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The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist
When William Beebe needed to know what was going on in the depths of the ocean, he had himself lowered a half-mile down in a four-foot steel sphere to see-five times deeper than anyone had ever gone in the 1930s. When he wanted to trace the evolution of pheasants in 1910, he trekked on foot through the mountains and jungles of the Far East to locate every species. To decipher the complex ecology of the tropics, he studied the interactions of every creature and plant in a small area from the top down, setting the emerging field of tropical ecology into dynamic motion. William Beebe's curiosity about the natural world was insatiable, and he did nothing by halves. As the first biographer to see the letters and private journals Beebe kept from 1887 until his death in 1962, science writer Carol Grant Gould brings the life and times of this groundbreaking scientist and explorer compellingly to light. From the Galapagos Islands to the jungles of British Guiana, from the Bronx Zoo to the deep seas, Beebe's biography is a riveting adventure. A best-selling author in his own time, Beebe was a fearless explorer and thoughtful scientist who put his life on the line in pursuit of knowledge. The unique glimpses he provided into the complex web of interactions that keeps the earth alive and breathing have inspired generations of conservationists and ecologists. This exciting biography of a great naturalist brings William Beebe at last to the recognition he deserves.
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 9, 2004
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October 16, 2021
“The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.”
- William Beebe, The Bird
Carol Grant Gould’s The Remarkable Life of William Beebe is one of those books I never would have sought out, save for my seven year-old daughter, Millie. Now that she has learned to read, she is constantly interrupting my own book-time with questions. Most of the time, that question is: Can I read it to you? Generally, I allow this, which is why she knows more about World War I and II than most first graders. Lately, though, her question has changed. Now she says: What are you reading? Is it about a war? And, of course - to my chagrin - it usually is about a war. I like history, and unfortunately, history is often marked by conflict.
The question got me thinking a bit about my literary selections. Not in any grand way, mind you, since I don’t foresee my interests changing at this point. But it did occur to me that I might broaden my choices in an attempt to fill gaps in my knowledge that don’t hinge on mighty leaders and great battles and constant upheaval.
To that end, Millie again played a role.
We were at a bookstore when she brought me Otis and Will Discover the Deep, a fantastically illustrated children’s book about the half-mile descent of Beebe and Otis Barton in a bathysphere in 1934, which set a then-world record. Not even halfway through the book, Millie started peppering me with Beebe questions, none of which I could answer, since I had only learned the man’s name ten minutes earlier.
This was the moment I decided to momentarily leave behind the wars of the world to study a man who made his mark by studying nature.
Charles William Beebe never held elected office, never held military rank, never fought in a battle, and cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be said to be a world-historical figure. Instead, he was a boy with an insatiable curiosity about animals and birds and insects who grew into a man with an insatiable curiosity about animals and birds and insects. He studied at Columbia, though he never earned a degree; went to work for the Bronx Zoo; and traveled the world studying exotic birds. He came from humble beginnings, yet hung out with Teddy Roosevelt; he lived a spare and Spartan lifestyle, yet died a wealthy man. In his time, he was a celebrity naturalist, a more conservative, far less flamboyant version of Steve Irwin; today, I venture, he is mostly unknown, save for that long dive into the abyss.
Gould’s biography on Beebe is quite good. It is crisp, well-paced, and informative without wallowing in ornithological or ecological esoterica. I don’t know enough about Will Beebe to say whether or not this is comprehensive, but it has admirable scope, touching on all the stages of his career, from ornithologist to ocean explorer to tropical ecologist emeritus. Beebe was that rarest of persons, able – through hard work, inherent gifts, and a double portion of luck – to take a childhood love and turn it into a profession, one that he worked until his death in 1962, at the age of eighty-four. He went about his tasks with a single-minded fervor that manifested itself in voluminous writings, snippets of which pepper Gould’s book. A man of such passionate devotion to his calling requires a biographer of equal passion, and I think that Gould succeeds.
It is worth noting that Gould was able to write this because she was given access to Beebe’s private papers, which he had left to a woman named Jocelyn Crane. It was Crane who convinced Gould to write Beebe's bio, meaning this has a bit of the feel of an authorized biography. That is, there are times when I sensed Gould writing very carefully, as though toeing an invisible line.
For example: Crane is introduced as Beebe’s “longtime companion.” When we first meet her in the narrative, she is a young, fetching laboratory assistant. It takes Gould around seventy-three pages to casually, off-handedly mention that Crane and Beebe had been “lovers for many years now.” At which point, I furiously backtracked seventy-three pages to figure out what I had missed, only to realize I hadn't missed anything. Rather, this was Gould's way of primly disclosing an aspect of Beebe's life that made the keepers of his memory uncomfortable.
I do not point this out simply because I have an obsession with the sex lives of others (though I do), but in order to illustrate a certain lack of objectivity. Gould is not very interested in Beebe’s personal life, though she often blames the gaps in her story on the self-editing of Beebe’s papers (by Beebe, and ostensibly, Crane as well). When she comes to a point in Beebe’s life that Beebe did not cover himself, she is content to let it go, as though there was only one well upon which she could draw. I sensed in Gould’s reticence to discuss Beebe’s sex life – he had other affairs with younger women working for him, giving him the faintest whiff of a dirty old professor – an effort to smooth out the rough edges of a man whose edges were pretty smooth to start. I can abide a biographer who attempts to defend her subject; I do not like it when a biographer attempts to protect a subject, by withholding evidence.
The thing is, Beebe does not really need the protection. He lived an estimable life. His affairs (he was married to second wife, the novelist Elswyth Thane, during his hound-dogging) do not necessarily make him a bad guy. Moreover, the women with whom he engaged tended to be extremely smart and driven, forging their own Wikipedia-worthy careers. In other words, they were capable of making their own decisions. Indeed, the only real friction in his life was his first divorce, which is the kind of speed bump that many of us have to face. The only real controversy that attends him is the fact that many of the marine species he “named” during his bathysphere dives have never been seen again. As far as hullabaloos go, this ranks pretty far down the list. I am comfortable in stating that few people have ever gotten into a bar fight over the naming controversy; those who did were probably saved from doing much damage due to near sightedness and asthma. (I’m allowed to take a cheap shot at nerds because I am a nerd at heart…and also in reality).
Towards the end of Frank Capra’s Christmas classic, angel second class Clarence Odbody tells George Bailey: “You’ve really had a wonderful life.”
I thought about that line while finishing this, because it fits Beebe perfectly. He got to do what he loved, and see the world while doing it. He made a pretty penny and had a love affair or two. He advanced the cause of science, to be sure. But more important than that, he advanced the cause of inquisitiveness, of observation, of investigation. It is not only the generation of conservationists and naturalists he inspired in his lifetime, but the spirit of exploration he still inspires today, if you take the time to learn about him. This is the tale of a life well lived, and I feel it did my soul some good to read about it.
- William Beebe, The Bird
Carol Grant Gould’s The Remarkable Life of William Beebe is one of those books I never would have sought out, save for my seven year-old daughter, Millie. Now that she has learned to read, she is constantly interrupting my own book-time with questions. Most of the time, that question is: Can I read it to you? Generally, I allow this, which is why she knows more about World War I and II than most first graders. Lately, though, her question has changed. Now she says: What are you reading? Is it about a war? And, of course - to my chagrin - it usually is about a war. I like history, and unfortunately, history is often marked by conflict.
The question got me thinking a bit about my literary selections. Not in any grand way, mind you, since I don’t foresee my interests changing at this point. But it did occur to me that I might broaden my choices in an attempt to fill gaps in my knowledge that don’t hinge on mighty leaders and great battles and constant upheaval.
To that end, Millie again played a role.
We were at a bookstore when she brought me Otis and Will Discover the Deep, a fantastically illustrated children’s book about the half-mile descent of Beebe and Otis Barton in a bathysphere in 1934, which set a then-world record. Not even halfway through the book, Millie started peppering me with Beebe questions, none of which I could answer, since I had only learned the man’s name ten minutes earlier.
This was the moment I decided to momentarily leave behind the wars of the world to study a man who made his mark by studying nature.
Charles William Beebe never held elected office, never held military rank, never fought in a battle, and cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be said to be a world-historical figure. Instead, he was a boy with an insatiable curiosity about animals and birds and insects who grew into a man with an insatiable curiosity about animals and birds and insects. He studied at Columbia, though he never earned a degree; went to work for the Bronx Zoo; and traveled the world studying exotic birds. He came from humble beginnings, yet hung out with Teddy Roosevelt; he lived a spare and Spartan lifestyle, yet died a wealthy man. In his time, he was a celebrity naturalist, a more conservative, far less flamboyant version of Steve Irwin; today, I venture, he is mostly unknown, save for that long dive into the abyss.
Gould’s biography on Beebe is quite good. It is crisp, well-paced, and informative without wallowing in ornithological or ecological esoterica. I don’t know enough about Will Beebe to say whether or not this is comprehensive, but it has admirable scope, touching on all the stages of his career, from ornithologist to ocean explorer to tropical ecologist emeritus. Beebe was that rarest of persons, able – through hard work, inherent gifts, and a double portion of luck – to take a childhood love and turn it into a profession, one that he worked until his death in 1962, at the age of eighty-four. He went about his tasks with a single-minded fervor that manifested itself in voluminous writings, snippets of which pepper Gould’s book. A man of such passionate devotion to his calling requires a biographer of equal passion, and I think that Gould succeeds.
It is worth noting that Gould was able to write this because she was given access to Beebe’s private papers, which he had left to a woman named Jocelyn Crane. It was Crane who convinced Gould to write Beebe's bio, meaning this has a bit of the feel of an authorized biography. That is, there are times when I sensed Gould writing very carefully, as though toeing an invisible line.
For example: Crane is introduced as Beebe’s “longtime companion.” When we first meet her in the narrative, she is a young, fetching laboratory assistant. It takes Gould around seventy-three pages to casually, off-handedly mention that Crane and Beebe had been “lovers for many years now.” At which point, I furiously backtracked seventy-three pages to figure out what I had missed, only to realize I hadn't missed anything. Rather, this was Gould's way of primly disclosing an aspect of Beebe's life that made the keepers of his memory uncomfortable.
I do not point this out simply because I have an obsession with the sex lives of others (though I do), but in order to illustrate a certain lack of objectivity. Gould is not very interested in Beebe’s personal life, though she often blames the gaps in her story on the self-editing of Beebe’s papers (by Beebe, and ostensibly, Crane as well). When she comes to a point in Beebe’s life that Beebe did not cover himself, she is content to let it go, as though there was only one well upon which she could draw. I sensed in Gould’s reticence to discuss Beebe’s sex life – he had other affairs with younger women working for him, giving him the faintest whiff of a dirty old professor – an effort to smooth out the rough edges of a man whose edges were pretty smooth to start. I can abide a biographer who attempts to defend her subject; I do not like it when a biographer attempts to protect a subject, by withholding evidence.
The thing is, Beebe does not really need the protection. He lived an estimable life. His affairs (he was married to second wife, the novelist Elswyth Thane, during his hound-dogging) do not necessarily make him a bad guy. Moreover, the women with whom he engaged tended to be extremely smart and driven, forging their own Wikipedia-worthy careers. In other words, they were capable of making their own decisions. Indeed, the only real friction in his life was his first divorce, which is the kind of speed bump that many of us have to face. The only real controversy that attends him is the fact that many of the marine species he “named” during his bathysphere dives have never been seen again. As far as hullabaloos go, this ranks pretty far down the list. I am comfortable in stating that few people have ever gotten into a bar fight over the naming controversy; those who did were probably saved from doing much damage due to near sightedness and asthma. (I’m allowed to take a cheap shot at nerds because I am a nerd at heart…and also in reality).
Towards the end of Frank Capra’s Christmas classic, angel second class Clarence Odbody tells George Bailey: “You’ve really had a wonderful life.”
I thought about that line while finishing this, because it fits Beebe perfectly. He got to do what he loved, and see the world while doing it. He made a pretty penny and had a love affair or two. He advanced the cause of science, to be sure. But more important than that, he advanced the cause of inquisitiveness, of observation, of investigation. It is not only the generation of conservationists and naturalists he inspired in his lifetime, but the spirit of exploration he still inspires today, if you take the time to learn about him. This is the tale of a life well lived, and I feel it did my soul some good to read about it.
May 5, 2018
This book does what is says in the title: delivers a comprehensive look at William Beebe's life, from beginning to end.
William Beebe was an inspirational naturalist and led a full life of adventure and exploration. He focused mainly on birds, bugs and marine biology and was the first person (along with his partner in the project, Otis Barton) to drop to a half mile underwater and explore the deep ocean, where many of the fantastical things he reported seeing where later confirmed by marine biologists and other ocean scientists. Maybe even a kraken....
One - at any age - could only hope and aspire to having the drive, passion and stamina that Beebe had well into his late 70's. And, depictions of him make him seem almost too good to be true. But in addition to having a keen scientific mind and a need to discover, uncover and explore he was also a man who enjoyed a good costume party and insisted on cocktail hour even in the depths of the jungles. He had an unconventional marriage and love life. And perhaps it's not for just his accomplishments but also his humanity and embracing of the enjoyable side of life that he counted so many adventurous, passionate and creative people amongst his true friends (Roosevelt, Disney, and more...but i'll leave those to be discovered in reading) Given his decades of renown in scientific and social circles and the fact that he's inspired so many names we know today (Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, etc) it's kind of amazing this his name is so little recognised now. (I can only assume this is not the case in serious science circles??)
Beebe was also a prolific author and published many well-received books about his adventures in tropical locations. His writing was both detailed and poetic as he captured the lives of the little (and large) creatures he watched so closely as well as the team of explorers who travelled with him. Though he went to places that at that time had barely (or not at all!) been touched by humans (deep sea, dense jungles) he also believed that you had just to sit still and look closely to find things to explore, new worlds. As Gould describes "...he wrote about the new worlds that could be discovered by a simple shift of perspective. Again and again he found himself being caught up in an anthropocentric universe, excited and humbled by a sudden perception of the layers and layers of life existing around him." And that's a big take away for me: so much can be revealed with just a small change in perception.
A very young Beebe wrote "To be a naturalist is better than to be a King." And by the end of this book, you realise that he believed that to be true for his entire life and lived as a naturalist to the fullest extent.
William Beebe was an inspirational naturalist and led a full life of adventure and exploration. He focused mainly on birds, bugs and marine biology and was the first person (along with his partner in the project, Otis Barton) to drop to a half mile underwater and explore the deep ocean, where many of the fantastical things he reported seeing where later confirmed by marine biologists and other ocean scientists. Maybe even a kraken....
One - at any age - could only hope and aspire to having the drive, passion and stamina that Beebe had well into his late 70's. And, depictions of him make him seem almost too good to be true. But in addition to having a keen scientific mind and a need to discover, uncover and explore he was also a man who enjoyed a good costume party and insisted on cocktail hour even in the depths of the jungles. He had an unconventional marriage and love life. And perhaps it's not for just his accomplishments but also his humanity and embracing of the enjoyable side of life that he counted so many adventurous, passionate and creative people amongst his true friends (Roosevelt, Disney, and more...but i'll leave those to be discovered in reading) Given his decades of renown in scientific and social circles and the fact that he's inspired so many names we know today (Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, etc) it's kind of amazing this his name is so little recognised now. (I can only assume this is not the case in serious science circles??)
Beebe was also a prolific author and published many well-received books about his adventures in tropical locations. His writing was both detailed and poetic as he captured the lives of the little (and large) creatures he watched so closely as well as the team of explorers who travelled with him. Though he went to places that at that time had barely (or not at all!) been touched by humans (deep sea, dense jungles) he also believed that you had just to sit still and look closely to find things to explore, new worlds. As Gould describes "...he wrote about the new worlds that could be discovered by a simple shift of perspective. Again and again he found himself being caught up in an anthropocentric universe, excited and humbled by a sudden perception of the layers and layers of life existing around him." And that's a big take away for me: so much can be revealed with just a small change in perception.
A very young Beebe wrote "To be a naturalist is better than to be a King." And by the end of this book, you realise that he believed that to be true for his entire life and lived as a naturalist to the fullest extent.
April 24, 2012
What a fascinating person! I am astonished I had never heard of William Beebe before this book. Why is it Darwin, Cousteau and Neil Armstrong are household names, yet the first person to explore the depths of the ocean in the blathysphere is unknown to me? Beebe was unique among the scientists of his day, he insisted on studying organisms in their environment (ethology), while others took a reductive approach. If you like books about scientists, explorers and history, you will likely enjoy this book. it combines Gould's easy to read style with excerpts from Beebe's extensive published works. If only today's scientists wrote with such panache, there might be more people reading science!
September 10, 2014
What an incredible life. His biography has something of interest for nearly everyone -- birds, bugs, monkeys, marine biology, writing, life at tropical field stations, tragic marriages . . . as a grad student, it was also nice to have a reminder that even some of the biggest names in the history of science have had trouble keeping a steady stream of funding. Reading this book kind of gave me the itch to be back out in the field; Gould does a great job of making you just as excited about Beebe's discoveries as he was.
August 12, 2014
Beautifully written account of the life of someone I hadn't heard of, and that is one William Beebe. The first naturalist, animal behaviourist and a slew of other firsts. The whole of the life sciences as they are in their present form was created by him. A true original and not a word of darkness or tragedy about him. Indeed, he seemed to be regular good guy who enjoyed life. Great read.
October 23, 2012
Drawing on a lifetime of Beebe's journals, Gould has created a comprehensive, yet easy-to-read biography of this fascinating naturalist. I was amazed that a person who had such an impact in this field isn't more widely known.
November 9, 2008
a great man. Period.
Want to read
July 6, 2011Elswyth Thane's philandering husband, the Jacques Cousteau of his day!
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