Reviews

“Tamm’s account of Ricketts’s short life ... is an engrossing memoir ... a fascinating insight into how art, science and philosophy can nurture, inspire and feed off one another. Tamm writes with impassioned honesty about his subject’s many dimensions.” — Publishers Weekly

“ ... at a time when our oceans are in crisis because of pollution, coastal development and the loss of our fisheries, the pioneering conservation work of Ed Ricketts was an early warning about the fragile web of life beneath the sea. This book is another compelling reminder of our responsibility to protect that remarkable resource.” — Leon E. Panetta, former White House Chief of Staff and Chair of the Pew Oceans Commission.

“Tamm is rescuing Ed Ricketts from the myth that has grown up around ‘Doc,’ the character in Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. And he is giving us a more accurate account of Ricketts’ true heroic journey: as a man of science, who had his finger on the pulse of the planet ... [Ricketts] diagnosed the fate of the environment and humanity, and offered humbling advice that we have failed to heed and only now are beginning to hear.” — Jon Christensen, writer and coordinator of the Sea of Cortez Expedition and Education Project

“Beyond the Outer Shores is a true Odyssey ... Tamm has done a praiseworthy and dedicated job in bringing this amazing man who lived in the first half of the twentieth century to contemporary readers ... You finish this book feeling like you have known and loved Ed Ricketts.” — Dr. Stephen Larsen, author, Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind

“An affecting and mind-expanding group portrait of three creative thinkers, but Ricketts glows the brightest, a friend to bums and geniuses who was happiest knee-deep in a tide pool.” — Booklist (starred review)