Book Awards Reading Challenge

In the Heart of the Sea
by Nathaniel Philbrick
278 pages

Like the Donner Party, the men of the Essex could have avoided disaster, but this does not diminish the extent of the men's sufferings, or their bravery andextraordinary discipline.

I'm not a fan of non-fiction generally. It takes me twice as long to read it than fiction and it is usually boring to boot. At least that is what I used to say. I am slowly being drawn to it as I come across well written, interesting books, like this one. It still took me twice as long to read it but it was certainly not boring.

In the Heart of the Sea is the story of the whaleship Essex, the tale that was the inspiration for Moby Dick. The Essex was a Nantucket whaleship that was attacked by a whale. After it sank, the crew of 20 men lived in three small whaleboats, slowly starving to death, then sustaining themselves on the bodies of their dying shipmates. They were 93 days at sea before the 8 surviving crew members were rescued.

Read the rest of my ample review here.