The Preface: "Look from the tide pool to the stars..."

A picture of Cannery Row from the deck of a whale watching vessel in the early morning.

"The hour of the pearl" as seen from the inter-tidal zone at the Hopkins Marine Station

“When you collect marine animals there are certain flat worms so delicate that they are almost impossible to catch whole for they will break and tatter under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and lift them gently into your bottle of sea water. And perhaps that might be the way to write this book-to open the page and let the stories crawl in by themselves" (Steinbeck 3).