Ratings2
Average rating3.5
From his childhood fascination with the gigantic Natural History Museum model of a blue whale, to his abiding love of Moby-Dick, to his adult encounters with the living animals in the Atlantic Ocean, the acclaimed writer Philip Hoare has been obsessed with whales. The Whale is his unforgettable and moving attempt to explain why these strange and beautiful animals exert such a powerful hold on our imagination.
Reviews with the most likes.
I love my books about marine biology, ecology and history. What this book did right, was spot on. Unfortunately, I had to filter through a bunch of unnecessary info to get to it. It felt as though about a third of the book was taken up by him referencing, quoting and telling the history of Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick). I got so tired of hearing about him, that I was skipping whole pages sometimes to get to the good stuff. I know his work was strongly influenced by actual experience in and around the whaling industry, but I didn't buy a book about Melville, I bought it about whales. Sure, they go hand in hand a lot, but maybe the book should be called “History of whales and Melville”. Beyond that, it was extremely well written. I loved the way he romantic described whales and his experience with them. There was a lot of good history on the whaling industry and he goes pretty in depth to some of the whales biology. All in all, I'd recommend it, as long as you're also a HUGE Moby Dick fan.
