protomattr reviewed The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
Review of 'The Log from the Sea of Cortez' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Adventure, science, philosophy, discovery, environmentalism, camaraderie, humor... this book hit high marks on so many levels for me. Steinbeck and his best friend Ed Ricketts meld into a composite character as they narrate the voyage of the Western Flyer in the Gulf of California, picking up tide pool specimens, interacting with the locals, and shooting the breeze. Powered by 90 cases of beer, their six-week expedition turned out to be fertile ground not only for exploring a fascinating part of the world, but also for plumbing the depths of thought. The writing is almost universally top-notch, and whether this is attributable to Steinbeck's mastery of his craft, or Ricketts' singular mind, or both, it is difficult to say, but in the end perhaps it doesn't matter. Following the log is an excellent character sketch of Ricketts by Steinbeck, written after the former died when his car was hit by a …
Adventure, science, philosophy, discovery, environmentalism, camaraderie, humor... this book hit high marks on so many levels for me. Steinbeck and his best friend Ed Ricketts meld into a composite character as they narrate the voyage of the Western Flyer in the Gulf of California, picking up tide pool specimens, interacting with the locals, and shooting the breeze. Powered by 90 cases of beer, their six-week expedition turned out to be fertile ground not only for exploring a fascinating part of the world, but also for plumbing the depths of thought. The writing is almost universally top-notch, and whether this is attributable to Steinbeck's mastery of his craft, or Ricketts' singular mind, or both, it is difficult to say, but in the end perhaps it doesn't matter. Following the log is an excellent character sketch of Ricketts by Steinbeck, written after the former died when his car was hit by a train. The characterizations in the main text are also excellent, including the captain and crew of the Western Flyer, the ship itself, and even the temperamental outboard motor they used on their skiff.
"And it is a strange thing that most of the feeling we call religious, most of the mystical outcrying which is one of the most prized and used and desired reactions of our species, is really the understanding and the attempt to say that man is related to the whole thing, related inextricably to all reality, known and unknowable. This is a simple thing to say, but the profound feeling of it made a Jesus, a St. Augustine, a St. Frances, a Roger Bacon, a Charles Darwin, and an Einstein. Each of them in his own tempo and with his own voice discovered and reaffirmed with astonishment the knowledge that all things are one thing and that one thing is all things—plankton, a shimmering phosphorescence on the sea and the spinning planets and an expanding universe, all bound together by the elastic string of time. It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again."
