John McPhee's so goddamn good, one of the best nonfiction writers out there. The absolute master of nonfiction narrative structure, imho.
And yeah, Deep Time is... a hell of a trip.
Oh I love McPhee and I've never read this one, I am absolutely looking it up. The Control of Nature changed me, absolutely complicated the way I think about the world.
Fuck yeah The Control of Nature is great.
Basin and Range is the first book in the geology series.
Another fav of min is "Waiting for a Ship", about the merchant marine.