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Summary: A harrowing whale "tale"
Review: On the one hand, you think to yourself, why would I voluntarily subject myself to reading about nineteenth century sailors, stranded at sea, thousands of miles from S. America, resorting to cannibalism? On the other hand, once you start this well-researched and beautifully written book, you cannot put it down. It teaches, not only of the whale trade, Nantucket, and life at sea, but about human nature and (even) race relations on a Nantucket whale ship. Philbrick should be congratulated for magnifying a tiny piece of forgotten history.
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Summary: Writing at its best
Review: It was an experience to read an epic such as In The Heart of the Sea while visiting Cape Cod. The descriptions of the whale boats, Nantucket Island and its people, and the science of whaling itself was extraordinary. Mr. Philbrick's research and writing skills were quite evident in each chapter. I felt as if I were on the small boat with Chase and found myself asking questions about human survival and how far I would go to live another day.
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Summary: Riveting account of little-known disaster
Review: I would recommend without reservation this audio book abridgement of THE HEART OF THE SEA. Anyone who has an interest in suvival stories, or sea yarns would love this one. The tragedy of the Nantucket whaleship Essex was the inspiration for Herman Melville's MOBY DICK. The Essex was destroyed by a whale who, to the awe of the crew, seemed to have malignant intent. The crew was set adrift in the Pacific in small whaleboats with few provisions and little water---resulting in cannibalism and the drawing of lots ending in the death of one crew member.The portraits of the Essex captain and first mate are particularly well drawn and distinctive for an abridged version, as well as the effects of starvation and dehydration. Unlike MOBY DICK, this abridgement gives just enough information on the whaling industry to be interesting, and focuses on the human dimension of the story. The listener has to wonder whether he or she could behave as well as these men did under equally desperate circumstances. Edward Herrmann's reading of the book was excellent with one persistent mispronunciation of the name "Bowditch" being the one jarring note. I guess no one associated with the production had ever been sailing!
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Summary: Fabulous read!
Review: Very interesting and fast paced retelling of a truely superhuman survival story; very well researched and written.
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Summary: Harrowingtale of survival
Review: In 1819 the whaleship Essex was rammed and sunk by a very large sperm whale. The ship sank and the crew was forced to sail across thousands of miles of the Pacific ocean fighting thirst and starvation. This was the story that inspired Melville's Moby Dick. It is absorbing, well researched, and reads like a good adventure novel, only it is true. It is elegant from start to finish and I say elegant because of its restraint. Philbrick had every chance to play this one for the bleacher seats, but didn't. We could have gotten a long saga of castaways dying of thirst and starvation with all of the drama of a potboiler. He could have given us a day by day description of the sea trek, but instead the trek is mercifully taken up in 90 pages. (Don't fret, you will get the anxiety wobblies during this phase of the book.) Philbrick has fully researched the physiology of dying of starvation and thirst and spares us none of the details. To survive, the crew resorted to the drawing of lots, execution and cannibalism. We learn about the history, quite plentiful in fact, of survival cannibalism from the Raft of the Medusa to the Andean plane crash. It is not a book for the squeamish. It is also a book about Nantucket, whaling, men at sea, celestial navigation, maritime commerce, and more. Never are the facts crammed down us like so many notecards in the author's collection, but are deliciously laid out in the context of the story. It is not a long book, but it doesn't seem to short either. Like most good books, it made me want to learn more about the subject, in this case the fascinating history of whaling.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, not great
Review: This is not a bad book, but it is weighed down a bit by the numerous facts. It is good to know that it was researched entensively before being written, but a little too much left in the book. I would have prefered that this was a fast paced exciting read, like The Perfect Storm, but it isn't. If you are interested in the Whaling business and related subjects, you may enjoy it.
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Summary: Indomitable Survival Overcomes Impossible Circumstances
Review: This story has to be one of the most astonishing tales of survival in recorded history. Before I say more, let me caution you that this story (and parts of this review) is not for those with weak stomachs. After their ship is disabled by an attacking sperm whale, the survivors find themselves on three open boats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean over 2,000 miles from their targeted landfall in South America. With luck, they will make it in 30 days. They soon find themselves in a stall as the winds fail to cooperate, except to provide severe storms that threaten to capsize the boats. Soon, all the food is encrusted with salt and everyone is suffering with severe dehydration. Then things start to get worse! I won't go further, but you have an amazing story of survival ahead of you. Two of the few survivors of this terrible ordeal later committed their experiences to writing, which provide great resources for this well-researched book. At another level, the book is also extremely interesting because these experiences were important influences on Herman Melville's writing of the American classic, Moby Dick. The book makes the connection, including how Melville came to learn the story. At a third level, the book is a fascinating history of whaling around 1920. If you are like me, you will cringe when the whalers devastate island after island. But that's not the limit to their willingness to use nature to their own advantage. The ultimate irony is that the survivors went the wrong way. Those from Nantucket did not know about Tahiti and Hawaii, and chose not to go in either of those directions -- either of which would have provided more rapid safety and comfort. The primary reason they chose not to go in these directions is because they feared running into cannibals. Soon the survivors were studying the remains of dead shipmates with hunger. And then it gets worse. So, you have three different kinds of books to read here, anyone of which could be enormously enjoyable to you. Get ready for the trip of your life!
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing, enjoyable, easy read
Review: Wonderful book, really entertaining and edifying. I didn't know much about sailing or whaling but found the book very informative and accessible. Truth IS stranger than fiction. Philbrick didn't need to spin yarns around this story. He beautifully stuck to the accountable facts and put it in a very enjoyable format, well researched. Highly recommended. My only negative is that I felt that I wanted more depth and information at the end--more about the impact of whaling, more about whales and especially more about the emotional lives of the men who hunted them. Oddly, that's what makes this story fascinating--the "why" behind everyone's behavior!
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Summary: A harrowing 19th disaster story
Review: Philbrick's book reads a lot like Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm." Like Junger, he details life in a fishing community and documents a seafaring trajedy that shook the town. Similar to Junger's description of drowning, Philbrick provides a graphic description of death by dehydration to emphasize what the fishermen were experiencing as they drifted for three months in open whaleboats on the vast Pacific Ocean. The main difference between Philbrick's account and Jungers is that some of Philbrick's fisherman lived to tell the tale. Philbrick is an excellent storyteller who brings his subject alive. Anyone with an interest in either the sea or a good adventure story will love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Excellent
Review: The modern reader believes in the many-little-men theory of history. He demands the story not of Napoleon or of the French economic climate at the turn of the 19th Century, but of Pierre from Alsace who fought in the ranks. Philbrick has, therefore, found the whaling industry's most interesting Pierre from Alsace: the Essex. I'll not repeat the tale of that cursed ship here; you can find it in enough other places on this page. But I will note that what I like best about this book is the way Philbrick uses the story of the Essex as a narrative thread to hold together a broader story about the whaling industry as a whole. Since these historical details must necessarily accommodate the narrative thread, we are left at times with a partial picture of the industry -- we watch the crew take a whale apart, but never learn why Nantucket would remain the home base for men who worked in the Pacific. What emerges is a surprisingly touching tribute to the Nantucket whalers, but little insight into the place that produced the whaling culture. For readers seeking that context, I would recommend Diana Muir's Reflections in Bullough's Pond, a wonderful book that does much to allow the reader to understand the men of the Essex in the context of New England's history.
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