The Whale : In Search of the Giants of the Sea

Amazon.com Review \*\*Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2010\*\*: After reading \*Moby Dick\*, author Philip Hoare was so captivated by the subject that he spent years trying to fathom the planet’s most enormous and enigmatic of creatures. Hoare's admitted mania for whales led him to write \*Leviathan, or the Whale\*—which was awarded the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize, Britain’s most prestigious award for nonfiction. The book has finally migrated to this side of the Atlantic under a new title, \*The Whale\*. Hoare is not a scientist, but rather a biographer whose subjects have tended toward highbrow figures like Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde. In approaching cetaceans, the author’s non-scientific background works to great advantage. Similar to Melville, Hoare has captured a wide range of historical and scientific facts about whales, but has chosen to present them through an extremely powerful instrument--the literary imagination. The result is a deeply moving and thought-provoking biography of the planet’s toughest, yet most vulnerable of prehistoric survivors. \*The Whale\* takes us well beyond the limits of what we can see, hear or otherwise objectively "know" about whales, and offers a much more vivid sense of their true magnitude. \*--Lauren Nemroff\* From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. A young boy's first glimpse of a whale in captivity matures into a writer's paean to the giants of the deep in this poetic blend of nautical history, literary allusion, personal experience, and natural science by British biographer Hoare (\*Noël Coward\*). With Melville as his mentor and Ishmael as his muse, the author haunts one-time whaling town New Bedford, Mass., America's richest city in the mid–19th century thanks to whale oil and baleen (whalebone); recreates the cramped life on board the whalers of 200 years ago; weaves writing about whales by Emerson and Poe into his narrative; and finally revels in face-to-fin encounters with his obsession, swimming with the whales in the Atlantic. Though Hoare rhapsodizes most about the fabled sperm whale, the world's largest predator with a history dating back 23 million years, he also describes with succinct precision other species—the beaked, blue, fin, humpback, and the killer whale, the sperm whale's only nonhuman predator. This tour de force is a sensuous biography of the great mammals that range on and under Earth's oceans. \*(Feb.)\* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. "A love letter to the 'largest, loudest, oldest' mammal ever to have existed...exhilarating." -People Magazine Winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction, 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. An enthralling and eye-opening literary leviathan swimming in similar bestselling waters as Cod and The Secret Life of Lobsters. The Whale is a lively travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the king of the sea—the remarkable mammals that we human beings have long been fascinated with, from Moby Dick to Free Willy. Bestselling author and naturalist Bernd Heinrich calls it, “a moving and extraordinary book,” and Hoare’s sparkling account of swimming with these incredible behemoths will delight whale and wildlife aficionados, lovers of the sea and sea stories, as well as the socially and environmentally conscious reader. A travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the remarkable mammals that we long have been fascinated with, from Moby-Dick to Free Willy . 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. Praise for The Whale Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction "This tour de force is a sensuous biography of the great mammals that range on and under Earth's oceans." — Publishers Weekly , starred review " The Whale is part cultural study, part travelogue, as Hoare traces the footsteps of Herman Melville from New York to New Bedford and Nantucket . . . [and] digresses on our abuses of the whale and the devastations of the whaling industry." — Boston Globe "One of the most sublime reading experiences you'll have this year." —NPR'S All Things Considered 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 nat-ural history, The Whale is the result of his voyage of discovery into the heart of this obsession and the book that inspired it: Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.Taking us deep into their domain, Hoare shows us these mysterious creatures as they have never been seen before. Following in Ishmael's footsteps, he explores the troubled history of man and whale; visits the historic whaling locales of New Bedford, Nantucket, and the Azores; and traces the whale's cultural history from Jonah to Free Willy. Winner of the prestigious BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, The Whale is an unforgettable and often moving attempt to explain why these strange and beautiful animals still exert such a powerful hold on our imagination. “Unpredictable and amusing and informative and original, cavorting between biology, history, travel writing, and memoir.”—Mark Kurlansky The Whale by Philip Hoare is a enthralling and eye-opening literary leviathan swimming in similar bestselling waters as Cod and The Secret Life of Lobsters. Winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction, The Whale is a lively travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the king of the sea—the remarkable mammals that we human beings have long been fascinated with, from Moby Dick to Free Willy. Bestselling author and naturalist Bernd Heinrich calls it, “a moving and extraordinary book,” and Hoare’s sparkling account of swimming with these incredible behemoths will delight whale and wildlife aficionados, lovers of the sea and sea stories, as well as the socially and environmentally conscious reader. A lively travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the king of the sea. Since his childhood fascination with the gigantic Natural History Museum model of a blue whale, author Philip Hoare has been obsessed with whales. Journeying through human and natural history, this book is the result of his voyage of discovery into the heart of this obsession. Taking us deep into their domain, Hoare shows us these mysterious creatures as they have never been seen before--Hoare's sparkling account of swimming with these incredible behemoths will delight wildlife aficionados. And following in Ishmael's footsteps, he explores the troubled history of man and whale; visits the historic whaling locales of New Bedford, Nantucket, and the Azores; and traces the whale's cultural history from Jonah to Free Willy.--From publisher description "Unpredictable and amusing and informative and original, cavorting between biology, history, travel writing, and memoir."