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Summary: Abridged recording fascinating and harrowing
Review: The Penguin Audiobook edition of Nathaniel Philbrick's <In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of Whaleship Essex> (an authorized abridgment) is one of the more fascinating and harrowing tales I have heard in recent years. In fact, not since hearing the recording of "The Professor and the Madman" have I actually looked forward to my next session at my tape player. Briefly, the book falls into four major sections. There is a marvelous retelling of the rise to power and the customs of those who lived on Nantucket in the 1820s, including such all too human accounts of how the wives had to resort to opium and "he's-at-homes" during the long absences of their husbands. Then comes the events on the whaleship Essex up to its sinking by the 85 foot sperm whale that inspired Melville's Moby Dick. The third part, which many might find very difficult to bear, is how a mere handful of the crew managed to survive for about 3 months at sea. Finally, we hear about the consequences of the ordeal to the survivors and the degeneration of Nantucket into a tourist trap. The familiar actor Edward Herrmann reads the text with an almost clinical objectivity, a very good idea in that it makes the third section easier to hear. All in all, this is a classic example of reality being stranger than fiction and of the almost mythic drive that keeps some people alive under the most adverse circumstances. I should mention that the inclusion of scientific research into the narrative is most helpful and adds greatly to our understanding of what those men went through. A highly recommended listen...but be prepared for that third section!
Rating: 
Summary: Go to the source
Review: If you want to be enthralled by the story of the Essex, go to the source -- any one of the printings of Essex first mate Owen Chase's first-hand account in his "Wreck of the Whaleship Essex". His narrative takes you on the ship and grips you with the terror these men must have felt, adrift at sea with little food or water. Philbrick's retelling of the story doesn't capture the detail as well as one who was actually there. However, if you're looking for a history lesson on whaling, this one's not bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book that can be enjoyed several ways.
Review: All too often a book telling a story may also require that the equipment or the vessel used to be described. Much less frequent is the help of illustrations to let a reader who may know little to nothing about the construction (in this case) of a Whaling Vessel, understand the explanations and gain further enjoyment from the book. A further tribute to the Author is that the detail given of the ship The Essex and the implements of the Whaling Trade were of an appropriate length. Too long and the reader would have been lost in a maze of technical jargon, too little and understanding all that happened would not have been possible. For anyone desirous of going much deeper into the History of Nantucket, or of Whaling, there are 39 pages of notes written in prose form at the end of the book. They are organized by chapter, and they are further supplemented by a Bibliography. Mr. Philbrick clearly is a man qualified to relate this tale which records one of the more miserable tales of human suffering. It would have been easy and disappointing to let this story turn into a lurid 93 day telling of decisions and actions that no person should ever be forced to make. The Author maintained a scholarly approach, together with objectivity on some points of contention/speculation, of the events and how they may or may not actually have happened. He also offers insight into how these massive creatures communicate, and how that could have played a role in the collission. The Author also relates modern day medical study and facts about what physical and emotional torments the survivors endured. I thought this was a welcome addition to the understanding of just how horrible this experience was. This is the only book I have read on the History of the Essex. The book is readable even if your knowledge of ships, like mine, is near zero. And the story told without embellishment is both terrifying and amazing. A very enjoyable book.
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Summary: Sailing and Whaling Not
Review: Given its aim to inform, not just to tell a good story (in the style of Moby Dick), the book has three fatal flaws: Philbrick's ignorance of both sailing and whaling, and his simplistic view of human psychology. Here are examples of some of the false assumptions Philbrick employs about sailing: in the 1820's a whale ship's captain would continue carrying a large, hard to reef, light-air sail with a storm approaching in the Gulf Stream while reefing other sails; an early 1800's whale ship will come back from a 90 degree knockdown; when caught over-canvassed in a storm, some captains prefer to come up head into the wind rather than falling off and running before the wind; first-time members of the crew remain "green" after months at sea; the ship's carpenter cannot build a whaleboat; the ship's carpenter can repair a whaleboat that was smashed to bits. Etc. These little mistakes about sailing go on and on. There are also numerous "little" mistakes made when describing whaling. The "killer" mistake occurs when Philbrick writes that in the 1820's so much whaling was occurring that the Pacific was dotted with the carcasses of dead whales. This, when even a brief amount of research reveals that one of the big problems faced by whalers was keeping a dead whale afloat. As these little errors mount up, the reader ceases to be able to take anything Philbrick says about either sailing or whaling seriously or, by analogy, anything he says about Nantucket, its history and its people. If the story were not presented as if to provide information about both this might not matter. But as it is, it does. Then there are the predictable one dimensional stereotypes that are Philbrick's cast of character's. Any adult who thinks this is a dose or reality probably cannot be convinced otherwise, though if you are in this group, I suggest comparing the character development in this "National Book Award" novel with, say, character development in Graham Greene's "A Burnt Out Case," for example.
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Summary: What a wonderful Story
Review: What a wonderful and often time touching story. It is very hard to believe what those men went thru. They were dealt one bad card after another and yet they still endured. I recommend this book to everyone. Especially those who think that they have is bad.
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Summary: The truth always wins.....almost.
Review: Who doesn't know the first line of "Moby Dick," except those who have never read it?
Somehow, some way, I ended up having to read "Moby Dick" three times within a two year period and be tested on what color the sky was at 4 p.m. on a certain day in the book, what was the meaning of the fourth wave on the fifth day, and what did Ahab represent. All I can figure is, "Moby Dick" was a really big deal to the professors back when I was in college.
Anyway, I can honestly say, after reading "Moby Dick" three times in such a short period, I was about sick of admiring this way-too-wordy piece of chunk bigger than the Bible. Though, I was thrilled to pieces watching Gregory Peck cling insanely to the top of the highest sinking mast in the movie on tv plenty of times and truly loved the book the first time I read it.
Melville did us a great service by taking the time, 20 years after it happened, to write his version. And I love his alegorical book. But I also love the true story that his tale was based upon and thank Philbrick for bringing it to us.
I just wish Philbrick had been able to locate even more personal records and dive even deeper into the truth.
And, if bad jokes are allowed.....Here's one of my all-time favorites: "What's pink and scrapes the bottom of the ocean floor?"
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Summary: Fascinating Saga
Review: This is an NYT bestseller and Nat'l Book Award winner. You'll know the kudos are well deserved after reading. Nathaniel Philbrick does an excellent job in recreating the Nantucket whaling industry, the ship Essex and the terrible tragedy which befell it.
It is the best of writing and history when the old becomes new again, the past comes alive, the unknown becomes familiar. Apparently, the story of the Essex was well known in the early 1800s and it may have formed the basis of Melville's epic Moby Dick. Somewhere all that got lost to history but Philbrick gives it a heartbeat again.
The research is scrupulous. The narrative flows easily and avoids becoming pedantic, while still imparting rich detail. The book is just the right size for a quick read but the emotion and the gripping scenes of life and death will stay with the reader. The ordeal is palpable and fascinating.
If you like this story, I recommend Mutiny on the Globe by Thomas Heffernan, a whale ship story of the same period.
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Summary: Terrific 175 year old Whaling tale- Basis of Moby Dick!
Review: An absolute stunner ,beginning with the history of whaling in Nantucket, an island settled by Quakers in the 1600's. Though 1 or 2 other reviewers suggest the meanness of the crew, I would state that, given the horrendous circumstances, all 18 showed a great degree of comraderie. Traveling through the Atlantic and Pacific ocean with a few stops in S. America and the Galapagos, their ship is attacked by sunk an angry whale, who may have sought revenge for the whaler's attacks on his fellow sperm whales. Splitting into 3 groups in small whaling boats, the survivors do everything feasible to stay together and stay alive, though 3 (smart ones) decide to remain on the proverbial desert island. while others continue their awe-inspiring voyage. If cannibalism repels you, as it does us all, here is a situation where this beastliness was actually condoned. All in all, a great book, destined to be a classic!
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Summary: We don't know 'til we're tested
Review: What a great telling of a true tale. The story told in this way seems to me to be a much clearer rendition of truth by vertue of the extensive research done by the author and the use of several narratives for comparison. After all, no matter how we remember an incident, our perspective is always slanted, we only see it one way. Someone else will see soemthing different.
I enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it to anyone looking for the truth about how men will act under extreme conditions. Like it or not we do not really know how we would act as individuals, until we are actually put in a certain spot. You might think you know what you would do, but think again, you don't!
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Summary: High adventure
Review: The story of the whaleship Essex was well known in the 19th century and most likely formed the inspiration for Herman Melville's novel MOBY DICK. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean in November 1820, the 238-ton Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. Over the next three months and 4,500 miles, the dwindling crew fought the open sea and each other in a struggle for survival. Although the story no longer resides in our national consciousness, it is a story worth telling and Nathaniel Philbrook does an admirable job of it with IN THE HEART OF THE SEA.
Piecing together first-person accounts, Philbrook recreates the final voyage of the Essex in remarkable detail. He provides a vivid picture of the life and work aboard a Nantucket whaler in the early days of the whale trade. However, the bulk of IN THE HEART OF THE SEA concerns the events following the sinking of the Essex as the crew of twenty officers and men crowded into three small, open whaleboats pondering their fate. After three months, two whaleboats (now separated by hundreds of miles) and five men remained and were eventually rescued off the Chilean coast.
The story of survival on the high seas is both harrowing and moving: the suffering unimaginable. Resorting to cannibalism to sustain them, at one point they had to draw lots rather than wait for the next man to die. Again due to the accounts of survivors, Philbrook is able to recreate these months in astonishing detail.
What emerges is a multi-faceted book which not only tells a compelling tale of high adventure and survival, but also illustrates beautifully a lost era in American history. I highly recommend this book.
Jeremy W. Forstadt
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