Customer Reviews

The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like most people, I have loved whales since I was a kid (though I have always been more fascinated by sharks...). This book's title, however, was a bit misleading... there were a lot of fascinating facts about whales, but it was honestly more about whaling than the whales themselves. Which made it a pretty depressing (albeit very interesting) read, all in all. And throughout, the book constantly referenced Moby-Dick, and the life of Herman Melville. So, if you are very familiar with that piece of classic literature, I think you will enjoy this more than someone who only has limited knowledge of the book.
My only real complaint was that I would have liked even more information about the whales themselves, their lives and their habits, and a little less about the cruelty and utter destruction brought upon them by mankind. Although, this book managed to give a balanced look into whaling, and did not come off as the Sea Shepard's, or another eco-terrorist group's, manual. There certainly were a lot of facts that any eco-group could use, however. In handling this sensitive topic of history, this author certainly did a wonderfully detailed job. Well-written (despite a few rather abrupt transitions), and well-researched, the photos and drawings added a lot to this good, but on the whole, rather depressing look into the history of humanity's relationship with the whale.

This wide-ranging paean to the world's largest mammals had its origins in fear. As a boy, British biographer Hoare was terrified of water; his imagination reeling at the depths his eyes could not fathom.

Nevertheless, in his mid-20s he determined to learn to swim. "In the chilly East End pool, built between the wars, I discovered that the water could bear up my body. I realized what I had been missing; the buoyancy of myself."

He still wasn't ready to obsess about the whale for our benefit; he still found his attention wandering from the density of Herman Melville's Moby Dick despite repeated attempts. It wasn't until his first visit to New England and his first sight of a finback on a whale watch out of Provincetown that Hoare was hooked by the majesty of Leviathan.

He dove into Moby-Dick with new eyes and prepared to follow the whale himself, guided by Melville and his own curiosity. "Now, as I came to it again, I saw that Moby Dick is a book made mythic by the whale, as much as it made a myth of the whale in turn."

Hoare muses on Moby Dick's abject failure to stir the collective imagination during Melville's lifetime and the classic status it has since achieved. "Each time I read it, it is as if I am reading it for the first time....Every day I am reminded that it is part of our collective imagination; from newspaper leaders that evoke Ahab in the pursuit of the war on terror, to the ubiquitous chain of coffee shops named after the Pequod's first mate, Starbuck..."

A biographer at heart, Hoare (Noel Coward, Wilde's Last Stand) uses Melville's life as a springboard into 19th century whaling. Coming from a solidly middle class background of revolutionary heroes, Indian fighters and seafarers, Melville ran away to sea at 19. His second sea journey was on a whaler out of New Bedford.

Hoare gives us the seaman's life - the cramped, efficient quarters, the pay and food, the work, the clothing. He explores New Bedford. "To look at it now, you would not guess that New Bedford was once the richest city in America."

The book seems effortlessly organized as the author shifts among Melville's adventures and friendships and disappointments, the dangers, rewards and myths of the whaling life, the uses of whales and their architecture, biology and evolution, all of it seamlessly intertwined throughout the book.

We learn about ambergris and spermaceti, about the tactile sensuousness of shipboard oil pressing. There is a tremendous wealth of information - facts, myths, literary allusions, history, political scheming, science, culture, biography, and more, and all of it is integrated, fascinating and necessary.

Hoare quotes liberally from Moby Dick, sharing vivid stories and accounts of whaling that Melville himself read and used; the tales of sea monsters and whales who fought back, the lives and ships lost, the whales harpooned, killed and harvested.

If Melville's classic and the whales themselves anchor the book, its connecting digressions loosely follow the whaling places. Hoare explores the ports of New York, New Bedford and Nantucket, from which the sperm whales were hunted, pointing out the mansions and heading out with the captains who built them.

As the whaling trade moved onto Europe Hoare follows it to Hull, Southampton, London, out through the British Empire, digressing into politics, changing economies, and technology. As electricity and petroleum phased out whale oil, new processes expanded its use into lubricants, paint, brake fluid, ice cream, lipstick, insulin, pet food and lots more.

Factory fleets took hundreds of the slow-reproducing animals and whale populations decreased around the globe, even as our knowledge of them increased. The gathering technique sperm whales used to protect against killer whales (their only non-human predator) has made them easier for humans to kill en masse.

Hoare looks at cetacean brain research and diet and culture, then goes for a big finish - swimming with the whales in "their nursery, their living space, their dining room," off the Azores.

Hoare is a fluid writer, planting an echo of Melville himself in his prose. Winner of Britain's prestigious BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, this is a magical sort of book, deeply researched (with an excellent bibliography and index) and lovingly written. It's a travel book and a memoir with a reverence for whales. It's a history and a biography and a naturalist's delight. It's a literary accompaniment to Moby Dick and an introduction to the whaling industry.

It's entertaining and endlessly informative and recommended for just about anyone who reads.

After hearing the author on the radio, I was thrilled to find my local library had the book available. Now I'm very glad I didn't buy it, because I found the actaul book quite disappointing. There are interesting passages -- the story of the author's own pursuit of an encounter with whales is vivid and moving, and I enjoyed his examination of Melville's life and work (apparently repurposed from a program he created for the BBC). But the bulk of the book, as another reviewer has mentioned, is about whaling, not whales. Not only are there far too many details (many of them repeated several times) about the development of whaling in various oceans and centuries, there are too many descriptions of beached whales (how many do we really need?!), and too many visits to whale museums. If that's where your interests lie, you'll probably enjoy this book. But the information about the whales themselves is patchy and scattered. Hoare's model for the book is Ahab's pursuit of Moby-Dick, where the whale is seen only through the attempts to capture it, and the animal itself remains mysterious. Unfortunately "The Whale" follows the same pattern, and what is tragedy in Melville is only a missed opportunity in Hoare.

I bought this book because it received great reviews from multiple sources right after it came out. I started reading it last week, after months of waiting to find time, and I was really disappointed by almost everything in the book (even the pictures). The "In Search of the Giants of the Sea" led me to think that I would be reading a completely different book. I thought that I would be learning about the natural history of the whale through its evolution, its role or presence in different cultures around the world, how these cultures used the whales they caught, why people are fascinated by them, and the whaling industry. The only "searching" the author did for whales was to randomly describe various parts of the American and British whaling industry through its bloody and destructive history. The chapters felt disjointed from one another which created a loosely constructed weak narrative.

There were so many things that Hoare could have covered instead of the repetitive chapters on whale massacres. Whales are important beings to many cultures around the world and it would have been a much more interesting read if he had devoted a few chapters to addressing some of the prominent ones. I would NOT recommend this book.

I bought this book because it covered the whaling industry from a broad perspective. Some reviewers have complained that it is not a biology textbook about whales. This is true. What it is a very literary, easy to read, yet fact filled musing about the whole subject of whales and whaling. There is not any overly emotional, hand wringing or politicization of the subject, yet the author does not shrink from problematic areas such as the of using intelligent living beings as a source of renewable energy, margarine or lipstick and corsets. Yet humans can find good use for any thing that is present in large quantities. Unfortunately for whales, they got caught in human's leviathan industrialization.

The great thing about this book is that it also seamlessly blends in so many strands of thought, such as the love and awe of the sea, of ships and sailors, of the fishing industry, of American and World history and always in the background is Moby Dick, Ishmael, Melville, Captain Ahab, and other iconic characters and locations. I have never read the Moby Dick, but you don't have to if you have any appreciation for any the world of the sea.

The Whale is a fascinating account of the history of whaling and the behavior and physiology of whales. If you have even a mild interest in whales, conservation, nature, the ocean, the novel Moby Dick, or history this book will likely interest you. I knew nearly nothing about whales or whaling before reading this book, so I cannot speak to the justice that this book truly does the subject. But, it's great fun to read and educational. This book has certainly attracted my interst to learning more about whales. The only major drawback is the author's writing style is sometimes diffuse and overtly wordy. Be prepared to consult your dictionary frequently.

There is a reason this book won the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction... it is an exceptionally good read while being highly educational!

"The Whale" is NOT a scientific treatise on whales yet there are enough facts and details about whales to satisfy just about any level of whale enthusiast and the many illustrations are just an added bonus.

Philip Hoare deeply admires and respects whales and perhaps is even obsessed with them. It is this passion for his subject that gives the book its "hook" as it literally grabs you and pulls you along for the ride.


Hoare tries very hard to seperate fact from fiction as it pertains to our knowledge of whales. He uses Herman Melville's classic "Moby Dick" as a stepping stone to do this. By referencing passages from the book as well as other historical journals and events that Melville might have used to source his story Hoare provides a dramatic history of the whale, the whaling industry and the tenuous relationship that whales and men have had over the past 400+ years! This provides some of the best and most riveting writing in the book. "You are there" as a sailor yells "there she blows" and the crew goes into action to chase and catch the whale.

But throughout Hoare provides specific and fascinating details about each species of whale that he introduces: from Narwhals, Belugas, Bowheads to the grandaddy of them all... the Sperm whale! Hoare tells of why whales were so in demand during the 18th and 19th century and why men would travel to the four corners of the earth risking death to catch them and bring home the spoils while he also tells of the naturalists and the scientists who made it their life's work to go on expeditions to study whales and their world.

Hoare takes us into the 20th century and the almost indiscriminate slaughter of whales to again satisfy the need for their by products... one of which was as a base ingredient for the manufacture of nitro glycerine during the world wars!

For a man who as a child feared the sea and would not step anywhere near the waters edge... Philip Hoare has become a champion of Whales and our understanding of them. This book is a tremendous tribute to that giant of the- THE WHALE!

This book is really about whaling not the whale. If you love Melville and Moby Dick, this is the book for you. If you like whales, you may cringe at every page or skip whole sections like I did. It is not enjoyable to read about the torture of whales.

A captivating narrative on Moby Dick, Herman Melville and whales. One gets the impression that the author is smitten with Melville's tale of the white whale - its' grandeur and elusiveness. Indeed it is a story unlike any other. The author ventures to Melville territory in Cape Code and gives fitting descriptions of whaling life there in the 19th century.

He also explores the treatment of whales since the end of World War II - when millions more have been slaughtered by the increased efficiency of modern hunting weapons. The natural history and the changing scientific view of the whale are examined over the last few centuries - leading to many zoological observations.

It is an entertaining book to read and has wonderful illustrations. If one is obsessed by Melville's Moby Dick, as I am, there is much of interest!

One of my favourite quotes on page 343 from Friedrich Nietzsche "Beyond Good and Evil": "He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby becomes a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee."

Despite its title, this is not a book strictly about whales, but rather a hodge-podge of myriad information on almost everything related to whales, whaling, Moby Dick and its author.

The structure of the book is quite intricate, with different subjects often intertwined, and the same subject sometimes scattered along different parts of the book, what I found sometimes annoying. Mr. Hoare, in addition to cetaceans, is obsessed with Melville's masterpiece; Ishmael is a constant companion, quoted often to illustrate the book's meanderings through whales' biology, anatomy, behavior and unhappy interplay with mankind. Sperm whales are, as would be expected, looked at in more detail. Even then a lot is left unexplained; for obvious reasons leviathans are not easily observed in their natural environment and most of our knowledge about them comes merely from the observation of corpses. Whales in general are mysterious beasts, but sperm whales even more so: the largest toothed animals, mammals' ablest divers, hunters of squids of unfathomable size, owners of surreptitious echolocation powers, and so on.

Mr. Hoare being a biographer, a short one of Herman Melville is provided, revolving around Moby Dick, of course. It goes through his seafaring experience in the Acushnet and the several literary works derived from it, his acquaintance with Hawthorne - to whom Moby Dick is dedicated - and their friendship up to Melville's death.

The history of modern whaling is covered more extensively than whales themselves. Focusing mainly on America and Britain, whaling industry is described since its craddle in Nantucket in the 17th century. So is the evolution of the techniques used to hunt, process and conserve their prey. It's a fascinating and sad history, in which the astonishing array of uses devised along the centuries for cetaceans' carcasses are described - from the pre-electricity need of oil for ilumination up to the use of spermaceti-derived lubricants in spaceships. Chapters relating the slaughtering along the 20th century, with the use of the modern weaponry devised to this end - explosive harpoons, huge factory-ships, helicopters and airplanes to spot the catch among them - are particularly nauseating. The saddest part of it is that the killing only resumed when the cetacean population had been depleted to a level that turned its exploitation economically unviable. According to a scientist quoted in the book, "Conservation had failed mainly because whales belonged to no one and it was no one's direct interest to look after them."

I think that some editing, reducing descriptions of whaling museums and stranded whales, for example, would benefit "The Whale". The narrative of Thoreau's contacts with whales also seems irrelevant in the book's context. I lacked, on the other hand, a more substantial approach to pre-modern whaling.

If you are a Mody Dick fan, I highly recommend this book. If your interest lies only in flesh-and-bone whales though, not so much so.