Curtis Ebbesmeyer's New Book

You'll recall our speaking fondly and frequently of Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, the only person I know that when I search his name on the Internet, he has 72,900 mentions and his photo in Wikipedia. He's also the only person I know that speaks of forensic oceanography and floating heads and feet. He is a charter member of the Sea-Bean Symposium and one of life's unforgettable characters.

Curt is featured in three videos on our Florida Beach Basics web site, and our Florida Beach Basics - The Space Coast DVD has a segment devoted to flotsam that of course includes much about Curt.

We are so pleased to tell you that Curt's new book, with co-author Eric Scigliano, was released March 24, 2009, by Smithsonian Books/Harper Collins. It's titled Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science. I've loved the cover since the first time I saw it. The little rubber duck is synonymous with Curt - he's famous for tracking rubber bath toys that fell off a container ship in the 1990s and using their progress to monitor ocean currents.

Curt will be here for the next Sea-Bean Symposium (mid-October), so buy your book now and bring it to the Symposium to get it autographed.

Read more about Curt's "baby" at Flotsametrics and the Floating World.