Book Club: Natural Science Book Club, Alternate Selection, May. 1977. Illustrations from Fulcrum Press edition was also published in National Parks Magazine in 1990.
Jacket Quotes:
"The Living Dock" teems with fascinating life-- the details of nature that illuminate the whole." Peter Matthiessen, author of the "The Snow Leopard" and "Wildlife in America."
"The planet earth, as it came from God's hand, must rejoice in the Jack Rudloes of the world, for they stand foursquare with the original creation of things. And if they go down before the mindless onslaught of industry, they will go down fighting. But we must hope that in the end they will win." James Dicky, author of "Deliverance" and "Alnilam".
"Awareness of our environment is the global issue of the future. Jack Rudloe reminds us of the mystery and beauty of all life, something we too often take for granted." Peter Max.
SATURDAY REVIEW Sopchoppy and Such April 2, 1977
"The part of the South that I know best is that section of the Florida panhandle that boasts towns with such catchy names as Sopchoppy and Panacea, the latter being the locale of the "Living Dock at Panacea" by Jack Rudloe, a nature book to put on the same shelf as "Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek" and "Beautiful Swimmer"-- and that's saying something."
BIOSCIENCE, NATURAL HISTORY BY THE SEA by Dr. Mary E. Rice Smithsonian Institution Fort Pierce, Florida Bureau May, 1979
"With the enthusiasm of the naturalist, the keen observance of the scientists, and the gift of a superb storyteller, Jack Rudloe unfolds a tale of drama and excitement in the living world on and around a dock in Dickerson Bay, Florida. He describes in vivid terms the myriad of organisms to which the dock plays host from the time of its construction, through the changing of the seasons, until in the end it succumbs to the forces of a destructive hurricane. It is a story of life that settles on the pilings, other life that comes to prey, and still other that seeks the protective refuge of the dock and its community of living organisms.
From the dock, Rudloe expands his story to include the surrounding salt marshes, the sea grass beds and the offshore bottom communities; but whether as a place for reflection or as a haven after a stormy day at sea, he turns the story back to the dock-- the "bridge" between the land and sea."
Rudloe's flair for continuity give us a narrative that flows easily from one subject to the next, as we are shown the dependence of marine organisms on one another and on the vagaries of nature and the manipulation of man. As he discloses the fate of some creature that he collects from the sea, Rudloe leads us from its natural environments on the dock, the mud beneath the dock, or the sea beyond to its eventual utilization in a classroom of a mid western university of a research laboratory in the northeast. As owner of a biological supply company, Rudloe faces the dilemma, shared by many biologists, that to study the living world is in some sense to modify it or to destroy a part of it. He rationalizes the taking of life for food or science, abhors the waste of life, but points always to the remarkable feat of nature to recover her own. Philosophical moods are skillfully woven into the fabric of the story by meditations while cruising at sea and strolling through the marsh, or through the dialogue and wisdom of the local fishermen and helpers on the boat.
The book contains a wealth of observations on life in the sea and is at its best as a compendium of natural history. It will be read with pleasure a delight by all biologists.
PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY February 28, 1977
"For some years Rudloe and a few helpers made an unusual living off what he called his "living dock" at the Gulf Coast Florida town of Panacea. A self educated naturalist, Rudloe filled orders for university biological labs and other buyers around the country, gathering and shipping nearly every imaginable saltwater "specimen" from barnacles, squid and certain jellyfish to shark's blood and livers. His intimate knowledge of marine life and biology lay behind his earlier books. His new book richly personal and engrossing; he projects his enthusiasm as well as his knowledge into an account of his experiences when he ran his tiny Gulf Specimen Company. His adventures run from the daily and c nocturnal job of collecting tiny sea creatures most readers never heard of to some hazardous shark fishing and a few follies (wasting a tidy sum on a flood light system that lit up the whole Gulf of Mexico in order to help his night-collecting--it worked in reverse). Hurricane Agnes finally did him in."
SCIENCE MAGAZINE John S. Robotham April, 1977
NATIONAL FISHERMAN "Narrative of Life off Florida Coast is Subtle Scientific" by William H. Herke April, 1977
The Gulf Specimen Co. Dock and the surrounding environment serve as the central theme of this book, but the story is much broader than that.
It is a story about coastal life on the northwestern Gulf, about one man's unusual business venture there-- and his associated adventures and misadventures; about nature and natural processes, and much more.... Biological concepts (for example, food chains) are explained in layman's terms, and ecological principles are included so painlessly that the reader learns them almost by osmosis. Rudloe understands these things, but more importantly, he knows how to write about them so they are interesting.
The author's love of the sea and its teeming life continually shows itself in his writing, to the point that his prose is at times, almost poetic. This is a book for nearly everyone."
THE MIAMI HERALD by John Sylvester
"Panacea really exists. It's a small town on the Panhandle coast of Florida where Jack Rudloe runs a company supplying marine biological specimens to the scientific community. Jack Rudloe also writes books.
"The Living Dock at Panacea is a somewhat fictionalized, very sensitive account of his experiences collecting all kinds of marine creatures from shipworms to sharks. Steinbeck fans may find it reminiscent of Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts cruising the Gulf of California collecting marine specimens... He has a keen ability to describe and tell things about various creatures which are both fascinating and informative. The account of screening sand for the wormlike amphioxus is not too much less exciting than his descriptions of shark fishing. Still,
"Rudloe frets that so many people are "horrified" by other living things." He feels the problem is due to people's exposure to the animal world being limited mostly to "Disney films... or moronic television... or moronic television shows with lovable porpoises."
UNDERWATER NATURALISTAmerican Littoral Societyby Owen Hatteras
Living Dock selected to be among Top 25 books about the coast.
Additional Reviews of "The Living Dock at Panacea" Appeared In:
Arizona Republic, Augusta Chronicle, Biloxi-D'Iberville Press, Bio-Science Magazine, Booklist, Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Morning News, Florida Conservation news, Florida naturalist, Florida Times Union, Island Packet, Kirkus Review, Library Journal, Miami Herald, National Fisherman, Nature, Publisher's Weekly, Saturday Review, Science Magazine, Tallahassee Democrat, Tampa Tribune Times, Wakulla News, Winston-Salem Journal.