In the Heart of the Sea

The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

| 4.38 | 86,391 ratings and reviews

Recommended by Richard Branson, Ryan Holiday, and 2 others. See all reviews

Ranked #8 in Ships, Ranked #9 in Sailing — see more rankings.

"With its huge, scarred head halfway out of the water and its tail beating the ocean into a white-water wake more than forty feet across, the whale approached the ship at twice its original speed - at least six knots. With a tremendous cracking and splintering of oak, it struck the ship just beneath the anchor secured at the cat-head on the port bow..."

In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex - an event as mythic in its own century as the Titanic disaster in ours, and the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. In... more
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Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of In the Heart of the Sea from the world's leading experts.

Richard Branson Founder/Virgin GroupToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Ryan Holiday AuthorWow, did you know that Moby Dick was based on a true story? There was a real whaling ship that was broken in half by an angry sperm whale. But it gets even more insane. The members of the crew escaped in three lifeboats, traveling thousands of miles at sea with little food and water until they slowly resorted to cannibalism(!) Besides being an utterly unbelievable story, this book also gives a great history into the whaling industry and the cowboys/entrepreneurs who led it. Definitely recommend and I promise my spoilers did not ruin anything. (Source)

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