Odd as it may sound, I first became aware of Ed Ricketts many years before I knew who he was. Little did I know that as I was watching the 1982 film Cannery Row that the fascinating character of Doc being portrayed by Nick Nolte was inspired by an even more fascinating character: Edward F. Ricketts. A noted and largely self-taught marine biologist (without portfolio), raconteur, bon vivant, philosopher, poet, eccentric, and enigma, Ricketts was also the lead author of one of the best written, most innovative, and most influential books on the subject of marine biology and ecology that has, in my opinion (and I’m very much not alone in this) yet been written, a book that has been in continual publication through five editions ever since its original publication in 1939, and that has inspired generations of marine biologists, ecologists, and a host of others both in and outside the sciences. The book, of course, is Between Pacific Tides.
The story of the how Between Pacific Tides came to be, the science and artistry that went into it, and its remarkable legacy is one that is compellingly told in the recently published A Tidal Odyssey; Ed Ricketts and the Making of Between Pacific Tides by Richard Astro and Donald Kohrs. Part biography, part history, part exhortation (to read Between Pacific Tides, if one has not already done so), this book is certain to enlarge the knowledge of even the most dedicated “Ed Head” about its subject, as well as, it is hoped, to inspire a new generation of curious naturalists, as well as the naturally curious, to discover how and why Between Pacific Tides has so well stood the test of time.
