Breaking Through: Essays, Journals, and Travelogues of Edward F. RickettsUniversity of California Press, 2006 M05 20 - 369 pages Trailblazing marine biologist, visionary conservationist, deep ecology philosopher, Edward F. Ricketts (1897–1948) has reached legendary status in the California mythos. A true polymath and a thinker ahead of his time, Ricketts was a scientist who worked in passionate collaboration with many of his friends—artists, writers, and influential intellectual figures—including, perhaps most famously, John Steinbeck, who once said that Ricketts's mind "had no horizons." This unprecedented collection, featuring previously unpublished pieces as well as others available for the first time in their original form, reflects the wide scope of Ricketts’s scientific, philosophical, and literary interests during the years he lived and worked on Cannery Row in Monterey, California. These writings, which together illuminate the evolution of Ricketts’s unique, holistic approach to science, include "Verbatim transcription of notes on the Gulf of California trip," the basic manuscript for Steinbeck’s and Ricketts’s Log from the Sea of Cortez; the essays "The Philosophy of Breaking Through" and "A Spiritual Morphology of Poetry;" several shorter pieces on topics including collecting invertebrates and the impact of modernization on Mexican village life; and more. An engaging critical biography and a number of rare photographs offer a new and richly detailed view of Ricketts’s life. |
Contents
1 | |
1 Foreword to the 1925 Pacific Biological Laboratories Catalog | 80 |
2 Zoological Introduction to Between Pacific Tides | 84 |
3 The Philosophy of Breaking Through | 89 |
4 A Spiritual Morphology of Poetry | 105 |
5 Essay on Nonteleological Thinking | 119 |
6 Verbatim Transcription of Notes of Gulf of California Trip MarchApril 1940 | 134 |
7 Thesis and Materials for a Script on Mexico | 202 |
9 Transcript of Summer 1945 and 1946 Notes Based on Trips to the Outer Shores West Coast of Vancouver Island Quenn Charlotte Islands and So On | 222 |
10 Investigator Blames Industry Nature for Shortage | 324 |
Epilogue | 331 |
Living at the Lab with My Father | 333 |
Nicknames and Such | 336 |
Works Cited | 341 |
347 | |
8 Outline and Conspectus for a Book on the Mandated Islands | 215 |
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Acmaea Alaska altho amphipods anemones animals barnacles beach beasts beautiful boat bryozoa California Cannery Row chitons clam Clayoquot coast crabs deep ecological Ed Jr Ed Ricketts Edward F eelgrass essay fauna fish Gulf hermits holothurians human Indian intertidal Japanese John Steinbeck later letter limpets living low tide Mandated Islands marine Masset Mexican Mexico miles Monterey Bay n.d. Edward night non-teleological thinking Notebook nudibranchs occur Outer Shores Pacific Biological Laboratories Pacific Grove Pacific Tides pelagic Pisaster pretty probably Puerto Escondido Queen Charlottes region Ricketts Jr Ricketts's rocks rocky sand sardine scientific Sea of Cortez Series Note Book shells shrimp snails Sparky species specimens starfish steamer Steinbeck stuff teleological there’s things thru tidal tide pools tion Toni took typescript urchins usual Vancouver Island waves wharf worms writing