Why Read Moby-Dick?

by Nathaniel Philbrick

A “brilliant and provocative” (The New Yorker) celebration of Melville’s masterpiece—from the bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea, Valiant Ambition, and In the Hurricane's EyeOne of the greatest American novels finds its perfect contemporary champion in Why Read Moby-Dick?, Nathaniel Philbrick’s enlightening and entertaining tour through Melville’s classic. As he did in his National Book Award–winning bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, Philbrick brings a sailor’s eye and an adventurer’s passion to unfolding the story behind an epic American journey. He skillfully navigates Melville’s world and illuminates the book’s humor and unforgettable characters—finding the thread that binds Ishmael and Ahab to our own time and, indeed, to all times. An ideal match between author and subject, Why Read Moby-Dick? will start conversations, inspire arguments, and make a powerful case that this classic tale waits to be discovered anew.“Gracefully written [with an] infectious enthusiasm…”—New York Times Book Review

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Books About Books, Literature, Classics, History, Audiobook

113 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 20, 2010

About the author

Philbrick was Brown’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978; that year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, RI; today he and his wife Melissa sail their Beetle Cat Clio and their Tiffany Jane 34 Marie-J in the waters surrounding Nantucket Island.

After grad school, Philbrick worked for four years at Sailing World magazine; was a freelancer for a number of years, during which time he wrote/edited several sailing books, including Yaahting: A Parody (1984), for which he was the editor-in-chief; during this time he was also the primary caregiver for his two children. After moving to Nantucket in 1986, he became interested in the history of the island and wrote Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People. He was offered the opportunity to start the Egan Maritime Institute in 1995, and in 2000 he published In the Heart of the Sea, followed by Sea of Glory, in 2003, and Mayflower. He is presently at work on a book about the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Mayflower was a finalist for both the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History and the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was winner of the Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction. In the Heart of the Sea won the National Book Award for nonfiction; Revenge of the Whale won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; Sea of Glory won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the Albion-Monroe Award from the National Maritime Historical Society. Philbrick has also received the Byrne Waterman Award from the Kendall Whaling Museum, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for distinguished service from the USS Constitution Museum, the Nathaniel Bowditch Award from the American Merchant Marine Museum, the William Bradford Award from the Pilgrim Society, the Boston History Award from the Bostonian Society, and the New England Book Award from the New England Independent Booksellers Association.

from his website

Reviews

[Riku Sayuj · Rating 4 out of 5]

In these essays which attempt to recreate the mystery of the creation of Moby Dick, Philbrick recreates for us the strange magic of reading Melville as well. The book's aim is to convince a reader who has not read to read. I don't think anybody who has not read Moby Dick should read this - too much is laid bare. Instead, the book should be read a year or two after the novel. Then you will see strange visions resurfacing, new meanings in the mist, and a rekindling of love for the characters you left behind. The vastness of the book requires distance to appreciate. Philbrick wonderfully captures the majesty and the ambition that was Moby Dick, and in the few hours it will take to read this book, you can take the voyage of the Pequod again, and start thirsting for another go at the original.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one from my reading challenge with Ted.

# 11 - Read a non-fiction book about books/writing.

Delightful book. As other reviews have pointed out, this is a great book to read after you have read Moby-Dick and have allowed it to sit there for a while, maybe having forgotten some key details. It made me excited to go back to this monumental work as soon as I can. It also made me relive some of my favourite moments from Jeff Smith’s Bone:

“Will you read us some Moby-Dick? I wanna teach th’ little guy how to take a nap after lunch…”

“Hey! This is a work of art, not a sleeping aid!”

“Ooh! Debating its merits! Even better! Okay, we’re ready!”

“For your information, Moby-Dick is not a boring book!”

“For your information, that book can put you in a coma!”

“This book stimulates your mind! Not only is this book full of high seas adventure, but the real joy in Moby-Dick is the pure act of reading itself…”

“...zzzzzzzzz”





Here are some of the bits I highlighted in the book:

“His literary career had begun in spectacular fashion four years before with Typee, a bestseller about his adventures in the South Seas. But Melville quickly learned that success guarantees nothing and in fact turns the future into an endless quest to measure up to the past.”

“By purchasing a home in the wilds of western Massachusetts with the intention of supporting himself and his family on the income derived from a novel about, of all things, whaling, Melville was embarking on a quest as audacious and doomed as anything dreamed up by the captain of the Pequod.”

“Contained in the pages of Moby-Dick is nothing less than the genetic code of America: all the promises, problems, conflicts, and ideals that contributed to the outbreak of a revolution in 1775 as well as a civil war in 1861 and continue to drive this country’s ever-contentious march into the future.”

“Moby-Dick may be well known, but the handful of novels considered American classics, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, it is the most reluctantly read. It is too long and too maddeningly digressive to be properly appreciated by a sleep-deprived adolescent, particularly in this age of digital distractions …
But the novel, like all great works of art, grows on you. Instead of being a page-turner, the book is a repository not only of American history and culture but also of the essentials of Western literature. It has a voice that is one of the most nuanced in all of literature: at once confiding, funny, and oracular - an outpouring of irrepressible eloquence that soars into the stratosphere even as it remains rooted to the ground. The book is so encyclopedic and detailed that space aliens could use it to re-create the whale fishery as it once existed on the planet Earth in the middle of the nineteenth century.”

[Quo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathaniel Philbrick's Why Read Moby-Dick? serves as an excellent resource companion to Herman Melville's epic novel about the white whale, acting as what was once termed a vade mecom, a handbook or guidebook to travel, in this case literary travel in search of Moby Dick. The brief 125 page book is less a rationale for reading Moby Dick than the reader might expect; it is however a very helpful reference manual to Melville's great novel, explaining the background for the novel & various points of interest along the way, including the considerable impact of the author's relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne.



When reading or rereading Moby Dick, as I've recently done, one's focus can be taken by the many composite chapters that form the epic novel, each with a different focus or point of introduction to the far broader topic of whaling & the search for the great white sperm whale. Meanwhile, what Philbrick does is to center the reader's attention on recurrent, foundational elements of Melville's classic novel. In fact, he calls Moby Dick a "metaphysical blueprint of the United States", a phrasing that may represent an overstatement but which doesn't substantially diminish Philbrick's commentary.

For example, there are references to Melville's being an agnostic, while being very biblically-based & always in search of life's meaning & some form of kinship with God.

It is only amid the terrifying vastness of the sea that man can confront the ultimate truths of his existence: all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea, for in landlessness alone resides the highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God.

Hawthorne commented that Melville could neither believe nor disbelieve in God, suggesting that he was "too honest & courageous not to try to do one or the other." His contemporary & fellow author felt that if Melville had been a religious man, "he would have been truly religious & reverential, for he has a very high & noble nature & is better worth immortality than most of us."



Without wishing to write a review longer than Nathaniel Philbrick's brief book, there is more about the psyche of the author within this companion volume than about Moby Dick itself, including a reference to Melville's contention that "there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not undone by the madness of men." But with all of H.M's pessimism, Philbrick tells his readers that "Melville has created a portrait of the redemptive power of intimate human relations." (This is not something I discerned with my own reading of the novel.)

In Why Read Moby-Dick?, the author also contends that Melville's great novel speaks to the increasing fracture between the American north & south, a literary foreshadowing of the continuing national state of affairs that led inevitably to the Civil War. Melville had always detested the presence of slavery in America and Philbrick remarks on its continuing stain, a preoccupation with the author at the time when his masterwork was being finalized & then published in 1851.

Beyond that, Philbrick suggests that the great white whale is not a symbol; rather, he is real! By that, I suspect that he means that what occurred with Captain Ahab, causing his doom & that of all but one on board the "Pequod", can happen to any mortal.

And near the end of the book, there is this--following Herman Melville's death, 40 years after Moby Dick was published & proved to be a much-underappreciated masterpiece, bringing obscurity instead of fame, it was discovered that taped to H.M.'s writing platform was an adage from Schiller: Keep True to the Dreams of Youth.

Having ceased to believe in his own immortality, Melville found a way to believe that..."life isn't about achieving one's dreams but about finding a way to continue in spite of them." In the end, Melville had found a way back to the view espoused by Ismael in Moby Dick:

Doubts of all things earthly & intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes a man neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.

And as Nathaniel Philbrick puts it, "This redemptive mixture of skepticism & hope, this genial stoicism in the face of a short, ridiculous & irrational life, is why I read Moby Dick". How very aptly stated & with a similar brand of enthusiasm, I highly recommend both Melville's masterwork & also Philbrick's fine companion to it, Why Read Moby-Dick?

*Within my review, the 1st photo image is of Nathaniel Philbrick, while the 2nd is of another book by the author, one which also has a direct connection to Moby Dick.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, has done extensive research about the destruction of the whaleship "Essex" by an angry whale. This actual event inspired Herman Melville to write the novel "Moby-Dick." Melville had worked on a whaler in the Pacific, and his experiences contributed to a sense of realism in his works. In Melville's novel, Captain Ahab is searching the Pacific for vengeance against the giant whale who bit off his leg.

Why Read Moby-Dick? has short chapters of 3-4 pages that approach "Moby-Dick" in various ways. There is biographical information about Melville, as well as information about whaling and Nantucket. After Melville read Nathaniel Hawthorne's dark works, he revised "Moby-Dick" to include the power of darkness in his novel. Shakespeare, with his "dark characters" such as Hamlet, Lear, and Iago, also inspired the darkness in Ahab. The Bible is another influence. Philbrick also reflects upon the culturally diverse crew, important characters, and exciting parts of the narrative.

Why Read Moby-Dick? is written in a conversational tone, aimed at an educated general public. I would consider it to fall in the "books about books" category. I enjoyed his enthusiasm for the novel, and sailing in general. I read "Moby-Dick" years ago as a sixteen-year-old student. Philbrick's entertaining book was a wonderful way to revisit that experience.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is that rare piece of criticism that not only gives you a deeper appreciation for its subject, but also compels you to revisit it. In 127 pages, Philbrick makes his points succinctly, supporting them with some of the "Moby-Dick"'s best passages. Among them: Ishmael's emotional and philosophical center, the irreconcilability of heartless business and religion's idealized benevolence and the difference between Ahab's "urgent, soul-singed probing into the meaning of life" and the crew's interest in "losing themselves in the cosmos." Philbrick, like his subject, also draws on much larger themes, the implications of which are far too broad for the borders of a book: he posits that in 1850, "Moby-Dick" showed its awareness of America's inevitable approach to war; in the twenty-first century, the book is just as relevant as it "feels more and more like an era in which a cataclysm, whether financial, environmental, or terrorist devised, is just around the corner." Philbrick's points range from entertaining to thoughful, from highlighting "Moby-Dick"'s chowder recipe to comparing Ahab to Hitler--"Why Read 'Moby-Dick'?" answers its central question thoroughly, no matter who might be asking it.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an impassioned commentary on the multiple layers of meaning found in the novel, Moby-Dick. The author treats the novel with the respect generally given the Bible, and he compares Herman Melville's work favorably with that of Shakespeare as shown in the following quotation.

Reading Shakespeare we know what it is like in any age to be alive. So it is with Moby-Dick, a novel about a whaling voyage to the Pacific that is also about America racing hell bent toward the Civil War and so much more. Contained in the pages of Moby-Dick is nothing less than the genetic code of America—all the promises, problems, conflicts, and ideals that contributed to the outbreak of a revolution in 1775, as well as a Civil War in 1861, and continued to drive this country's march into the future.

This means that whenever a new crisis grips this country, Moby-Dick becomes newly important. It is why subsequent generations have seen Ahab as Hitler during World War II, or as a profit crazed deep drilling oil company in 2010, or as a power crazed Middle Eastern dictator in 2011.

The author in this book provides a credible case for defending the lofty claims put forth in the above quotation. The irony is that when Moby-Dick was first published in the fall of 1851 virtually no one seems to have taken much notice. It wasn't until after World War I that the novel's significance was widely recognized.

If I had been a reader in the late nineteenth century I wouldn't have been able to predict that the book was destined to have a place in the literary canon. When I listened to the audio of the book several years ago I was aware of its reputation as great American literature, but I didn't retain much more than the outline of a long fictional story with some nonfiction side comments about the nineteenth century whaling industry. I am bothered by my lack of admiration because what it means is that if I happen to cross paths with the next great work of literature I probably won't be able to recognize its potential.

This book's author, Nathaniel Philbrick, in additional to exploring the beauty and skill of the book's prose also provides some history about the life of Herman Melville and his experiences while writing the book. I found it interesting that Melville's first draft did not include the Ahab character as captain of the ship. Melville met Nathaniel Hawthorne for the first time after the first draft, and it is probably from him that Melville was inspired to add Ahab with his driven and tormented soul. As a matter of fact Hawthorne was something of an inspirational muse for Melville. Hawthorne in return was encouraging and supportive but probably did not reciprocate Melville's enthusiastic admiration.

Melville was thirty-two years old at the time Moby-Dick was published and lived to be seventy-two when he died in 1891. It's sad that in most of his last thirty years of his life he probably believed the passions and pathos of his younger years which had been invested in the writing of Moby-Dick were little more than a fading personal memory unappreciated by anybody else.

"What Moby-Dick needed it turned out was space, the distance that was required for its themes and images to resonate unfettered by the turmoil and passions that inspired them. Once free of its own historical moment Moby-Dick became the seemingly timeless source of meaning that it is today."

The following is a link to some additional quotations from this book:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes...

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those of you following my reviews for these many years: First off, thank you. Secondly, you’ll be happy to know that my life-long goal of finally reading Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” is close to fruition.

One of my goals this year was to finally read it. I started it early in the year, and I’m happy to say that I’m already on Chapter 82, which is a little more than half-way through the book. This is, by far, the longest I’ve gotten through the book. I’m actually enjoying it so far, but I’m taking it in three or four chapter “chunks” every week to savor the richness of Melville’s wonderful prose.

Helping me along my way was a little book by historian and Melville cheerleader Nathaniel Philbrick entitled, simply, “Why Read Moby-Dick?”.

Philbrick loves Melville, and he loves “Moby Dick”, probably in the same way some people love the band Rush or David Bowie or Star Wars or the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s an irrational yet passionate love affair, one that only people who share that love will understand.

Still, when reading Philbrick’s well-articulated reasons for why he loves “Moby Dick”, his excitement is palpable and infectious. Also enlightening.

Philbrick writes about Melville’s unlikely relationship with author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was considerably older than Melville. Their personalities were as different as night and day: Hawthorne was a shy, quiet, almost puritanical man; Melville was young, vivacious, talkative, and, well, weird. Their friendship would be analogous to an aging Army drill sergeant befriending a hyperactive hippy. But it worked, and Melville learned a lot from Hawthorne.

The events happening in Melville’s world was also significant in its creation. The American Civil War was brewing. Slavery—-and racism—-was, if not talked about openly, on everybody’s mind. Reading “Moby Dick” with this in mind helps to unlock some of its hidden meanings.

Then, there is simply Melville’s writing. Each chapter is a treasure trove of poetic prose: alliteration and assonance abounds; the symbolism and imagery! The literary references! Is it any wonder why English teachers love to teach this?

And here’s the little-known secret that only people who actually read Melville (as opposed to those who just read the Cliffs Notes versions of Melville) will get: he’s funny. Hilarious, even. Sometimes his humor is subtle. Other times, it’s in your face. And his humor is necessary, considering this is a book about a dangerously obsessive and narcissistic whale-ship captain bent on a highly irrational sense of revenge against a single white whale. One knows from the beginning that his entire crew—-including the narrator—-is doomed. Occasional comedic relief is absolutely required.

I debated whether to read this before or after reading the actual novel, and I’m glad I chose to read it before. It’s been a handy little companion piece.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this introduction (or for me, re-introduction) to Moby Dick, which is one of my all-time favorite novels. The reason I'm only rating this 3 stars, is that Philbrick only scratches the surface of the novel. Philbrick populates his short book, with a lot of short chapters. Many of these chapters (such as "Ahab," "Poetry," "Hawthorne," etc.), which run on average about 3-5 pages, could easily be expanded into much longer discussions. In fact, some of these chapters could easily be books themselves. MD junkies (such as myself), are going to want more. In fairness to Philbrick, the intent of the book is that of a teaser, and there are enough insights and tidbits to hold the attention of MD veterans, and those who haven't yet boarded the Pequod. Hey, it's a great novel, and Philbrick did leave me wanting to revisit the Whiteness of the Whale.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent musings on the classic Moby Dick. Having just finished that leviathan of a book, I found Philbrick's slim (127pp) book of background info on Melville and interesting comments on certain parts of Moby quite enlightening. Makes for a nice companion to the novel. I'll probably re-read with Moby in hand.

[Roger Brunyate · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Engaging Shipmate

I have had my Norton Critical Edition of Melville's Moby-Dick on my shelves for four years now. I meant to start the day I bought it, but its 425 pages of small-print text, plus another 300 of supplementary materials, just proved too daunting. Until I came upon this beautifully produced slim volume that, like an attentive tour guide, welcomed me aboard and promised to keep me company the entire voyage. The result, embarking on Melville with Philbrick by my side, turned into one of the most stimulating weeks of reading I have enjoyed in ages.

This is no Cliffs Notes. Philbrick offers no chapter summaries or lists of characters. Instead, he shares his thoughts in a series of essays, some keeping closely to the text, some striking off from it: "The Gospels in This Century," "Landlessness," "Desperado Philosophy," "Nantucket," and "Chowder"—the titles of the first five will give some hint of their variety. But the chapters nonetheless follow the course of the novel. Reading Philbrick is like taking a sorbet between courses of a rich meal. It settles the palate, enabling one to digest what one has just read. It sharpens the senses for what it to come. And the simple contrast—small book after large, thick pages after thin, generous spacing after tight type—made it a physical refreshment too. I found it did not matter whether I read the relevant Philbrick essay before or after the chapter to which it mainly refers: the one whetted my anticipation, making the Melville words almost familiar; the other pointed out things I might almost have missed, often sending me back to read them again.

One thing that Philbrick especially did for me, as a foreigner reading an American classic—some might say the American classic—was to focus my mind on its continuing national relevance. "Contained in the pages of Moby-Dick is nothing less than the genetic code of America: all the promises, problems, conflicts, and ideals that contributed to the outbreak of a revolution in 1775 as well as a civil war in 1861 and continue to drive this country's ever-contentious march into the future. This means that whenever a new crisis grips this country, Moby-Dick becomes newly important." He backs this up all along the way, analyzing Ahab as demagogue and dictator, and making reference to present-day concerns such as dependence of fossil fuels, global warming, and species extinction.

I was heartened by hearing Philbrick say "I am not one of those purists who insist on reading the entire untruncated text at all costs," as I fully intended to skip judiciously myself. In the event, I did not do so, though sometimes I sped up. And in his chapter "A Mighty, Messy Book," Philbrick seems to reverse his original advice, urging the reader to hang in there "as the novel follows the erratic whims of Melville's imagination toward the Pacific." Indeed, it was the sheer variousness of Philbrick's book that made me appreciate the protean variety of Melville's. "Moby-Dick is a true epic," he says, "embodying every powerful American archetype as it interweaves creation myths, revenge narratives, folktales, and the conflicting impulses to create and destroy, all played out across the globe's vast oceanic stage." And yet he also says, "There is a wonderful slapdash quality to the book. Melville inserts chapters of biology, history, art criticism, you name it, sometimes at seeming random. […] But Melville is conveying the quirky artlessness of life through his ramshackle art."

Philbrick also made me aware of Melville's debts to Hawthorne and to Shakespeare. Ignorant as I am of American literary history, I did not realize that Melville had virtually finished his whaling novel, then called "The Whale," before he met Hawthorne in 1850, and that Captain Ahab then had no part in it. But reading and then meeting Hawthorne, Melville saw him as an under-appreciated genius possessed by a "great power of blackness." As though recognizing that his own novel lacked this fourth or fifth dimension—moral, infernal, supernatural, call it what you will—Melville went back and rewrote the entire book. It is fascinating to imagine how the novel would have been without Ahab. You will still have had those brilliant descriptions, the cornucopia of information, the in-the-moment action of the whaling sequences, and the pervasive humor which was one of my biggest surprises in reading. But the knowledge that they constitute a second layer added later gives mesmerizing power to the slow build-up of foreboding created by the prophet of Nantucket, the deep mystery of Ahab, the tawny Islanders that emerge as his Myrmidons from their hiding place in the hold when the first whale is sighted, the moral discussions between Ahab and his sane lieutenant Starbuck, and the descent (or ascent) into the wild poetic madness of King Lear on the heath as the final showdown approaches. Oh, it is an amazing book! But without Philbrick at my side, I think I would have gone ashore long since.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this little book, written like a master's thesis from a besotted fan, Nathaniel Philbrick shares all his favorite lines and favorite themes and favorite issues from his beloved book, Moby Dick. Philbrick shows the contemporariness of Moby Dick through the issues Melville interweaves into his story as well as the timelessness of Moby Dick through the themes Melville touches upon. It's a love poem to Moby Dick, and I found myself reading the book while simultaneously marking passages in my Kindle version of Moby Dick to reflect upon later.

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to Why Read Moby-Dick excitedly because I have the yen to reread Melville's novel and hope to next year. I thought Philbrick might provide me with new interpretive keys to inform my reread. I don't think he did. He downplays interpretation, in fact, encouraging the reader to consider it in naturalistic terms. He plainly states that the white whale isn't a symbol. It's what it seems to be: an aggressive sperm whale who happens to be an albino. Any meaning assigned to him beyond that, any blame attached for "human complaint"--Philbrick's phrase--is in the mind of Ahab. The symbols are the captain's.

Nathanael Hawthorne's influence on the novel was new insight for me. Before beginning Moby-Dick Melville had written some bestsellers based on his adventures in the Pacific. Moby-Dick was written in a similar realistic vein, and Melville had almost completed the first draft when he met Hawthorne in the summer of 1850. Becoming familiar with the shy, inscrutable Hawthorne and the dark elements in his short stories made him rethink the character of Ahab and take the novel in the direction of the rage and fear he associated with human experience.

Philbrick explains that Moby-Dick contains the emblems for everything America had been and was at the time of its writing. All of American history and culture is in the novel as well as all the essentials of Western literature. Just as important, perhaps, Melville wrote the book in such a way that a novel about the sea would become what Philbrick calls a "metaphysical blueprint" for America in 1850 and would especially reflect the divisiveness caused by the moral confrontation over slavery which was about to consume the country.

Philbrick writes about these things in an engaging way. However, his study is quite brief and his not elaborating on ideas such as these dilutes their power to convince. I'll be looking for these elements when I reread.

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've attempted to read Moby-Dick at least five times. And each time, I've given up. So, you can imagine my shock and surprise when this go-around appears to be the one where I finally read the darn thing! I've actually been enjoying the book quite a bit. So much, in fact, that I have been looking into supplemental reading material as well, including this book.

And I have to say, it was an excellent (albeit short) read. If I hadn't wanted to read Moby-Dick before this, I certainly did now. The only issue I have with Philbrick's excellent contribution is that I felt there were too many spoilers. Now, I've "read" Moby-Dick for class, so even though I could not finish, I knew what happened. So, it wasn't really a huge spoiler for me. But, there were characters and details that Philbrick populated his book with, and I guess it bothered me a little. After all, if you're trying to tell me to read this book, revealing key plot points isn't the right way to do it.

I guess the issue is that I'm not really sure there is a right way to do it. To talk about a book like this, you actually have to share details of the story. I guess I would have liked it better if the author stayed away from the later portions of the book, and allowed the reader to be surprised when they read Moby-Dick for themselves. Still, I really enjoyed reading this, and would recommend it to Moby-Dick fans.

[Update 2025]
Every summer now, I attempt to read Moby-Dick. I say attempt because I don't always finish, but I always enjoy the ride. This book, I think, will become a nice appetizer to start me off before we set sail each summer.

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philbrick accomplishes what he sets out to do reasonably welll--the title's a clue--but there are a couple of problems that led me to the 3.49 as opposed to the 3.51 star rating. I suspect these are things that are related more to marketing than to Philbrick's real take on one of my three or four favorite American novels, but I really resisted the domesticating gestures: connecting Ahab with Saddam Hussein, overvaluing Starbuck and the (in my mind absolutely ineffectual) domestic vision he advocates. For me, Melville's vision is profoundly subversive of any platitude; there's no place to rest and precious little reassurance. Tough sell in the contemporary market where we put the smiley face on everything. Moby-Dick just isn't a self-help book and I was disappointed that Philbrick tilted the end (and a few other passages) in that direction.

That doesn't render the accomplishments of the book irrelevant. For one thing, any book that incorporates this many quotes from the Melville's prose has a major advantage. I listened to the audio and Philbrick reads the passages very well. In addition, he's got a deep sense of the novel's structure and its relationship to Melville's life and American cultural history. He consistently picks out the scenes I'd consider most important--Pip, the Try Works, etc.--and reads them well. Most importantly, he explains cogently why MD's worth the effort.

For a non-Melville afficionado, I don't have any hesitation about recommending the book. On the levels where I want to engage it, Philbrick's reading has some problems. I more than half suspect that if I had the chance to sit down and talk about MD over a beer, he'd have good reasons for reading it like he does.

[W.D. Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be titled: Why Re-read Moby Dick, since, as an introduction, I can't see this being all that helpful before one dives in and lingers over Melville's masterpiece. Really, you need to have immersed yourself in the breadth, depth and ambition of Melville's mind, and to luxuriate in the allusive poetry of his prose to really appreciate what Phibrick's book has to offer, which is (for this reader at least) akin to a breathless tourist's photo album. It is a forgetful reader's aide-memoire, as each of the short chapters of this book are focused upon one of the many diverse entry points to the novel, and have a two-fold effect on the reader: first, to take you back to the moment when you first encountered some magically improbable moment in Moby Dick and briefly once more reignite your memory of it; and second, to make you want to go read more on the subjects that Philbrick only has a few brief moments to touch upon. I kept wanting each chapter to go further, to give me more of the novel back to me, but I take it he is just sending us back to do that for ourselves

[Shirley (stampartiste) · Rating 5 out of 5]

While struggling early on with Herman Melville’s style in Moby-Dick or, the Whale, I decided to take advice from my friend Cynda and read Nathaniel Philbrick’s Why Read Moby-Dick? before continuing on. Reading this small book (127 pages) made all the difference in the world in my appreciation of Moby-Dick. Thank you, Cynda, for your invaluable recommendation.

Philbrick is an expert on everything Melville and Moby-Dick. Philbrick also wrote the incredible book, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It is the true story of the sinking of the whaleship Essex by an infuriated bull sperm whale. The sinking of the Essex in 1820 inspired Melville to write Moby-Dick three decades later. But I digress… which is precisely what drove me crazy early on about Moby-Dick, until Philbrick made me see that Melville was interested in all things related to whales and whaling and wanted to include everything in his Magnum Opus on the industry. I reached a point where I would chuckle to myself when Melville took me down another rabbit hole, and I would just sit back and enjoy my next whaling lesson. It really was quite fascinating.

Why Read Moby-Dick? also helped me put Moby-Dick in its pre-Civil War context and the events that were shaping America at the time. I also enjoyed learning about Melville the man, who befriended his literary idol Nathaniel Hawthorne and used him as a sounding board. But Philbrick showed us another side of Melville the man, who must have been quite difficult, if not impossible, to live with. Did he share a little madness with his creation, Ahab?

For anyone who wants to tackle reading Moby-Dick for the first time, I would highly recommend reading Why Read Moby-Dick? first. It really sets the tone for an enjoyable read.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This hi-lights the great passages found in the novel by Hermann Melville. And what a unique novel it is – there is no other story quite like it. As Mr. Philbrick suggests there are several stories or themes or myths interwoven within it – all told with an inspiring realism. All at the same time, the book is intense, tangible and magic. Melville has an uncanny ability to “flip the coin” – dwell on something from one perspective and examine it from an entirely different viewpoint. If there is any book (to paraphrase Nietzsche) that stares into the abyss with a mirror, it is this one.

I don’t agree with all the author expounds on. He states that “Moby Dick is not a symbol” – well I feel the white whale is something along those lines, but what exactly I can’t say. As D.H. Lawrence suggested in his review in “Studies of Classic American Literature” Melville himself could not know entirely what he was writing of. Lawrence’s “White Whale” is one of the most enthusiastic reviews of Moby Dick.

One of my favourite lines from Philbrick’s book (page 70): “we are in the presence of a writer who spent several impressionable years on a whaleship, internalized everything he saw, and seven or so years later… found the voice and the method that enabled him to broadcast his youthful experiences. And this, ultimately, is where the great unmatched potency of Moby Dick, the novel resides. It comes from an author who, not only was there but possessed the capacious and impressionable soul required to appreciate the wonder of what he was seeing.”

Mr. Philbrick’s nicely made book makes me desire, once again, to re-read and appreciate the wonders of Moby Dick.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is based on an Advanced Reader's Copy - thank you Penguin Books!

I recently finished reading Moby Dick which I enjoyed, but found occasionally off topic and meandering. So many people have described MB as the ultimate American novel. Although it was good, I wasn't positive that it deserved that accolade. Unlike Moby Dick, Nathaniel Philbrick's book Why Read Moby-Dick? is short - it's really a set of essays about various characters and features of the book. But in spite of its length, it packs in a wealth of information. He covers much of Melville's background and the friendships and events that influenced Melville to write Moby Dick. I especially liked his discussion of how the country was torn apart by the issue of slavery and how that issue is reflected in the book. Philbrick has won the National Book Award for In the Heart of the Sea which is the incredible story of the whaleship Essex that was rammed and sunk by a whale. This event inspired Melville's classic. Philbrick's analysis of different passages of Moby Dick really added to my appreciation of this book - so much so that I know I will be reading MB again. And I'll definitely add some of Philbrick's books to my list - this book was excellent.

[Gaijinmama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hated Moby Dick in high school. Absolutely loathed it. I liked Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor and Bartleby, the Scrivener but the one about the whale drove me absolutely freaking nuts and, although I was a huge bookworm, and had a really excellent English teacher that year, I barely got through it.
Well, Nathaniel Philbrick has changed my mind. I'm rethinking Moby, now that I know a little of what writing his masterpiece did to Melville, how much of his soul he poured into this book, how strongly affected he was by the events going on in American society and in his personal life at the time. After reading this slim little volume I am seriously planning to give the book another try. I have a feeling that I'll appreciate it more this time.

[Cynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philbrick so loves Moby Dick that he had to tell others in a mass-produced book. Good for me! I read Moby Dick in April because a group I am part of decoded to read this book and as it was on my really-need-to-read list, I read it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I gave the novel 3☆. Then I read this book. I had to re-review Moby Dick. I will likely be reading the whole thing. All due to this little book of small essays.

[Ericka Clou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this book on a recent (first) trip to Nantucket. This certainly makes me want to read Moby Dick and after previous attempts, I thought nothing could make me want to read it. I will give it one more try...


Dubious.

Update: I love Moby Dick with all my heart.

[Matt Buongiovanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I am not one of those purists who insist on reading the entire truncated novel at all costs. Moby-Dick is a long book, and time is short. Even a sentence, a mere phrase, will do. The important thing is to spend some time with the novel, to listen as you read, to feel the prose adapt to the various voices that flowed through Melville during the book’s composition like intermittent ghosts with something urgent and essential to say.”

I have often joked with friends that reading Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is what conversations with me would feel like if I were smart. The novel’s tendency towards lengthy digressions, occasionally jarring stylistic and tonal shifts, and offbeat, morbid sense of humor would all feel very familiar to those who know me—the only difference, of course, being that Moby-Dick is a masterpiece, and conversations with me are, at best, occasionally entertaining. Nathaniel Philbrick’s Why Read Moby Dick? is, in comparison, the sort of conversation that I could imagine between a brilliant professor and a room full of engaged students. Philbrick’s adoration for the novel is palpable, and each of the little essays in this book focus on specific themes, characters, or chapters from Moby-Dick, with Philbrick chiming in to share his thoughts on their place in the work as a whole, their relevance to us in the modern day, and—most interesting of all, in my opinion—their connection with Herman Melville’s own life.

The book is at its strongest when Philbrick is drawing comparisons between the writing of Moby-Dick and the hunt for Moby-Dick. The portrait that he paints of Melville, losing his eyesight, fully aware that his obsession with finishing the novel has dangerous parallels with the obsession of the novel’s driving character, but unable to stop himself from writing anyway, is deeply moving, and also gave me a new way to look at the book the next time I reread it (which will be soon, by the way). I don’t agree with all of his interpretations, but that isn’t a knock against the book—Philbrick clearly loves this novel, and his thinking is clearly but poetically laid out for the reader. I think that some level of disagreement about a book as massive and rich as Moby-Dick is inevitable; I could probably write a book twice as long as this one and still not come anywhere close to saying everything I want to say about Melville’s masterpiece, let alone convincing everyone else that my interpretations are correct!

If you haven’t read Moby-Dick, read this book! It’s short (I knocked it out in an afternoon, and probably could have done it faster if I didn’t pause every few pages to crack open my own copy of the novel and read through whole pages that Philbrick alluded to), it’s accessible, and it’s interesting. If you have read Moby-Dick, read this book! Even if it doesn’t teach you anything new (though, to be clear, it probably will), it will, if nothing else, make you say, “yeah, Moby-Dick is so good.” And you know what? Sometimes it’s important to sit back, relax, and acknowledge the simple facts of life like that.

This book is a passionate and engaging love letter to one of the greatest novels of all time. If I ever meet Nathaniel Philbrick, I hope to be able to shake his hand, nod, and say, “Yeah, Moby-Dick is so good.”

[Tarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun “quick” book to read (particularly quick, when you've read a 7-week novel of infinite length). This guide can probably help you understand the ginormous novel Moby Dick just a bit better. I know it helped me! There was definitely some elements that I can understand more because of this book. It unlocked some of the layers of Moby Dick. We learn about Melville's life, his friends, and some of his writing projects. We learn about the inspiration behind such a titanic volume about a whale. While I wouldn't say this is a very in-depth study, it definitely covers a lot of ground – or nautical miles, as the case may be. I also don't know if this book would effectively win over a person who hasn't read the classic yet, but it might prod them – or at the very least, inform them.

Personally, I recommend reading this particular guide after finishing the classic itself, and not before... just so that you don't learn all about the outline of the plot of Moby Dick.) Anyways, I ended up learning quite a bit about Herman Melville himself, and some bits about why certain elements are brought up in the book.

Moby Dick is a novel that transcends time with the arguments, lessons, and characters it contains. Some of us just need a little guidance to see those elements in our modern times. Thanks, Mr. Philbrick.

[Dimebag · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for Melville fans, and perhaps a prerequisite for Moby-Dick or, the Whale. I would recommend this short companion book to any reluctant reader or otherwise who wants to go head-to-head with The Whale.

[Karyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I had to read quite a few classics in my AP Literature class in high school, Moby-Dick wasn't one of them, much to my father's chagrin. Melville's masterpiece is his favorite book, and I know the fact I have yet to read it is a bit of a disappointment to him. I have, however, read Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, detailing the attack of a sperm whale on the Essex which inspired Melville to write his book.

I live in New England, not far from New Bedford, Massachusetts, the epicenter of whaling in the 19th century. One of our favorite places to visit is the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, and it was there that I picked up this slim volume encouraging me to read Moby-Dick. I would have bought it anyhow, as I adore Nathaniel Philbrick and am willing to read just about anything he's written. Having visited the museum has allowed me to really envision what's going on in Moby-Dick, as regarding the hunt for the whales and the processing of their flesh and oil. I'm a visual person, so I'm not sure I would have been able to comprehend these passages in Moby-Dick without having this experience.

I'm very glad I read this book before reading Moby-Dick; for me, it's been an introduction like you'd receive in a literature class to site the novel within its time and make it relevant to ours. I do hope to read Melville's book soon and apply Philbrick's insights. I believe I'll now get a lot more out of it than I would have otherwise.

[Grace Willis]

Fine I’ll read Moby-Dick

[Laura Leaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philbrick's book is an ode to both Moby Dick and to genius. To the burning intensity that is Melville. Philbrick's love for Moby is similar enough to my own that this little book gave me a lot of pleasure. I know very few people who've read (let alone love) Moby Dick so reading this appreciative book was like finding a friend who could validate my own feelings.

No writer can mine Melville's depth in 100 or so pages, and that's not the purpose. Philbrick merely attempts to tell you why you should read one of the most fascinating novels ever written. Yet the fact of the matter is that no non-lover of nineteenth century American literature will voluntarily read this book. Philbrick's book is written for people who've already read Melville's. Ahab, Starbuck, Ishmael, Fedallah. When Philbrick quoted from particularly frightening or moving passages, a frisson of profound recognition went through me. My heart said, "Hey! Those are passages I love too!"

Small things. I liked Philbrick's comparison of Ahab as a symbol of 1850 America. I never read him in that way before. I also liked the details of Hawthorne's influence on Melville's psyche and the quotes from Sophia Hawthorne's letters to her mother regarding Melville's eyes; she writes, "It is a strange, lazy glance, but with a power in it quite unique. It does not seem to penetrate through you, but to take you into itself." I also never took note of the fact that a reader is given the perfect recipe for clam chowder in Chapter 14.

The world seems impatient and often superficial to me anymore. Sometimes it makes me sad, while other times I can shrug, thinking that it probably doesn't really matter much. Should we worry that there's such a tiny audience for this book? Maybe not; after all, it didn't exactly fly off the bookseller's shelves back in the day either. Regardless, Philbrick's book is a fine statement about why Moby Dick still matters.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having only just nerved myself this year to finally face Melville's white whale - and having come out of the experience enlightened as to the phenomenon but not terribly moved - I was curious to hear Philbrick's arguments for the classic people (including this author) are most likely to advise you to skip half of when reading. Unfortunately, Philbrick offers not a single reason for me to read Moby Dick - he's too busy natting on about why he reads it, and summarizing the plot so that the next person doesn't have to.

Why Read Moby Dick? is prettily written, with just enough interesting background information to hold the attention and a handful of trivia sure to pull you up short. (Moby Dick is the one novel by another author that William Faulkner wished he had written? I'm still mulling the endless possibilities there.) But it's all so... surface. Philbrick presents episodes from the novel and then neatly ties them up with little bows purporting to be morals or reasons or some such. Rarely does his case, such as it is, span more than a few pages, and most of those are devoted to the synopsizing and quoting of the text itself. Each chapter closes with a "And here's why this means something!" so perfunctory it's hard to believe even a man as swept by passion for his subject as Philbrick could mistake it for a reasoned argument.

"Thinking is, or ought to be," says Ahab, "a coolness and a calmness; and our poor hearts throb, and our poor brains beat too much for that." Philbrick fails here at coolness - and, sadly, unlike Ahab he lacks the ability to draw us into the beat of his monomania.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast, but insightful little analyzation of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. As much as I hated reading Moby Dick itself, this was enjoyable because there were a lot of great connections in here that I had never heard of before. This makes me want to revisit the novel, which is good, I suppose?

Taylor, you'd like this. Read this!

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am working up to the desire to read Moby Dick, daring myself to join the ranks of those who have. I am leery because I have heard of the tedious writing, I am not a fan of endless details. I am thinking about listening to the audio narrated by Anthony Heald and I hope that this will be the catalyst to get me read a well known classic of all time.