By many accounts, the Western Flyer is the world's most famous fishing vessel. It acquired its literary and scientific reputation in 1940 when John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts chartered the vessel for a six-week expedition to Mexico s Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez. Ricketts a pioneer in the study of diverse sea life of the West Coast Steinbeck and the crew spent those weeks collecting specimens along the margins of the sea. The Western Flyer hadn't been their first choice, but the local fisherman that dominated the sardine fisheries in Monterey at the time considered Steinbeck an activist in the labor movement who wanted to unionize their boat crews. The boat itself has been resurrected of recent, caught in a battle between its current owner, a developer who wants to turn it into a restaurant in Salinas, and the Western Flyer Project, a nonprofit group that wants the Flyer restored to its original working condition and used for educational voyages on Monterey Bay and elsewhere. After the Flyer s brief brush with celebrity, it worked for decades as a sardine seiner, a tuna boat, a crab boat in Alaska and a scientific research vessel along the West Coast. The author, who grew up in Salinas, uses the boat as a device to trace the depletion of marine life, from shrimp in the Sea of Cortez to sardines, to salmon and king crab. The boat is just one character, but so too are those who have owned it, fished from it, and also who now battle over rights to establish its final resting place. The author has used Steinbeck archives, interviewed family members, and drawn upon his 32 years in Pacific Northwest Fisheries, casting a wide net around this vessel and the ecology of waters in which it has traveled."

Celebrates the American writer who in his works confronted and explored the social fabric of the United States in the early 20th century. More than 500 entries include synopses of his novels, short stories, and nonfiction; descriptions of his characters, details about family, friends, and associates.

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.

Exciting new essays provide an important model for ecological criticism and an enriched appreciation of the Steinbeck canon.

NOW A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! In the tradition of Sebastian Junger and Linda Greenlaw comes Captain Sig Hansen's rags-to-riches epic of his immigrant family's struggle against deadly Alaskan seas, freezing shipwrecks, and dangerously brutal conditions to achieve the American Dream Sig Hansen has been a star of the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch from the pilot to the present. Seen in over 150 countries, the show attracts more than 49 million viewers per season, making it one of the most successful series in the history of cable TV. With its daredevil camera work, unpredictably dangerous weather, and a setting as unforgivable and unforgettable as the frigid Bering Sea, The Deadliest Catch is unlike anything else on television. But the weatherworn fishermen of the fishing vessel Northwestern have stories that don't come through on TV. For Sig Hansen and his brothers, commercial fishing is as much a part of their Norwegian heritage as their names. Descendants of the Vikings who roamed and ruled the northern seas for centuries, the Hansens' connection to the sea stretches from Alaska to Seattle and all the way to Norway. And after twenty years as a skipper on the commercial fishing vessel the Northwestern--which was his father's before him--Sig has lived to tell the tales. To be a successful fisherman, you need to be a mechanic, navigator, welder, painter, carpenter, and sometimes, a firefighter. To be a successful fisherman year after year, you need to be a survivor. This is the story of a family of survivors; part memoir and part adventure tale, North by Northwestern brings readers on deck, into the dockside bars and into the history of a family with a common destiny. Built around a gripping tale of a deadly shipwreck like The Perfect Storm, North By Northwestern is the multi-generational tale of the Hansen family, a clan of tough Norwegian-American fishermen who, through the popularity of The Deadliest Catch, have become modern folk-heroes.

My children are grown and have their own Christmas celebrations with their families-each with their own traditions. When my wife and I have the occasion of being a part of one of these, usually in the afternoon someone will say, "Grandpa, will you tell us a Christmas story?" That describes this book. I'm going to tell you a story-maybe one you can share at your gathering. Ah, but I've enlisted the help of other storytellers, each with their own Christmas story. Some of these are actual memories from their childhood; some are original stories they have crafted to tell at Christmas gatherings. Some of the stories are Bible stories that are simply told right from Scripture, others are embellished Bible stories. Make us a part of your Christmas tradition. Gather 'round and let "Grandpa tell you a Christmas story."

Sig Hansen has been a star of the Channel 4's The Deadliest Catchfrom the pilot to the present. Seen in over 150 countries, the show attracts more than 49 million viewers per season, making it one of the most successful series in the history of cable TV. With its daredevil camera work, unpredictably dangerous weather, and a setting as unforgivable and unforgettable as the frigid Bering Sea, The Deadliest Catchis unlike anything else on television. But the weatherworn fishermen of the fishing vessel Northwesternhave stories that don't come through on TV. For Sig Hansen and his brothers, commercial fishing is as much a part of their Norwegian heritage as their names. Descendents of the Vikings who roamed and ruled the northern seas for centuries, the Hansens' connection to the sea stretches from Alaska to Seattle and all the way to Norway. And after twenty years as a skipper on the commercial fishing vessel the Northwestern-- which was his father's before him -- Sig has lived to tell the tales. To be a successful fisherman, you need to be a mechanic, navigator, welder, painter, carpenter, and sometimes, a firefighter. To be a successful fisherman year after year, you need to be a survivor. This is the story of a family of survivors; part memoir and part adventure tale, North by Northwesternbrings readers on deck, into the dockside bars and into the history of a family with a common destiny. Built around a gripping tale of a deadly shipwreck like The Perfect Storm, North by Northwesternis the multi-generational tale of the Hansen family, a clan of tough Norwegian-American fishermen who, through the popularity of The Deadliest Catch, have become modern folk-heroes.

A Penguin Classic In the two years after the 1939 publication of Steinbeck’s masterful The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck and his novel increasingly became the center of intense controversy and censorship. In search of a respite from the national stage, Steinbeck and his close friend, biologist Ed Ricketts, embarked on a month long marine specimen-collecting expedition in the Gulf of California, which resulted in their collaboration on the Sea of Cortez. In 1951, after Ricketts’ death, Steinbeck reissued his narrative portion of the work in memory of his friend and the inspiration for Cannery Row’s “Doc”. This exciting day-by-day account of their journey together is a rare blend of science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure. This edition features an introduction by Richard Astro. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.