In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Apr 26, 2023 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4 1/2 stars, excellent, well researched tale of Nantucket, whaling, the shipwreck that inspired Melville to write Moby Dick, and the struggle to stay alive in tiny boats with little food for months. The parts about killing and butchering the whales and the Galapagos tortoises were a bit hard to take, but no doubt historically accurate

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Jul 19, 2012 Grace rated it it was amazing

Author: Nathaniel Philbrick
Title: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Description: Moby Dick was based on a true story; the story of the Essex, a Nantucket whaleship that was rammed by a whale. The crew was forced to take the three whaleboats and try to reach land.
Source: I <3 Penguin
Writing style: Absolutely fascinating. Meticulously researched, based on primary sources, and riveting.
Audience: Anyone.
Major ideas: History can be better than a novel. I could never finish ...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Alison rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bookclub-reads, history, books-in-2015

Spellbinding- once I started I couldn't put it down. ...more

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Mar 26, 2008 Rae rated it really liked it

Shelves: history-everything-else

Herman Melville reportedly received his inspiration for Moby Dick from this event in which a rogue male whale rams the whaling ship Essex causing it to sink. The crew is left in lifeboats on the wide open sea far from land. Some of them do survive but not before cannibalism takes place. I learned a lot about the early whaling industry from this read. Well worth the time it took.

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