Reading the Sea of Cortez

Friday, August 03 2007 | Send to a friend

Reading the Sea of Cortez

The Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, lies between the Baja Peninsula and mainland Mexico.

Rafe Sagarin first moved to the California coast as a college student at Stanford. He bought all the John Steinbeck novels he could find and began exploring his new home through the salty characters of "Cannery Row" and "Tortilla Flat."

One of Steinbeck's most memorable characters is Doc: "Doc is rather small, deceptively small, for he is wiry and very strong and when passionate anger comes on him he can be very fierce. He wears a beard and his face is half Christ and half satyr and his face tells the truth."

It did not take long for Rafe to realize Doc was the fictional version of Ed Ricketts, a biologist and one of John Steinbeck's closest friends. When Rafe learned Steinbeck and Ricketts had once gone on an expedition in the Mexican Sea of Cortez, his imagination lit up with the idea of one day recreating that journey.

Rafe Sagarin

In 2004, Rafe Sagarin did just that - he joined a group of scientists who returned to the Sea of Cortez. 

Dick Gordon spoke with Rafe earlier this year about the changes they saw on that trip. Rafe argues that the kinds of observations Steinbeck and Ricketts recorded 70 years ago now provide critical data in understanding environmental changes like global warming. His conversation with Dick also shows that science and literature may have something to offer one another.

• See some of Rafe's pictures from the Sea of Cortez
• Read the log from the 2004 expedition
• Learn more about the writing of "The Log from the Sea of Cortez," first published in 1945
• See a reading list of books by and about Ed Ricketts

Music in the show is from Madame Butterfly, Act II Un Bel Di Vedremo, Maria Callas Philharmonia Orchestra & Tullio Serafin

Stand up man

A couple of years ago, Tom Gimbel's back started hurting when he sat at his desk at work. So he came up with a solution - he had a 4 foot, 8 inch tall desk installed in his office, so he could work standing up.

His wife predicted it would last 6 months. More than 2 years later, Tom still stands at his desk. He talks with guest host Aaron Henkin about the major benefits: his back feels better, and he spends a lot less time in meetings with his colleagues.

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