In the Heart of the Sea
The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
About the book
Nathaniel Philbrick reconstructs the loss of the Essex, a Nantucket whaleship that a sperm whale rammed and sank in the Pacific in November 1820, fifteen months into its voyage. Afraid of cannibals on islands to the west, the twenty men set out for South America in three small boats and spent about three months at sea, worn down by hunger, thirst and disease. Philbrick draws on first mate Owen Chase's account and on a later one by cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, found in 1960, and explains Nantucket's whaling economy along the way. The disaster inspired a scene in Moby-Dick. The book took the 2000 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was adapted into a 2015 film.
Richard Branson included it in his list of 65 books to read in a lifetime, and Ryan Holiday named it among the best books he read in 2014, amazed that a real whaling disaster lay behind Moby-Dick.
We hope you love the books people recommend! Just so you know, The CEO Library may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
This book has 2 recommendations
Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
Wow, 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.
Recommended by Richard Branson (Founder/Virgin Group)
Get this book on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books