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11th out of 33 books
—
54 voters
The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea
by
Philip Hoare
From his childhood fascination with the gigantic Natural History Museum model of a blue whale to his adult encounters with the living animals in the Atlantic Ocean, the acclaimed writer Philip Hoare has been obsessed with whales. Journeying through human and natural history, The Whale is the result of his voyage of discovery into the heart of this obsession and the book th...more
Hardcover, 464 pages
Published
February 2nd 2010
by Ecco
(first published 2008)
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Like most people, I have loved whales since I was a kid (though I have always been more fascinated by sharks...). This book's title, however, was a bit misleading... there were a lot of fascinating facts about whales, but it was honestly more about whaling than the whales themselves. Which made it a pretty depressing (albeit very interesting) read, all in all. And throughout, the book constantly referenced Moby-Dick, and the life of Herman Melville. So, if you are very familiar with that piece o...more
I don't know if I can finish this book. In the early pages the author wrote "I was ready to believe in whales" and I shut the book in anger. Now whenever I'm about to pick it up I remember, "I was ready to believe in whales" and start muttering crankily to myself something like the following "the fuck? ready to believe in whales? they exist. you don't believe in fucking whales. ready to fucking believe in whales? fuck this. tv time". so....i don't know if i can get past that.
So I finished it. I...more
So I finished it. I...more
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I'm really struggling to get through this book. I was hoping for a natural history, peppered with stories about the people who study whales, especially because a whale biologist friend of mine is featured in this book. However, Hoare seems to be madly in love with Melville, and Moby Dick references weigh heavily throughout. Hoare also uses unnecessary linguistic flourishes and draws many improbable conclusions, presumably because they sound poetic. Instead of a natural history, this book reads l...more
A captivating narrative on Moby Dick, Herman Melville and whales. One gets the impression that the author is smitten with Melville’s tale of the white whale – its’ grandeur and elusiveness. Indeed it is a story unlike any other. The author ventures to Melville territory in Cape Code and gives fitting descriptions of whaling life there in the 19th century.
He also explores the treatment of whales since the end of World War II – when millions more have been slaughtered by the increased efficiency o...more
He also explores the treatment of whales since the end of World War II – when millions more have been slaughtered by the increased efficiency o...more
"It was shockingly strange."
I wish I had read this before reading "Moby Dick" instead of after. Hoare uses Melville's book as a touchpoint for his musings on whales and whaling, and his insights give a valuable counterpoint to the novel. I definitely would have absorbed more from from both Melville's factual and imaginative digressions, and I think it would also have enhanced for me the book's broader vision.
The sheer destructiveness, wastefulness, and voracious appetite of man is laid out in nu...more
I wish I had read this before reading "Moby Dick" instead of after. Hoare uses Melville's book as a touchpoint for his musings on whales and whaling, and his insights give a valuable counterpoint to the novel. I definitely would have absorbed more from from both Melville's factual and imaginative digressions, and I think it would also have enhanced for me the book's broader vision.
The sheer destructiveness, wastefulness, and voracious appetite of man is laid out in nu...more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1408980.html
A good historical and literary survey of whaling: Hoare chases down all sorts of information about whales and their exploitation by humans; I had forgotten just how bad things had got in the 1970s before the whaling ban came into force (as far as it did); but it's also amazing just how little is known about whales, because of the difficulty of carrying out direct research on them. Hoare also reflects on Herman Melville and the composition of his great wo...more
A good historical and literary survey of whaling: Hoare chases down all sorts of information about whales and their exploitation by humans; I had forgotten just how bad things had got in the 1970s before the whaling ban came into force (as far as it did); but it's also amazing just how little is known about whales, because of the difficulty of carrying out direct research on them. Hoare also reflects on Herman Melville and the composition of his great wo...more
Fascinating and exhaustive, marrying natural and cultural histories with the author's and Melville's obsessions with cetaceans, accompanied by a litany of photographs and engravings charting the history of misconceptions as to the appearance of whales. I now know more than I ever dreamed I wanted to know about whales and whaling.
Also, heard the author speak at River Run Books in Portsmouth, NH. He was an excellent storyteller and very personable.
(Won through First Reads)
Also, heard the author speak at River Run Books in Portsmouth, NH. He was an excellent storyteller and very personable.
(Won through First Reads)
An acquaintance recently remarked that there has not been any good criticism of Melville in the last half-century. The comment got me thinking about the best critical texts on "Moby-Dick." They rarely deal with the novel itself, and generally read as semi-autonomous poetic works with enough artistic merit to deserve critical attention themselves. The critical history of "Moby-Dick" is incomparable to the critical history of any other literary text; limited is the number of academic jerk-off sess...more
Hoo-whee. This book was exasperating. At times I wanted to throw it out the window it would make me so mad. But in the end, the sum exceeded its parts. And after flip flopping from 4 stars to 2 stars... I've rated it 3, but that doesn't reflect how good it is in some ways.
Hoare has bitten off a lot here which is why its a frustrating read at times and exhilarating in the end. Its a love story/biography of whales in our culture. And at the end, his passion wins you over. But on the way, he is try...more
Hoare has bitten off a lot here which is why its a frustrating read at times and exhilarating in the end. Its a love story/biography of whales in our culture. And at the end, his passion wins you over. But on the way, he is try...more
Mar 27, 2011
Donovan Hohn
added it
A trans-Atlantic journey through the natural history and literary history of the whale. Like Melville's Ishmael, Hoare swims through libraries and sails over oceans. Unlike Ishmael, he also goes swimming with whales, not just any whales either, Folio whales. Along the way he reveals how our confused thinking about and knowledge of this most charismatic and mythic of marine mammals has changed in the last century and a half. We now know, for instance, that Melville was wrong about the great sperm...more
They are Linnæan-classified aliens following invisible magnetic fields, seeing through sound and hearing through their bodies, moving through a world we know nothing about. They are animals before the Fall, innocent of sin.
As with everything in whaling, periods of frenetic energy alternated with soporific inaction or numbing drudgery. Time itself was different at sea. Far from land, the levelling ocean flattened out the days to be recreated in nautical dispensations, reordered from noon to noon....more
As with everything in whaling, periods of frenetic energy alternated with soporific inaction or numbing drudgery. Time itself was different at sea. Far from land, the levelling ocean flattened out the days to be recreated in nautical dispensations, reordered from noon to noon....more
Having lived near port towns for most of my life, whale-watching has been a regular but sporadic pastime of mine. Whether it was spouts in the distant kelp beds as I ate my lunch at my college cafeteria or seeing a young whale "spy-hopping" near the shore as it tried to get its bearings. For those who have seen a few whales, it is clear that the whale embodies the mystery of the sea. Well, as much as any other sea creature. I've seen some crazy stuff in the ocean.
At times misunderstood, at times...more
At times misunderstood, at times...more
May 06, 2011
bay reads books nu uh, does so huh
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
moby-dick fanatics and whaling industry history nerds
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Let me tell you, I was SO glad that I had previously read Moby-Dick or, The Whale and was relatively familiar with it before reading this book. This is really the author’s paean to Herman Melville, who he seems to have a bit of a crush on. I personally think Herman Melville was a little weird, so I was not totally thrilled with the deviation from whales to whalers, BUT the author’s unbridled enthusiasm for the topic carried the book.
I did have to fight the urge to gently remind the author that...more
I did have to fight the urge to gently remind the author that...more
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Hoare's obsession with whales results in a fascinating exploration of the whale's role in literature, history, travel, science, and society. In his attempt to understand the whale's ""mysterious narrative power,"" Hoare uses Moby-Dick as his touchstone, but he explores other writers' perceptions and descriptions of whales as well. He is a fascinating, quirky, compelling writer, but The Whale, though filled with scientific fact, will likely interest more literary types. A few critics commented th...more
Outstanding book by Philip Hoare which walks in the footsteps of Herman Melville while writing Moby Dick, and a general history of whaling, with fascinating sidetrips. People have been whaling for a very long time, but the commercial-type whaling only dates from around the eighteenth century. Hoare goes all around the world tracing the development of whaling, the birth of the International Whaling Commission, (and the birth of the environmental movement) types of whaling and the creation of the...more
This book had moments of brilliance; the second half definitely picked up compared to the first. The problem lies in the fact that I'm not interested in the history of Moby Dick or Herman Melville. (Although, the relationship between Melville and Hawthorne is... interesting to say the least.) But when the book got to the horrors of commercial whaling and whale captivity, I could not put it down. Terrible stuff & very eye opening. There is a lot of interesting information scattered throughout...more
Es cierto lo que algunos lectores no entusiastas de este libro han criticado: el que no haya leído Moby Dick pasará las páginas como quien asiste a una conversación ajena sobre personas que no conoce.
Sin embargo, la riqueza de imágenes, el rigor de la investigación, el juego que se establece entre ciencia, historia y literatura, la actualidad de ciertas problematicas aquí expuestas, "la libertad suprema de la escritura" (como diría Antonio Muñoz Molina) hacen de éste, un texto ejemplar: terminan...more
Sin embargo, la riqueza de imágenes, el rigor de la investigación, el juego que se establece entre ciencia, historia y literatura, la actualidad de ciertas problematicas aquí expuestas, "la libertad suprema de la escritura" (como diría Antonio Muñoz Molina) hacen de éste, un texto ejemplar: terminan...more
On the one hand, Philip Hoare is into Moby-Dick, and does a good deal of meditation on the greatest literary achievement of this hemisphere. I tip my hat to him for his excellent reading.
On the other, I feel more sympathy with Ishmael's virile lust for blood than Hoare's reproach of man for hunting the whale nearly to extinction. I don't know how to express it without sounding like Ernest Hemingway or José Ortega y Gasset, but it seems to me an equal expression of my humanity to kill a mighty a...more
On the other, I feel more sympathy with Ishmael's virile lust for blood than Hoare's reproach of man for hunting the whale nearly to extinction. I don't know how to express it without sounding like Ernest Hemingway or José Ortega y Gasset, but it seems to me an equal expression of my humanity to kill a mighty a...more
There really is some beautiful prose in this book, and I really like the style and voice of Hoare. If I had a complaint, it is not through the fault of Hoare as much as it is with people-- our experience of the whale is largely defined by our exploitation of it. As such, Hoare has to focus largely on that exploitation, and the depth and horror of that can be deadening. Additionally, I'm not sure if I needed THAT much background on Herman Melville and Moby-Dick, but the whale is largely defined b...more
My impression of this book: Some introspective thoughts about the author's childhood. Here's a really cool whale! Here's how Americans hunted it & boiled its flesh on their whaling boats. Some stuff about Melville & Moby Dick. Here's another cool whale! Here's how the British killed it and used its bones for buildings. Descriptions of 20th century industrial whaling & explosive harpoons. And then a few chapters at the end which describe whales themselves. This book is woefully badly...more
WOW. The WHALE. Or, "Ah, the world, oh the whale."
Philip Hoare is a passionate storyteller and ridiculously engaging. Part memoir, part history, part travelogue, part natural history, part literary criticism (for all you lovers of Moby Dick!)--this is the kind of nonfiction I go for.
But, careful--this is not a beach read. What we have done to the whales is painful, and while I read and thought about this enormous and mysterious animal of the deep, I also had a sick feeling. What Alex Ross said...more
Philip Hoare is a passionate storyteller and ridiculously engaging. Part memoir, part history, part travelogue, part natural history, part literary criticism (for all you lovers of Moby Dick!)--this is the kind of nonfiction I go for.
But, careful--this is not a beach read. What we have done to the whales is painful, and while I read and thought about this enormous and mysterious animal of the deep, I also had a sick feeling. What Alex Ross said...more
This book spent a bit more time dissecting Moby Dick and Melville's life than I expected, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, although it was a curveball. Otherwise, it was pretty fascinating, at least if, like me, you have any interest in whales/the sea at all. Like many contemporary books that hone in one a specific subject, sometimes it goes too far in trying to prove that *this subject* is the most important one in world history (ie- whales are at the heart of everything), but most of the...more
I love whales and will read pretty much anything about them, but my love for the subject matter is just about the only reason I could even give this one two stars. I noticed a rather large number of typos/grammatical errors, as well as many many places where a good copy-editor should have fixed syntax and sentence structure. I can appreciate Hoare's interest in the history of whaling, but his explanations jump around and are not always clear - without a prior understanding of the subject matter...more
First, let me say that this book should probably mention Moby Dick in the title, as nearly half of the book is about Melville's white whale. Now, I don't have any problem with reading about Moby Dick, but the focus on that book made this one a little uneven. At times I felt like I was reading a comp lit dissertation. At other times it is sort of a natural history and at others it is a bit of a travelogue. Occasionally there is a really interesting fact or tidbit, or a nice bit of writing that ca...more
Philip Hoare walks a fine line in this book between natural history and personal narrative, with a big dose of Melville and Moby Dick. I wanted a few more scientific details now and then, but overall, I really enjoyed his ruminations on whales, and our relationship with whales. He examines how they live in our imaginings and stories since they're so elusive in real life, and how we built an entire economy on them, up to how they're doing now in an (almost) post-whaling age. My own whale watching...more
Irksome (to me) verbal flourishes! I recant my statement that the prose is elegant: it's excessive and pompous. Example: at Melville's grave, the author notes: "Next to him lies Elizabeth, keeping her silence as always." I found this-- and many, many other instances-- offputting. Skimmed rapidly to the end, found occasionally interesting facts, but now I'm DONE and I'm glad.
I learned much more about whalers and whaling-- in a much more direct and accessible style-- from Nathanael Philbrick's "In...more
I learned much more about whalers and whaling-- in a much more direct and accessible style-- from Nathanael Philbrick's "In...more
My lack of enthusiasm probably comes from the book not quite being what I expected. I thought it was going to be a nature book talking about whales. Instead it was a book that was more about the whale in literature and human history. Not uninteresting but not what I thought it would be. I should have paid more attention to the description when I downloaded it from the library.
The book dragged for me and I had to force myself to finish it. It started to pick up in the last few chapters but by the...more
The book dragged for me and I had to force myself to finish it. It started to pick up in the last few chapters but by the...more
In 6th grade, I watched the mini-series the Voyage of the Mimi in class, and promptly developed a crush on a young Ben Affleck and a longing to go to sea. I began my college career as a marine biology major, and clung to it until I was done in by calculus and the prospect of Organic Chemistry. I read Moby Dick in my junior year of college, and still regret not doing a semester at sea before changing my major to humanities. Reading The Whale brought back fond memories of the paper I wrote on Moby...more
My sister got me this for my birthday because I love whales so much and it was a perfect gift. "The Whale" is worth owning just for the beautiful cover, but is a fairly amazing book. It's a fairly hefty read for someone like me. Quite scholarly, interspersed with some genuinely entertaining personal stories, and even poetic in some parts.
But...the whales...the whales. They are the reason this is a 4 star read. The author goes to great lengths to explain the history of whaling, all framed within...more
But...the whales...the whales. They are the reason this is a 4 star read. The author goes to great lengths to explain the history of whaling, all framed within...more
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May 06, 2011 12:16am