Sarah's review

The Log from the Sea of Cortez
by John Steinbeck

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4803.The_Log_from_the_Sea_of_Cortez?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Log from the Sea of Cortez" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165457645m/4803.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4803.The_Log_from_the_Sea_of_Cortez?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Log from the Sea of Cortez</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/585.John_Steinbeck">John Steinbeck</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7995287?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars This is kind of a cheat, because it's not the main book that I love, it's the preface Steinbeck added to it after Ed Ricketts died, called About Ed Ricketts. Ed Ricketts was the founder of the Pacific Biology Labs, in Monterey, and the character of Doc in Cannery Row was based on him. Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts were great friends. Ed was an almost mythical figure - a brilliant, eccentric guy. He changed marine biology - and all biology - by re-classifying organisms by their habitat, instead of the usual species/phylum setup. He took long trips, like the one to the Sea of Cortez which Steinbeck went on, to collect and document sea creatures. He was fascinated by them. He loved the ugliest, weirdest ones the most - he used to call his girlfriend "Wormy" as a fond nickname, because he loved worms so much. He was always wading around in tidepools, but hated to get his head wet, and wore a sou'wester in the shower. He spoke many languages, had an expensive safe in which he kept only cheese, and loved women - what's not to like? He was the unofficial benefactor of a group of street bums in Monterey, and kept them in beer and tobacco by hiring them to catch frogs and collect tidepool creatures. Steinbeck wrote About Ed Ricketts after Ricketts' car stalled on the train track in Monterey and was hit by a train. He died after a few days in the hospital. Ed Rickett's laboratory was bought by a consortium of admirers, and it remains today, a little grey shacklike building, which stands out like a neon sign in the middle of the horrible tourist theme park that Monterey's Cannery Row has become. You can see it, in between the Monterey Aquarium and Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory, for god's sake. You can walk up the creaky old steps, and look in the window - it's been kept up exactly as it was when Ed died, with a spartan little room with a cot and an old army blanket where Ed slept, and beyond, his lab, with big jars holding weird, pickled creatures that Ed caught. You can't go in, but they open it up a few times a year for small groups. The way Steinbeck wrote about Ed Ricketts, the picture he drew of him, is a touching display of love and respect and friendship. If I could meet one dead person, it would be Ed Ricketts, based on the stories Steinbeck tells. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/563983?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Sarah's review
rating:

status: Read in January, 1988

This is kind of a cheat, because it's not the main book that I love, it's the preface Steinbeck added to it after Ed Ricketts died, called About Ed Ricketts. Ed Ricketts was the founder of the Pacific Biology Labs, in Monterey, and the character of Doc in Cannery Row was based on him. Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts were great friends. Ed was an almost mythical figure - a brilliant, eccentric guy. He changed marine biology - and all biology - by re-classifying organisms by their habitat, instead of the usual species/phylum setup. He took long trips, like the one to the Sea of Cortez which Steinbeck went on, to collect and document sea creatures. He was fascinated by them. He loved the ugliest, weirdest ones the most - he used to call his girlfriend "Wormy" as a fond nickname, because he loved worms so much. He was always wading around in tidepools, but hated to get his head wet, and wore a sou'wester in the shower. He spoke many languages, had an expensive safe in whi...more This is kind of a cheat, because it's not the main book that I love, it's the preface Steinbeck added to it after Ed Ricketts died, called About Ed Ricketts. Ed Ricketts was the founder of the Pacific Biology Labs, in Monterey, and the character of Doc in Cannery Row was based on him. Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts were great friends. Ed was an almost mythical figure - a brilliant, eccentric guy. He changed marine biology - and all biology - by re-classifying organisms by their habitat, instead of the usual species/phylum setup. He took long trips, like the one to the Sea of Cortez which Steinbeck went on, to collect and document sea creatures. He was fascinated by them. He loved the ugliest, weirdest ones the most - he used to call his girlfriend "Wormy" as a fond nickname, because he loved worms so much. He was always wading around in tidepools, but hated to get his head wet, and wore a sou'wester in the shower. He spoke many languages, had an expensive safe in which he kept only cheese, and loved women - what's not to like? He was the unofficial benefactor of a group of street bums in Monterey, and kept them in beer and tobacco by hiring them to catch frogs and collect tidepool creatures.
Steinbeck wrote About Ed Ricketts after Ricketts' car stalled on the train track in Monterey and was hit by a train. He died after a few days in the hospital. Ed Rickett's laboratory was bought by a consortium of admirers, and it remains today, a little grey shacklike building, which stands out like a neon sign in the middle of the horrible tourist theme park that Monterey's Cannery Row has become. You can see it, in between the Monterey Aquarium and Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory, for god's sake. You can walk up the creaky old steps, and look in the window - it's been kept up exactly as it was when Ed died, with a spartan little room with a cot and an old army blanket where Ed slept, and beyond, his lab, with big jars holding weird, pickled creatures that Ed caught. You can't go in, but they open it up a few times a year for small groups.
The way Steinbeck wrote about Ed Ricketts, the picture he drew of him, is a touching display of love and respect and friendship. If I could meet one dead person, it would be Ed Ricketts, based on the stories Steinbeck tells. ...less

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