Science, Volume 205: Page 1122, September 14, 1979
Michael T. Ghiselin
University of California
Bodega Marine Laboratory
Bodega Bay 94923
American Bald Eagle
Breaking Through Littoral Fish Flesh
Kleptoparasitized From An
American Osprey
On The Outer Shores
Compiled by
Robert Roy van de Hoek
December 21, 2000
Winter Solstice
Malibu, California
The Outer Shores. From the Papers of Edward F. Ricketts. Introduced and edited by Joel W. Hedgpeth. Mad River Press, Eureka, California, 1978. In two volumes. Part 1, Ed Ricketts and John Steinbeck Explore the Pacific Coast. xii, 128pp., illus. Paper, $7.95. Part 2, Breaking Through. x, 182pp., illus. Paper, $9.45. The two volumes, $15.97.
James Boswell was one of the greatest biographers who ever lived, but his talents would have been largely wasted had not his friend the great lexicographer provided him with something to write about. A rather similar relationship holds between John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts.
Ricketts is the culture hero of marine biology. He founded the modern study of intertidal zonation, and wrote, with Jack Calvin, a classic book on seashore life, Between Pacific Tides. Steinbeck and he collaborated on the equally celebrated Sea of Cortez. To the general reader he is known as "Doc," the hero of Steinbeck's Cannery Rowand Sweet Thursday.
Unfortunately, Steinbeck's writings have tended to provide a distorted impression of what Ricketts was like and what he did. Hedgpeth has gone a long way toward rectifying this situation by publishing a series of manuscripts and letters interspersed with much helpful and entertaining commentary.
The documents show that Ricketts was a serious marine ecologist, in many ways ahead of his time. This is particularly evident in his communications to Steinbeck intended to serve as a basis for their projected book on the Queen Charlotte Islands. Of equal or even greater interest to many readers will be the exposition of Ricketts' philosophy, a curious mixture of Taoism, University of Chicago vitalism, and other doctriness, but dimly understood by Steinbeck. The choice document here is a an early version of the essay on "non-teleological thinking" which Steinbeck adapted as a chapter for Sea of Cortez. Ricketts was concerned with deep metaphysical issues, but it is what we would call his "philosophy of life" that had made the strongest impression on the public. Ricketts bears comparison with Thoreau in this regard.
Some might contend that Hedgpeth has allowed too much of his own personality to intrude into this work. Yet he too has become a semilegendary figure in marine biology, and he actively participated in the story he tells. Hedgpeth has rarely if ever minced a word, and he does not conceal his feelings about those in academia and the publishing trades who take it upon themselves to manage the truth. With a few apt remarks and choice quotations he makes the late W.K. Fisher of Stanford look like a complete fool for seeing to it that Between Pacific Tideswas bowlderized. A letter from Steinbeck to the publisher of Sea of Cortez expresses, in the language of outraged indignation, a steadfast resistance to efforts to lie about who wrote that book. The account of how the book was reviewed should make anyone think twice before perpetrating the all too frequent vices of that genre.
One might suspect that Hedgpeth has had troubles of his own maneuvering this manuscript past the guardians of respectability. But once the Backbites and Sneerwells have had their say, the work will be welcomed by those who want to read about good science and good literature. We have a delightful and most unusual book about two great men. Even Old Jinglebollix would want to own a copy.
