no title trickery here

My main takeaway from this book is that if you're interested in something (however niche it may be), and you have some writing talent, research skills, and support from a publisher, you can write about anything you want and see it sell. Like, this book is literally all about oranges and nothing else. It starts with generalizations and overall fun, scattered orange facts before getting into some etymology, historical significance, geographical and biological explanations, and brief anecdotes from the author concerning some cool orange-related individuals in Florida. It also has a structure meant to function like bones---holding up the entire framework, but not visible. Cause at first I said, "Okay, this really is just oranges. No trickery from the title here." But then a closer look at how certain chapters transition from one to the next, building bridges from one seemingly unrelated orange fact to another, helps readers distinguish how large and far reaching the influence of oranges in social and economic spheres is. I've been joking with my peers who read this with me that we each have an absurd amount of orange facts to pull out at random functions, but I sincerely love in such a nerdy way that McPhee's writing has inspired so many writers to publish stuff about their unique interests. Look at Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, directly inspired by nonfiction writing like McPhee's, or Nick Hornby's work at comparing two seemingly nonlinear figures in Dickens and Prince. The nonfiction genre holds space for scholarship and unique perspectives on the many topics and wonders this world has to offer. The great McPhee has selected oranges (among his many other works that I think I'll eventually be checking out).


My favorite orange fact I learned from reading Oranges​: The fruit on the outside of an orange tree will be sweeter than the fruit growing on the inside. In fact, every orange's placement on a tree will result in slightly different tastes, shapes, and colors that cannot be exactly replicated.

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