The Log from the Sea of Cortez (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

John Steinbeck (Author), Richard Astro (Introduction)

Book Description

Release date: November 1, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0140187448 | ISBN-13: 978-0140187441

This exciting day-by-day account of Steinbeck's trip to the Gulf of California with biologist Ed Ricketts, drawn from the longer Sea of Cortez, is a wonderful combination of science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JOHN STEINBECK (1902–1968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published Tortilla Flat, he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962.

Robert DeMott is the Edwin and Ruth Kennedy Distinguished Professor at Ohio University and the author of Steinbeck’s Typewriter, an award-winning book of critical essays.

Gary Scharnhorst is professor of English at the University of New Mexico. He is the editor of books by Bret Harte and John De Forest for Penguin Classics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140187448
• ISBN-13: 978-0140187441
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Biology > Marine Biology
  • #30 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Oceans & Seas

More About the Author

John Steinbeck (1902-1968), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, achieved popular success in 1935 when he published Tortilla Flat. He went on to write more than twenty-five novels, including The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.

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#3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#13 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#40 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#52 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#13 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#40 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#52 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 111 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars First Rate September 8, 2003

By C. Ebeling

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

John Steinbeck had a high interest in marine biology, one that helped forge an extraordinary friendship with Ed Ricketts in the 1930s. Ricketts, the model for Doc in CANNERY ROW, was a professional biologist living in Monterey. He proposed an exploration of the Gulf of California and in the spring of 1940 he and Steinbeck set sail on a rented boat with a colorful crew that should have suggested a sea novel along the lines of CANNERY ROW and TORTILLA FLAT. The original result from this trip was the book THE SEA OF CORTEZ, which included the "log" fashioned by Steinbeck and an extensive inventory of the scientific information collected. It was published in the fall of 1941 and promptly forgotten when Pearl Harbor was struck. A decade later, the scientific catalogue was removed and Steinbeck added another section, a moving and often hilarious appreciation of his friend Ed Ricketts. The title became THE LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ and that's what we have here.

This is a great book for the beach, where I read it. It is filled with the imagery of a warm coastal area. It is several things, really: a book filled with the wonder and scientific knowledge of marine life, a how-to (and sometimes how-not-to) guide for collecting specimens, a travelogue that captures the wilderness communities of Baja California in its time, and an often hilarious account of staying amused at sea with the likes of a crew with names like Tony, Tex, Sparky and Tiny. Steinbeck also takes the occasion to explore his own philosophy as inspired by their studies. Especially interesting is his Easter Day entry, in which he defines and explores at length what he calls "teleological" and "non-teleological" thinking. He gives us much to think about, and does so in clear, fluent prose.... If you pay close attention, you will see him forming the idea for what years later became THE PEARL.

One caution: read the critical introduction AFTER enjoying the text. Like most introductions, it contains some spoilers and it also makes references that are better understood once one is familiar with the material it limns. Read more ›

77 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a real classic & a great read June 26, 2003

By John Anderson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the book that really "turned me around" on Steinbeck. I had been forced to read RED PONY & THE PEARL in High School & while I acknowledged Steinbeck's ability I found his subjects unbearably depressing. LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ showed me another, funnier, more thoughtful, and more engaging Steibeck that then lead me to CANNERY ROW etc. This is the so-called Narrative Portion of a much longer guidebook co-authored by Steinbeck & Ed Ricketts that was simply called SEA OF CORTEZ and includes both illustrations and keys to the marine intertidal of Baja. The longer version is alas now long out of print & a real collectors item. LOG it turns out is a mixture of an actual travel log as Ricketts, Steinbeck & the crew of the Western Flyer wander in and out of the coves on the eastern side of the Baja peninsula, and also some philosophical essays by Ricketts that I gather actually pre-date th Cortez trip. I have frequently assigned the Easter Sunday chapter to my students as an marvellous discourse on science & scientists, but in fact the whole book is just that -we get a real sense of the joys & follys of field ecology & a wonderful look at an amazing piece of country before it was "discovered" and at least in part spoiled. The book is like a wonderful conversation with two very very smart & funny people & one comes away having learned a great deal & wishing one could have gone along on the original trip.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a modern masterpiece January 9, 2000

By derek elder

Format:Paperback

Like many people of my age (45) I read 'Grapes of Wrath' and 'Cannery Row' as schoolbooks. Steinbeck was 'just' another modern author, one of many in the curriculum, although I enjoyed the writing more than that of some other authors. Thirty years later, I am sitting in Crete, in my favourite town, reading a worn Penguin paperback of 'The Log from the Sea of Cortez'. I bought it for pennies in a charity shop just before leaving for Greece, more out of curiousity than anything else. It is a cliche, but I was captivated. Steinbeck's use of English and his powers to describe a scene and circumstances, with tight narrative, are an object-lesson for would be writers. Since reading about the expedition, I have returned, belatedly, to one of the best authors of the twentieth century. Beware, it is fashionable to reduce Steinbeck to a social commentator whose later work was poorly conceived. Don't believe the hype. This book will take you to a place that no longer exists outside its pages, and it is a glorious description of two friends doing something just because they could. That's all folks!

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A different Steinbeck May 21, 2000

By Joseph H Pierre

Format:Paperback

I read this book while preparing to follow the footsteps of Steinbeck and Ricketts to the Sea of Cortez (the Gulf of California).

I was living, at the time, in 'Steinbeck Country,' Monterey, California--where Ed 'Doc' Ricketts kept his lab (referred to in "Cannery Row.").

In this book, "The Log From the Sea of Cortez," Steinbeck sheds his fiction-writer persona, and regales his readers with the story of his trip, which Ricketts initiated for scientific purposes.

The thing that interested me the most, aside from the descriptive passages about the area in question, was the juxtaposition of Ed Rickett's pragmatism and Steinbeck's unabashed idealism and populism. Steinbeck comes across as a flaming socialist--not too surprising, considering "The Grapes of Wrath" and some of his other works.

The friendship of these two men, despite the radical differences in their philosophies, is intriguing.

If you are a fan of Steinbeck's fiction, this book will give you more insight into his character and philosophy than any of his other books save, perhaps, "Travels With Charlie," which came much later.