Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Heart of the Sea

About: Nonfiction account of the destruction of the whaleship Essex by a sperm whale in 1820.

Verdict: A very readable account of the real-life tragedy that inspired Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Philbrick’s description of what happened to the ship's crew after the Essex was rammed and sunk is often riveting. The book also provides a lot of information about Nantucket, the whaling center from which the Essex had sailed and where Melville's narrator Ishmael would first clap eyes on the ill-fated Pequod.

Publication: 2001 · 320 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars