Rating: 
Summary: Great survival story, but many stories like it.
Review: This is a gripping, chilling, interesting, true story of the sinking of the Essex whaleship. I think you can spot some thematic material and symbols waiting to be created from this story in a work of fiction. Herman Meliville did and Philbrick's book makes a good pre-reading to "Moby Dick". The beginning and the ending I found to be boring and dry. Those sections contain more of the historical backround and afterword. It is a great story of survival and endurance- testing the limits of the human body and psyche. If you liked this book, I recommend the book "Hatchet" which is also a survival story, altough a fictional one. In the Heart of the Sea is much like the sea survival stories of "Jaws" and the "Perfect Storm" so I don't think there is anything special about this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Just try to put this one down. I dare you!
Review: Philbrick's book is "off the charts" excellent. Admittedly I was a bit skeptical when I started the book. How could it possibly compete with Owen Chase's incredible and brief "Narrative of the Wreck of the Whaleship Essex"? But it did and then some. It put some meat on the bones (pardon the pun) of the sinking of the whale ship Essex. It also provided a more holistic view of the voyage preceding the incident and its aftermath, the whaling industry and Nantucket itself. The Quaker influence on the Nanctucket whaling trade is an intriguing story in itself. This is a simply wonderful and well-written book. From the first chapter the reader gets the feeling of being swept up into a developing catastrophe. I only wish I still had this book yet to read. No wonder this story inspired one of the greatest American novels ever written; Moby Dick. While the book pulls much of its primary source material from Chase's incredible account, it also gets primary source material from elsewhere. For example from Thomas Nickerson, the ship's cabin boy at the time, whose "meandering account" ended up being found in an attic in New York in 1960. This and other accounts (take a look at the bibliography) make this a completely well rounded view of the Essex's sinking and what it must have been like to live through the horrific days that followed. You will not walk away from this book without asking yourself what you would have done under the same circumstances. I found that to be chilling. You'll know what I mean. Facing that fact makes the book both impossible to put down and difficult to get through at the same time. Perhaps it would be an illustrative business school case or leadership critique. Let me count the possibilities. But I digress. Here you will learn about the voyage of the Whaleship Essex. You will hear about the whale and its attack. And finally, as a result of that whale, the sinking. What follows the sinking is for you to read in the quiet of night. It warrants no further comment except the likely outcome for you that you will not be able to put the book down. And you will not sleep.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: In The Heart of The Sea won the National Book Award for a reason. Philbrick's attention to detail, his research, and his style all make this incredibly tragic story come alive in a very fresh way. There were moments when I felt driven to tears, moments when I was completely disgusted, and moments when I couldn't help but laugh. This book is good for anyone interested in whaling, the ocean, survival stories, or just an amazing read.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written; the shipwreck in context
Review: This is a well-planned, well-written, well-edited and engaging book chronicling the 1820 sinking of the whaler Essex in the mid-Pacific, and the subsequent 4500-mile survival voyage of some of its crew in three small whaleboats. The maps of the Pacific and route of the ship/boats were very helpful in following the narrative, as were the diagrams of the ship and its rigging, and the notes and index. Philbrick has figured out that many of his readers don't come to the book with a detailed knowledge of where the Marquesas are in relation to Pitcairn Island, or the relative locations of the fore topsail and forecastle. It would have been even more helpful to have all maps and diagrams at the front of the book (as the Essex sail plan and deck plan are).
I appreciate the 238-page length of the book; Philbrick understands that when an author has finished covering the topic, it's OK to stop writing, even if the author hasn't reached the 400-page mark. I also appreciate how he avoids either demonizing or glorifying the characters in the book.
Along the way, Philbrick takes us into the history and sociology of related topics such as whaling, whalers, Nantucket, and survival through deprivation, to name a few.
Philbrick engaged in exhaustive research, including the existing accounts written by survivors (including an account discovered almost 200 years after the sinking), secondary accounts, and a number of sources on the many topics touched on in the book. Where the accounts differ, this is generally noted by Philbrick, with his evaluation of which account is more believable.
The reader should not be dissuaded by the negative review posted by Mark Shanks below.
Shanks criticizes Philbrick for using "extrapolations." The extrapolations in the book are minimal. A non-fiction author should label extrapolations, but is it a sin to assume that the Essex butchered whales like every other whaler? Shanks may be confused because Philbrick uses accounts from those survivor reports which might be thought the author's extrapolation. For example, the report that the crew "looked at each other with perfect amazement, deprived almost of the power of speech" may sound like an extrapolation, but it's a direct quote from the second mate's account. A few inconsequential extrapolations does not turn this well-researched factual book into a "docudrama."
Strangely, Shanks simultaneously criticizes Philbrick for "heavily leaning on personal stories." How could the Essex survivors _not_ write "personal stories"? What, after all, is "history" but significant personal stories in context? Unlike "Perfect Storm," the Essex sinking had survivors who put their recollections in writing. Without personal stories, this would be a book on whaling in general, with no mention of the Essex.
Shanks admits judging a book by the first sentence of its preface, and claims that "competent historians" must write in stilted and dry prose. If Shanks recoils because Philbrick recounts his father and uncle telling him the Essex story when he was a boy, then Shanks has been too-deeply indoctrinated in the need for a historian to appear "detached" from a moving account.
Shanks categorizes the 40-page source notes at the end as "highly anecdotal and subjective." Instead, the reader will find that Philbrick's source notes contain a richly annotated discussion of the original sources, how the secondary sources were used, and suggestions for further reading.
If you're looking for a college thesis which is narrowly focused on a minor issue, written in a dry style with five footnotes per paragraph, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for an educational and entertaining book, don't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: Whale of a book
Review: One fantastic book! Expertly written and researched, Heart of the Sea is a must. I read it in one day. Absorbing. Don't miss it. And give it to the children, too.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Story of Survival
Review: A great story of survival on the seas. I enjoyed this book and was amazed by the depths to which these men sank. The writer did a great job pulling his information from all sources available for a story 180 years old. When there was disagreements as to stories, this was pointed out. By now you have probably heard the main part of the story: massive whale attacks and sinks ship, men are put in small whaling ships and set out on the sea to travel over 2,000 miles with crude navigational devices spending over 90 days on the sea. This book really describes in detail the depths the human body will go to from a physical and mental standpoint. The book becomes so engrossing you can't put it down. I do most of my reading at night but started reading early over breakfast right as the issue of cannibalism came up. Not my best move as it is studied in depth. This writer does a good job of relaying the journals kept and then translating the physical and mental effects to later studies done on starvation, particularly the Minnesota study done in the 1940s. The crew eventually splits into four groups and it's interesting to see what happens to the four groups. I particularly found it interesting they were able to determine what happened to the three crew members left on an island after refusing to get back in the whaling boat. Overall, I think you will enjoy this book. If you like this book, I strongly encourage you to read Endurance about the journey of Shackleton. It's very similar and mesmerizing how they survived in extreme cold. I normally don't like period piece books but this is very good and I strongly recommend. If you like books of adventure and survival, this is a good book for you.
Rating:
Summary: A Definite Page-Turner
Review: This was one book I truly could not put down. It starts off with a fascinating history of Nantucket, the whaling industry and the mystery of the Pacific Ocean in the early 19th century. It then becomes an epic story about survival in the high seas. I guarantee the reader will not be disappointed with this book.
Rating:
Summary: An absolutely amazing story
Review: This excellent piece of writing tells an absolutely amazing story. A whaling ship in the 1800's in the middle of the Pacific is struck and sunk by a Sperm Whale in a matter of minutes. While this in itself is astonishing, the fact that the survivors spent months trying to get to land in boats that were basically row boats, with little food and water, is practically beyond belief. I found I had to constantly remind myself that this was a true story Philbrick tells the story well. He conducted extensive research that makes the facts and details come to life. For example, not only does he tell you that all they had on board was hardtack, but also how it was made, and how much would be required to sustain a sailor. All of the facts are meticulously researched, and there are extensive notes and references at the end of the book. I could not put it down. Great reading, and an even better true story. The incident that inspire Melville to write Moby Dick.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Shocking
Review: As a junior in high school, I just finished reading "In the Heart of the Sea : The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" for my Oceans class and I really enjoyed reading it. The The first chapter talks about Nantucket and the way the entire town revolves around whaling. The husbands are away from home for months at a time, leaving the women to run many of the businesses and raise the children. Most of the streets were divided up depending on one's position in the whaling industry. After the Essex left Nantucket, I was surprised by how long it took for them to kill their first whale, which was near the equator. The book also discusses the conditions on the ship and how much affect the weather has on the ship and the crew's moral. Numerous little things could destroy the morale of the crew. After an intense rounding of the tip of South America, Henry Dewitt, one of the members of the Essex, deserted. The ship continued on, one man down. After a few months of no luck, they had a two lucky months and got 11 whales and continued heading west. One day, they spotted a whale so the the men got into the three whaling boats and headed after the whale. The whale damaged the boat that got there first so it had to return to the Essex for them to repair the boat. While the other two ships were still after the whale and the third ship was being repaired, a huge whale was spotted, and it was headed for the Essex. The whale hit the ship, knocking the men off of their feet, but that was not all. The whale swam away from the ship but only to turn back around and swim at the Essex twice as fast as it did the first time. The whale destroyed the Essex, leaving the men in the middle of the ocean with three boats. They filled the boats and collected supplies and discussed where they should head. The Captain, Pollard, wanted to head west to the Society Island, but Chase and Joy, the first mate and second mate, feared they would run into cannibals had they gone there. Instead, they proposed they head back to South America, and Pollard, lacking authority, agreed. After waiting for a day, the three boats left the wrecked Essex, heading for South America. They suffered from hunger, thirst, sunburn, and sores from the seawater. They found an island and stayed there for a few days, drinking water from a freshwater a spring during low tide and eating fish and birds. When they left, three of the men were nowhere to be found so they left them there. Once back in the ocean, Joy, who was in charge of one of the boats, began to feel sick and later died. Hendricks took over his boat. One night, during a storm, Chase’s boat got separated from the other two, never to reunite in the ocean. Shortly after, Hendricks’ boat was separated and the men from it were never seen again. Men started dying frequently. .... The book was interesting, but disturbing, and I enjoyed reading it.
Rating:
Summary: A "real" Survivor story
Review: This is without question one of the more entertaining books I've ever had the pleasure to read. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't fiction. In fact, it has inspired me to read Moby Dick again. I think now I have a much greater appreciation for those who lived and sacrificed their lives on whale ships. I would recommend this book as a Father's Day gift for anyone who has an interest in history, or just enjoys a good adventure. Mr. Philbrick should be congratulated for his efforts!
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