Raymond Barnett

Biography

About to scale Mt. Whitney (background) with daughter Ashlyn

Raymond Barnett graduated Magna cum Laude from Yale University in 1967, majoring in Chinese History. He studied the history of religions at Union Theological Seminary in New York City for a year, then was inducted into the U.S. Army and spent 1969-70 at Long Binh in Vietnam, acting as a medical records liaison between the Surgeon General’s Office at Headquarters, US Army, Vietnam and field hospitals throughout the country.

He completed the Ph.D. program in Zoology at Duke University in 1976, and taught biology the next 32 years at California State University, Chico, publishing articles in numerous scientific journals, before his retirement in 2008.

For a decade beginning in 1996, Dr. Barnett was instrumental in founding the Gateway Science Museum (formerly the Northern California Natural History Museum) as its Executive Director, making dozens of presentations on its behalf throughout the state. The museum opened in 2009 (www.gatewayscience.org). At his retirement, the Board of Directors honored Barnett by naming him “The Father of the Museum” (see Resolution).

Barnett with wife Tammy in Hawaii

Dr. Barnett and his wife Tammy were also a founding family of Valley Oaks Village, a 31-household Cohousing community in Chico, where they currently live with their two teenage children.

Dr. Barnett's favorite activities are golfing and bicycling in Chico, as well as hiking in Europe and along the John Muir Trail in California’s Sierra Nevada, where he recently scaled the 14,495-foot Mt. Whitney with his youngest daughter Ashlyn. He is also an avid snorkeler and beachcomber in the four major islands of Hawaii, which he has visited with his family dozens of times.

Dancing at a school in Xi'an

In the midst of his science career, Dr. Barnett has retained his fascination with the cultures of China and Japan. He has traveled extensively in China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, both as a tour leader and, more frequently, as an independent traveler far off the tourist paths, sometimes alone, sometimes with intrepid travel buddies, where his knowledge of the Chinese language has been invaluable.

In 1988 Random House published his historical novel Jade and Fire, set in Peking in 1948. In 2004 Tarcher/Penguin published his Relax, You're Already Home: everyday Taoist habits for a richer life, a primer on Taoism. He is seeking a publisher for his historical novel The T’ae Medallion, set in Korea in the 1880’s, and his near-future thriller Missiles to Taiwan. He recently completed two new novels: Shinto Golf in Palm Springs, and Chrysalis Girls: the Return to Treasure Island, wherein Long John Silver lures Jim Hawkins back to the Caribbean, where they find long-lost Chinese treasure.