In Retrospect: Between Pacific Tides

Aaron Hirsh celebrates the 75th anniversary of the marine-biology classic by Ed Ricketts, the bohemian scientist who inspired John Steinbeck. A number of writers have observed that what made Between Pacific Tides revolutionary was that its organization is ecological. The book begins at the uppermost zone where a flood tide’s waves barely splash our shoes. And so it goes in each zone, leading us deeper into the intertidal: common to rare; familiar to exotic; obvious to hidden…

Our Ocean Backyard – Collected Essays; A Book by Gary Griggs

For the three billion people on Earth who live in coastal regions, the ocean is figuratively, if not literally, “our backyard.” The oceans enrich our lives in countless ways, but our interactions with them have not always been positive. Gary Griggs, a coastal geologist and oceanographer, is known for making science understandable, enjoyable, and accessible to non-scientists, was asked to write a bi-weekly column, “Our Ocean Backyard” for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The Last Beach, A book by Orrin H. Pilkey And J. Andrew G. Cooper

“The Last Beach” is an urgent call to save the world’s beaches while there is still time. The geologists Orrin H. Pilkey and J. Andrew G. Cooper sound the alarm in this frank assessment of our current relationship with beaches and their grim future if we do not change the way we understand and treat our irreplaceable shores.

California Coast From The Air: Images of a Changing Landscape

In a state identified with change, California’ s 1,100-mile coastline lives up to the reputation. Gary Griggs, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, has written many books about the California coast. The latest is California Coast from the Air, a collection of stunning aerial photographs of the state’s coastline with captions by Griggs and Deepika Shrestha Ross.