The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip HoareMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was very happy with _The Whale._ Like Herman Melville in _Moby-Dick_, Philip Hoare gives a sweeping view of how whales have affected human society. He also spends a lot of time cataloging the disturbing details of the whaling industry: I was particularly struck by how whalers would use a whale's blubber to fuel the fires that rendered the rest of the animal's fat. On whaling ships, whales would cook themselves.
Hoare also has a good ear for lush language. Listen to him on page 290: "And how to convey that magnitude, that mass of whalish flesh, that cavern of ceiling-high baleen?" If you like natural history, and are partial to poetic prose, this is the book for you.
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