From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Nathaniel Philbrick

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Dec 27, 2015 Larissa rated it really liked it

Woah how had I never heard of this true story! Or maybe I learned about it in Junior High and forgot about it. I always love survival stories - maybe because it puts my trials into perspective or maybe because they attest to the will of how strong, brave and courageous people can be faced with adversity. Unfortunately, unlike one of my favorite books - Endurance - this was a story about survival but it did not really seemed based on courage or faith or hope in something greater, but rather those ...more

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Sep 28, 2015 Amy Ellis rated it it was amazing

I love to read books that are being made into movies, since I love to see how movies interpret the books. This movie comes out soon, and I have no idea how they are going to do it. This book is an insanely true account of a whaling ship destroyed by an angry whale-one that Moby Dick was based on. The survivors are at sea in whaleboats for 3 months, and a few of them kept detailed accounts of the starvation, cannibalism, and navigational errors that they endure. It is awful and amazing. Lots of i ...more

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Mar 24, 2017 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, audio-book, book-challenge-2017

I've never had any desire to read Moby Dick, so it was surprising I read this book. I picked it out on Audible based on the reviews. Its actually really interesting and tells the story of the whale ship Essex that was attacked & lost at sea by a giant sperm whale. Moby Dick was later written with this story as its basis.

It also tells the history of Nantucket & its whaling / Quaker community on which it was founded.

The most poignant part of the book was about the Galapagos islands & turtles. Th ...more

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