Thank you John Steinbeck. I have read and re-read Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday but, for some unfathomable reason, have never read The Log from the Sea of Cortez.

Well, here I am like billions of others in the midst of the Covid crisis lockdown. How to escape? The answer, or at least my answer, was to take a meandering voyage into the Sea of Cortez. Here, a group of men set sail to collect marine specimens for study and sale. Ah, but the mood, the meandering appeal of the voyage, the connection to the elements of the littoral reaches of the coast, the joy of human contact and interaction and the kiss of fresh air in a seemingly timeless environment. Priceless.

Steinbeck has a wonderful touch. His pen captures the essence of man. Unadorned and seemingly always understated, this book touches the heart and fuels the imagination. Time evaporates in this book. Here is a time where humankind, while not perfect, at least was in relative concert with both our fellow man and nature. There are moments of sadness and death, but Steinbeck is able to rise our spirits and assure our souls that all will be well.

In the midst of the Covid pandemic this book should be required reading.

Gave this 4 star at first then went back and changed it. two thirds of the book did not interest me as it was about all of the different sea life they collected on the trip . but the other third was filled with the thoughts of Steinbeck about everything you could think about. The fact that it was published two weeks before Pearl Harbor makes me wonder if he changed some of his thoughts on war. then there was his telling in the Appendix the life of his friend ED RICKETTS who I remember being the DOC in his cannery row book. I did not kike the cannery row book but did very much like the characters and to find he was a real person makes me want to go back and read it again.

Will always cherish this reading experience as I travelled around BCS accompanied by this book. A unique and gratifying story

i would say i "didn't like it" if i could remember anything besides a possible sea and maybe a log of some sort. what i do remember is writing a horrible paper about it for my one and only biology class and using the made up phrase "evolutionary continuum" in said paper, which my brother rightly pointed out, is the most ridiculous and redundant pairing of two words to ever be put down on paper.

however, i did get a B in the class and i think those people who have enough of a scientific background to avoid made up terminology like the "evolutionary continuum" might enjoy this book. therefore i give it an "it was ok" with the fair warning that it is not your typical steinbeck or shall i say, it does not fit into the steinbeckian evolutionary continuum.

A remarkable voyage of a famous author and his scientifically inclined friend exploring an uncommon body of water off the coast of Mexico. I found the scientific approach and discovery of nature interwoven with insights about human society in the 1940s particularly fascinating.

This book narrates the entire trip chronologically but also strays into welcome thought tangents that add color to the author's imagination and internal dialogue—both intriguing and sometimes perplexing. Although I have not read all of Steinbeck's works, I feel this book is one of the few instances where his internal thoughts are vulnerably exposed. This account is as much about the mission of the voyage as it is a biographical reflection on these two men.

I became interested in reading this after following the restoration of the boat that carried them on this journey—the Western Flyer—which was rebuilt in Port Townsend, WA.

I wanted to like this book, I really did, because I love the sea, I like most of Steinbeck's writing, and I love sailing (or in this case, motoring), but I could not do it. There were way, way too many "Today we collected many annelid worms of the genus Chlotydia, along with many of the large red and black articulated brittle sea stars" type paragraphs in the main part of the book, and way too little good story telling to redeem the boring parts. Also, the book was written in 1940, and the moral relativism that Steinbeck exhibits with WWII raging in Europe and Asia is a little off-putting. Also, it was written in the era before humans realized they could in fact damage the planet with their wanton depredations, and the sheer scale of the killing of sea animals for collecting or sport by the crew does not age well as literature. The one part of this book that sparkles as some of Steinbeck's best writing can is the Appendix about Ed Ricketts. In my opinion, skip the rest and read the appendix.

One thing I did gain from wading manfully through Steinbeck's (overly) detailed descriptions of sea life is how much poorer we are now. He describes hordes of jumping swordfish, many, many huge manta rays, turtles, dolphins, etc seen from the deck of the boat. And these were daily events. I've done a fair amount of offshore sailing, and it's not that way now I can tell you, so Steinbeck's book is, in a sense, a record of a lost world.

Rounding up to 4 stars, for a book that I had heard a lot of local hype about it was only okay. I found the biography of Ed Ricketts at the end by far the most interesting part of the book.

I loved Cannery Row, and wanted to read this book for a long time, and finally was motivated to do so when I read that the Western Flyer, the charter boat for this expedition, was this year in dry dock in Port Townsend, WA. I went to see the barnacle-covered boat, and picked up a copy of the book.

A few things surprised me about this: Steinbeck makes almost no reference at all to himself, his wife, or the biologist Ricketts, in the log. The characters in the story are the crew, Tiny, Sparky, and all. Richard Astro's introduction helps set the stage for the log by providing a lot of background information about Steinbeck and Ricketts and their relationship.

Some of Steinbeck's entries are, in my mind, esoteric and meandering, and not always that interesting. Then a passage that is brilliant, crystal, and sharp as a lightning strike, or lovely as a sonata, leaps from the pages.

I very much enjoyed the description of the Sea of Cortez and Mexico in 1940. Also, his tribute to his friend Ed Ricketts, included as an appendix in this edition, is wonderful.

This would seem to be an odd book to like - writer John Steinbeck and biologist Ed Ricketts took a short trip to the Gulf of California (the Sea of Cortez) to collect marine specimens. Ricketts wrote the technical part of the book, and Steinbeck contributed the day-to-day experiences. It would sound dull to anyone.
Only it isn't - not in the slightest. For Steinbeck dresses up the dry narrative using his considerable skills, painting glorious word pictures for us to see and enjoy. And the narrative is filled with asides, observations and musing on life in all of its forms. This is a joyous book, despite the technicalities of their collecting, and a celebration of what human beings are capable of in a small sphere of activity. It's an absolute delight to read - and think over.

A journal of a six weeks expedition to the Gulf of California to collect samples for Ed Ricketts Marine biology laboratory in Cannery Row would be a more precise description of a book, whose history of its coming into being is as fascinating as the book itself. Steinbeck's book published in 1951 was an adaption from an earlier book published in 1941 that he co-authored with Ed Ricketts. The earlier book Sea of Cortez: A leisurely journal of Travel and Research: consisted of two parts: a journal of the trip and a species catalogue. The species catalogue was Ricketts own work and he also wrote the journal that forms the basis for the first part: Steinbeck edited and added to it: a more writerly prose and of course his name in order to sell the book. The Log from the Sea of Cortez then is Steinbeck's edition of Ricketts journal (Steinbeck did not keep his own journal) minus Ricketts species catalogue, but with an added potted biography/eulogy to Ricketts his close friend. Ed Ricketts died in a car accident in 1948.

The book reads today primarily as a travelogue to a lonely part of the planet as it existed at a time when America was gearing itself up for a war, which would follow the Japanese attack on Pearl harbour later in 1941. It was an expedition with a purpose to collect marine samples; animal and plant life. Much of the journal is a log of the collecting done at various points along the littoral of the Gulf of California. It describes the landscape, the animals found, the few people met, the poor Mexican towns visited, but most of the time it is a story of tidal pools and rock faces and the difficulties and dangers of prising away animals from their natural habitat. This would all be of limited interest if it was a scientific expedition, but it was not that. There was only one scientist Ed Ricketts, there was an interested amateur Steinbeck and the other four party members were the boats captain and navigator and two working seamen and an engineer from Monterey. This makes six people, the fact that there were eight people on the expedition; two women (Steinbeck wife and the captains wife) who were written out of the journal is another story. The log is written in the first person plural and the 'we' are; Ricketts and Steinbeck. It was a ramshackle show in anybody's language, but carried out with enthusiasm and intent by semi professionals who drank as much beer as they collected samples. The interest lies in their working relationships, their thoughts and ideas of getting away from the stress of their normal daily lives and doing something different. Nothing bad happens, there are no disasters and Ed Ricketts managed to piece together a species catalogue that identified over fifty new species and so a substantial amount of science was done.

Perhaps many of us would like to have gone on such a good time, working expedition with this interesting bunch of characters. There was much talk of bloke-ish escapades mixed together with some philosophising about the meaning of life. Ricketts and Steinbeck were much affected by the marine life they witnessed, there is a famous sentence from the book:

'It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again'

The wonder and the myriad life that they witnessed reinforced their ideas of "is" thinking a non-teleological approach to explaining the mysteries of life. The idea that everything is part of one whole and to gain knowledge one must take into account everything appertaining to the issue in question. The normal cause and effect explanation is not enough. Taking into account everything means mysticism, hearsay, legends, observation, external conditions and probably how much beer you have drunk. It all leads to a fascinating if convoluted chapter of the book that expounds these ideas. Ricketts had published his ideas previously in philosophical pamphlets and this trip obviously encouraged his and Steinbeck's thinking. If the reader is not able to follow all of these ideas, what does come through is an enthusiasm and a wonder for natural life as well as a yearning for a more simple life.

The descriptions of the animal and plant life have the benefit of a scientific eye (Ricketts) enhanced by the descriptive writing of a professional author who was already famous after the publication of Grapes Of Wrath. The knockabout story of the two seaman Sparky and Tiny and an outboard motor that never worked together with six weeks of sunshine and cruising through a little explored part of the world makes an intoxicating mix. I found myself googling the names of the islands and beaches where the cruiser anchored marvelling, at the desolate landscapes and thinking about the clear waters and shuddering at the thought of tearing ones hands collecting spiny urchins from the sharp rocks. The book is very "is" in placing the reader alongside the crew of an expedition that sounds refreshing at a time when we can only dream of doing something similar.

Nothing is perfect and there are lingering doubts about the validity of the whole thing. How much of this was down to exploitation because Ricketts wanted to restock his marine biology lab? that Steinbeck wanted subject matter for a new book and to escape the publicity from his last publication. Why were the women written out of the story, certainly Steinbeck's marriage was going through a difficult period and the couple broke up after this trip, but why all this need for male machismo. The story behind the book and the trip itself will never be fully told and what we have in front of us, is a fascinating account of an expedition that oozes with the marine life that occupied most of the crew most of the time. They somehow made it work and Steinbeck's money financed the expedition and his name helped the sale of the book. Ed Ricketts is the character "Doc" in Cannery Row and John Steinbeck is himself and so anyone with an interest in these two characters should enjoy the book. I did and so 4 stars.

Excellent ecology/scientific exploration/adventure book. I love Steinbeck and really enjoyed spending time upon the ship, The Western Flyer, with him and the crew. The humorous and intelligent tone reminds me of Bill Bryson, who I am sure has read this book... Every short chapter is engaging, beautiful, and brilliant.

The forward with the description of Ed Ricketts and his deep friendship (bromance?) with Steinbeck was fascinating, and I'm very glad I read it because I think it will make Cannery Row/Sweet Thursday more interesting for me. However, my fascination does not extend to the rest of The Log from the Sea of Cortez and yours probably won't either. Unless you're a marine biologist I doubt the subject matter of this book is of much interest to you. Steinbeck does go on numerous metaphysical thought tangents, but sadly these also never went in directions that appealed to me. I wanted the book to be over almost immediately, but I fought the good fight for the sake of my Steinbeck challenge. Unless you are doing a similar challenge and reading every Steinbeck book, you are safe to skip this in favor of one of his [many] masterpieces.