In Search of Tom Slick: Explorer and Visionary

by Catherine Nixon Cooke

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623498719
Publisher:	Texas A&M University Press
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Preface Where No One Else Has Ever Been ix

Chapter 1 Ghost Call: April 2001 1

Chapter 2 Missing Links: 1900-1930 23

Chapter 3 Alone: The 1930s 37

Chapter 4 Dreaming Big: The 1940s 53

Chapter 5 Slick Ideas: 1950-1955 75

Chapter 6 Diamonds and Death: 1954-1956 89

Chapter 7 The Search for the Yeti: 1955-1960 99

Chapter 8 An Open-Door Policy: 1956-1961 115

Chapter 9 Visions of the Future: 1955-1961 135

Chapter 10 The Unending Search: 1962-? 147

Epilogue The Legacy 161

Acknowledgments 165

Appendix 1 Texas Biomedical Research Institute 169

Appendix 2 Southwest Research Institute 173

Appendix 3 Mind Science Foundation 177

Bibliography 181

Index 185

Editorial Reviews

“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.

Whitley Strieber