I really enjoyed this book, though I understand the comments of some reviewers. The author is a professor of Literature and writing, not a scientist, so if you want an in-depth book on the latest whale knowledge, look elsewhere. If you want a book that has information on whales and whaling and culture and literature, then, this is your book ( )

From his childhood fascination with the gigantic Natural History Museum model of a blue whale to his adult encounters with the living animals in the Atlantic Ocean, the acclaimed writer Philip Hoare has been obsessed with whales. Journeying through human and natural history, The Whale is the result of his voyage of discovery into the heart of this obsession and the book that inspired it: Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.
Taking us deep into their domain, Hoare shows us these mysterious creatures as they have never been seen before. Following in Ishmael's footsteps, he explores the troubled history of man and whale; visits the historic whaling locales of New Bedford, Nantucket, and the Azores; and traces the whale's cultural history from Jonah to Free Willy. Winner of the prestigious BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, The Whale is an unforgettable and often moving attempt to explain why these strange and beautiful animals still exert such a powerful hold on our imagination.

A slightly disappointing book. It was difficult to weigh up what the author intended. For a large part of the book he was following Herman Melville and Moby Dick. He digressed, reasonably enough, inot the whaling industry and its history. He then digressed further into varoius historical sightings of whales and whales used as fairground attractions. All mixed up with a bit of natural history and biology. It all gave the impression that he had too much research and wasn't sure how to put it all together but he wasn't going to waste any of it. ( )

Philip Hoare duikt vrij letterlijk in de rijke natuurhistorische geschiedenis van al wat van veraf en dichtbij met walvissen te maken heeft, grotendeels met Melville's Ishmael als gids. Hij slaagt er bijzonder goed in om het unieke en grandioze van het walvissenras over te brengen. Zelden heb ik met meer verwondering een boek gelezen. ( )

In search of the giants of the sea