals from North Carolina to Washington. He continues his journey on a towboat pushing over 1,000 feet of barge up the narrow channel of the Illinois River. He rounds out his account crawling through Nebraska, Kansas, and the Powder River Basin of Wyoming in massive coal trains. Along the way, he tells the stories of the people he meets and the places he visits. McPhee's sense of humor, incisive observations, and historical asides make for a highly entertaining journey across America.

©2006 John McPhee (P)2006 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"As always, McPhee's eye for idiosyncratic detail keeps the stories (some of which have appeared in The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly) lively and frequently moves them in interesting directions." (Publishers Weekly)

THE TITLE IS JUST THE BEGINING

I LOVE THE DETAIL THE AUTHOR GIVES EACH SECTION. YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE A PART OF A NEW PROFESSION.
SO MUCH TO LEARN ABOUT EACH MODE OF TRANSPORTATION. INFORMATION YOU NEVER DREAM ABOUT WHEN
YOU SEE 'THE COMPANY' TRUCK PASSING BY YOU. I LOVE THE HISTORY AND FACTS GIVEN ABOUT EACH MAN'S
WORK DAY.

Could Write About Lint And Make It Interesting

What did you love best about Uncommon Carriers?

McPhee's style can inject life into anything. He has a knack for digging into a subject, going granular about it, and coming out the other side of a topic with a perspective that fascinates.

What did you like best about this story?

The way he connects humanity with ground, the way he links history with the now.

Which scene was your favorite?

Riverboat towboat scenes

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but it's also worth doing a chapter at a time while commuting or trying to drift off to sleep at night.

Any additional comments?

It's cool that the author narrated it; he has solid narration skills, though the sound mixing team might have done a better job of redacting ongoing continuous clicks and pops that sound like dentures clacking. It takes some getting used to.

great listen

wonderful narration really enjoyed this interesting book. Good subject matter. Will listen again . Pleased that it was recommended.

Great Listen for a Road Trip

Interesting collection of essays about various modes of transportation in America. Highly recommend! John McPhee is brilliant. He makes what might be a mundane topic totally fascinating.

There's a lot of stuff being shipped around

Narrated by the author. His narration is slow and somewhat quirky, but I came to like it.

My favorite chapters were:
"A Fleet of One" and "A Fleet of One - II" about a guy who owns a chemical tanker.
"Tight-Assed River" about small boats that push strings of barges ("longer than the Titanic") up and down the Illinois River
"Out in the Sort" about the travels of live lobsters sold by a Nova Scotia company, Clearwater Seafoods (which may make you not want to eat lobster at Asian buffets any more) and the sorting facility at the UPS Worldport facility in Louisville, KY
"Coal Train" about 19,000 ton coal-laden trains more than a mile long and the Union Pacific engineers, conductors, and dispatchers who get them where they're going (the dispatchers sometimes quit the job and go into air traffic controlling, because it is easier).

There are also chapters about a ship-handling course that uses scale models, and a canoe trip; those are good too but they didn't fascinate me.

5/5

It’s been a long while since I last read McPhee. This was an absolute pleasure. McPhee is less personal and more precise than E. B. White, but they share an awe of the everyday that is not to be missed.

I love John McPhee -a National Treasure

His story in last week's New Yorker about his penchant for collecting errant golf balls prompted me to start relistening to this. We had originally listened on a cross country drive so the story of the chemical tanker was perfect. Then, in Wyoming, the BNSF coal train segment was playing as we drove quite close to Powder River where the coal conveyor belt starts. It is a (dryly) FUNNY book (his narration makes it more so) with just the right amount of his personal bias built into the lush descriptions of all these folks who MOVE things.
This is one of the few books I leave on my phone permanently.
2022- his short memory pieces in the February 7 2022 New Yorker are fantastic.

Entertaining!

As always, John McPhee writes an entertaining book about something you never thought to think about but will find fascinating in his words. The author as narrator also adds a great deal to make this book personal. I hope he keeps writing forever!

Good Book but Random Chapter Divisions

The book was good, but the chaptering seemed rather random; I enjoyed the narration.

Not A Boring Minute

John McPhee’s detailed descriptions are fascinating, educational and entertaining. Nelson Runger’s performance puts you beside MePhee throughout his adventure!