Was super excited about the scientific exploration of the sea of Cortez - sadly, the writing was pretty cloying and desperate. My main criticism is it’s incredibly dismissive of the indigenous people of the various villages they visit and the view of women is sadly what you might expect from a couple of male explorers in the 40s.

Not my cup of tea but I did appreciate the insight into how Cannery Row came about. I’m on a quest to finish all of Steinbeck’s major works and this one had to be read eventually, I guess.

Steinbeck drew me into his worlds. Only vaguely remember appreciating this trip, wanting to experience that component of Mexico.
How is the Sea different now from Steinbeck's time there?
What would have Mexico's NW been like for the first explorers coming south from Beringia, perhaps 15,000 years ago, paddling around Cabo, heading north for the mouth of the Colorado ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Log...

‘In 1940 John Steinbeck sailed in a sardine boat, Western Flyer, with his great friend the biologist Edward F. Ricketts to collect marine invertebrates from the beaches of the Gulf of California. This expedition was described by the two men in The Sea of Cortez, published in 1941. The day-to-day story of the trip is given in the Log, which combines science, philosophy, and high spirited adventure. This edition includes Steinbeck’s profile of his collaborator, “About Ed Ricketts.”’

The best of Steinbeck is in this tale; his superb narrative, descriptions, insights, poetic philosophy, and of course his humor. His account of the vast variety of species was textbook but deeply interesting. The characters he ventured with were a colorful lot showing tenacity, superstition, and the freewheeling carefree behavior of 1940 sailors. Their individual names added a personal touch no doubt;note, Sparky, Tiny, Tex, and Tony.

I enjoyed how Steinbeck added his bohemian philosophy much like a few other books have done. For example: Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”; “Walden’s Pond” by Thoreau’; “Kon-Tiki” by Thor Heyerdahl. These books along with the “Log” seem to depict a bohemian style of wind in the face, sunshine on the shoulders, and the searching for deeper, yet, simple truth what bohemian want-a-bee’s call “the golden days in the June of life”; when the love of a modestly elusive Truth seemed more glorious, incomparably, than the lust for the ways of the flesh and the dross of the world!

I especially enjoyed Steinbeck’s philosophical take on laziness and his somber romanticizing on how the great world dropped away from them quickly; its clamor, its danger, and its demands. Remember it was a time when a good portion of the world was at war! It engaged me. After finishing the book and staring at it for a time, daydreaming, I suddenly got this tremendous urge to pack in my typewriter and bedroll, kiss the loved ones goodbye and head for the Gulf of California; just to relive what the crew of the Western Flyer experienced; and perhaps, induce a few experiences of my own. If you like to take to the sea, road, or air, in an adventure book, I highly recommend this awesome read.

The true philosophy of Steinbeck. You love Steinbeck? You want to know him? Read The Log from the Sea of Cortez.

Unforgettable.

I began this book because I recently took a cruise on the Sea of Cortez and people talked about Steinbeck and this book on the cruise. I persevered because I have never been a STEM person and I wanted to have actually read a book about science (in this case, biology) and philosophy (which I realize is not STEM, but is also not in my ballpark). There were some very funny moments sprinkled in as well. This book also reminded me what a good writer JS is, so I will be reading (and re-reading) more of his books in the future.

LOVE this book! Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts knocked it out of the park. An expansive, entertaining work of art and science put down in Steinbeck's humorous way, liberally soaked in philosophical interludes that enforce the deeper achievements and meanings that accompanied them on their way. Extraneous research tells me, in hindsight, that the trip and its account was a signal achievement in the realm of marine biology, and that it further served to insure Ed Ricketts' appropriate place in the hall of fame of marine biology.

I heartily recommend this book for those who enjoy non-fiction written in such an engaging way!

Did not finish.

I am huge Steinbeck fan, I went to the museum in Salinas.
But this book was a log, not interesting, you get annoyed when mundane things are viewed with such a romantic lens. Not everything is Don Quixote.

The job of collecting stuff from the ocean was to me pretty boring, no sirens, no monsters to fight off, no drunk men, no scamming. Too simple a thing that he wrote too romantically about.

Its a book George Costanza, whose life long ambition it was to be a Marine biologist would have picked up but then never finished because being a marine biologist is god damn boring.

Pros: It's nice reading about what dudes were up to before the internet. Here we have a bunch of dudes sailing around, collecting specimens with their bros.

Cons: The pseudo-philosophical chapter on teleological versus non-teleological arguments made me feel like I had a concussion.

Overall it was ok. I recommend skipping it.

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."

This is one of my favorites. I have a google folder with a powerpoint presentation.

Appendix about Ricketts is an essential bonus of the book. I'm unsure who (between Steinbeck and Ricketts) contribute more to this book. I'm with them both without reservation. I enjoy the lengthy details (well, I was a marine biologist student) to tackle my memory and loosely narrated mystic tales to feed my imagination. But enlightening the mind (without losing humor) is what I treasure the most that make this book unique.