In his newest (after Annals), McPhee leads readers out to the river—pole and lures in hand—to angle for American shad. McPhee knows where the fish are running, so to speak, and he opens with a ...

Eighty-seven and 33. That’s the age of John McPhee and the number of books he’s written, counting his latest, “The Patch.” One could forgive McPhee if he spent all his time in a canoe with a fishing ...