In Search of Tom Slick by Catherine Nixon Cooke

The major guiding principle in the life of Tom Slick was a relentless search for adventure and exploration of the unknown, sparked by his immense curiosity about everything and his willingness to embrace and investigate new ideas. He was a larger-than-life Texas oilman, entrepreneur, and explorer. He climbed mountains in the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti. He developed new breeds of cattle. He discovered major oil fields. He founded several research institutes in San Antonio, including the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Southwest Research Institute, and the Mind Science Foundation. He even wrote and published on the topic of world peace in the 1950s; the Tom Slick World Peace Lectures at the University of Texas’ LBJ Library and the endowed Tom Slick Professorship of World Peace were established after his death in 1962.

In this revised and expanded edition of her previously published biography, Catherine Nixon Cooke, niece of Tom Slick, has mined personal letters, family papers, archives of the institutes founded by her uncle, and other resources to expand what we know of this enigmatic, energetic adventurer. In addition to relating his better-known exploits and pursuits, Cooke delves for the first time into Slick’s shadowy connections with the world of international espionage, including clues that Slick may have been involved in certain operations and interests of the OSS and its successor organization, the CIA.

Illustrated throughout with rare historic photographs, In Search of Tom Slick: Explorer and Visionary will introduce a new readership to this influential yet little known figure in modern history.

CATHERINE NIXON COOKE is the former CEO of The Mountain Institute, where she worked in the mountains of Nepal. She is also former editor in chief of Coronet Magazine and the author of The Thistle and the Rose: Romance, Railroads, and Big Oil in Revolutionary Mexico; Juan O’Gorman: A Confluence of Civilizations; Texas A&M University–San Antonio: The Jaguar Journey; and other books. A Fellow and Medalist of the Explorers Club, she lives in San Antonio, Texas.

“What a remarkable book! Such a joy to read—at once a story of adventure and exploration, and the exploration of an extraordinary man and his life. The most marvelous part of it is it is written, and very well indeed, from the perspective of somebody who knew him well. Tom Slick took science to the edge and a little beyond, and did it brilliantly. Tom Slick: Explorer and Visionary honors his effort, also brilliantly.”—Whitley Strieber, best-selling author of Warday, Communion, and, most recently, A New World.

 

Published by Texas A&M University Press

208 pp. 75 b&w photos.
Pub Date: 04/07/2020

 

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