Beyond the outer shores part the first

So far I am loving this book about Ed Ricketts and his friendship with John Steinbeck (and to a lesser but also important extent, Joseph Campbell.) Some things I have learned thus far:

• Steinbeck was very traumatized by the success and controversy surrounding The Grapes of Wrath. 
• He and Joseph Campbell never became friends due to an attraction between Steinbeck's wife at the time (Carol) and Campbell. They never had an affair exactly but they did make out. Campbell, btw, was quite the look evidently back in his day. 
• Ricketts' book Between Pacific Tides was looked down upon by the academic mainstream and it took years for him to get published. It was one of the first biology books (for the Pacific anyways) that grouped fauna according to ecosystem instead of taxonomy. It is one of Stanford U Press's best selling titles.
• In regard to the success of Grapes and the War, Steinbeck wrote in a letter to a friend "There is so much confusion now-emotional hysteria which passes for thought and blind faith which passes for analysis." Relevant? And totally worth stealing? Affirmative times two.