Have you read Moby Dick? Let me know your thoughts about it below.
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Today I want to talk a bit about a book that I have read.
Mobric.
And first and foremost, when I greet you as Bulkingtons, it's because it's a character in this book that is called Bulkington.
So I thought it was a fun way to introduce this video.
So basically, before I begin to talk about this particular book, I know that this isn't the most clickbaity or relevant topic there is.
But then again, I have a lot of subscribers, you who are watching this, who are into books, you like reading, you like literature, Western culture as well, which is very much a part of especially American culture, I would say.
It is an important work.
So I decided to read it.
And also, before I begin, a shameless clog from me, since we're talking about books.
If you haven't already read my own glorious book, Dauntless, 200 pages of self-improvement and philosophy, I will link it first link in the description box below.
Definitely recommend everyone to read it.
So that being said, let's get into the book itself.
And I will be very honest with everyone watching.
I don't want to be pretentious.
I don't want to pretend that I do like stuff that I don't really like just for the sake of coming across as cultured.
I will always be honest with what I like and what I do not like.
So this book, did I enjoy reading it?
Was it a good book?
No, not really.
I did not enjoy reading it particularly much, to be honest.
And that can be for a few different reasons.
It can be for the fact that it is written 150 years ago, so it's a bit hard with the language.
But I think more of it has to do with the fact that it's not a particularly immersive book.
It's more written as a whaler's experience in whaling.
And that is also one of the strong points of the book, that it's based upon an extremely epic incident or tragic incident, depending on how you want to view it.
So basically, during the heyday of whaling, when the Atlantic powers ventured out into the ocean in search for whale oil, because you needed it for lamps.
Not this kind of lamps, but the lamps you had during the early 1800s or to mid-1800s.
So whale oil was a treasured commodity.
And this book is written by Hermann Melville, who had a past in the American whaling fleet.
So he had plenty of experience to draw upon.
And that is one of the things that makes the book, in my view at least, worthwhile to read.
It's a great time document.
So even though it's not an immersive book that makes you want to hit the gym, it's a great piece of history, especially American history.
So if you ask, should I read this book?
It depends a bit.
If you are interested in 19th century Western world culture and history, yeah, it is an important work.
And after all, it's been a classic for such a long time.
So, and it is that for a reason.
And also, the event that I mentioned that it's based upon is actually a whaling ship called Essex was sunk by a sperm whale.
It got rammed and sunk by a whale.
And this is something that really, really captures the imagination.
It's like something out of a legend or a myth or some strange fiction.
But it happened and the book is based on that.
And the sheer feel of that, if you just hear this for the first time, there was a ship that got sunk by a whale.
So you have this great beast from the deeps of the ocean coming up to attack humans.
It is interesting.
It is epic.
It is something that really catches your imagination.
So that was basically why I thought it was a cool read even though I didn't enjoy it.
So it's a bit of a not enjoyable but enjoyable at the same time if it makes any sense at all.
So it's not immersive as a book by Connie Gilden, for example, or the Horus Heresy, but it's also a book that is based on something real and you get to see from an actual whaler how things were back in the day.
So as a time document, as a historic document, it's very valuable to have.
And also a note on the author, I have yeah, saved a few quotes from it and it's very clear that he is, first and foremost, very proud of having been a whaler.
He thinks it's a noble pursuit and perhaps it was.
It was during the time 1850s, when Western Man at least really conquered the planet, went out into the ocean, went out into the world and explored, found new species, and you didn't really have that same sense of knowledge that we have today.
Now we know exactly every species there are, or almost at least, and we know every spot on the map.
Basically, this was a time of exploration and there is something really appealing in that feel of it, the feel of exploration, the feel of not knowing, the unknown.
There could have been more, even more horrendous monsters lurking in the deeps, who knows?
But you have that sensation at least, and that is also what makes it interesting, and also seeing how he, the author, viewed the world back then.
And yeah, the book is full of references to mythology and culture and history, and it's clear that the author is very well read.
So I will take a few examples which I thought were cool, and this is one quote.
It actually reminded me of Bronze Age pervert on Twitter or yeah, Bronze Age mindset.
You might know the book in its epicness, in the feel of the text.
So here goes the quote, especially the Oriental Isles to the east of the continent, those insulated immemorial, unalterable countries which even in these modern days still preserve much of the ghostly aboriginalness of earth's primal generations, when the memory of the first man was a distinct recollection and all men his descendants.
So you have that sort of feel that there are still unexplored territories and yeah, that is appealing.
Getting that sense through a book is quite attractive in terms of a reading experience and then also in terms of having it as an historic Document, you can see the relationship between the British whalers and the American whalers.
So he says, Besides, the English whalers sometimes affect a kind of a metropolitan superiority over the American whalers, regarding the long, lean Nantucketer with his nondescript provincialism as a sort of sea peasant.
So it's also interesting again to when you read the sort of older books, you get a historic window to look through.
So this is what the British seamen thought of Americans during that time.
And another quote, something I've mentioned briefly, especially if you follow me on Twitter, is physiognomy.
And he mentions it briefly.
Physiognically regarded, the sperm whale is an anomalous creature.
Physiognomy is basically you can look upon a person's features and see what kind of man he is.
I used to believe this was the most ridiculous of bro signs, but it actually has quite a bit of truth to it.
And during the 19th century, it was even more regarded as something legit.
And this is if you look upon bugmen, for example, or new males, etc., you know, with their soy faces, they look you can see that they don't have good, healthy moral views, and people kind of knew it back in the day too.
So just thought to mention that it was fun.
And another note on the sperm whale, he definitely admires the sperm whale as a king monster of the oceans, I suppose.
And this is also something that highlights his knowledge of the world, of Western culture.
So I thought it was a fun quote.
And I am convinced that from the heads of all ponderous, profound beings, such as Plato, Pyrrho, the Devil, Jupiter, Dante, and so on, there always goes up a certain semi-visible steam while in the act of thinking deep thoughts.
So he just, you know, throws out some random beings there, such as Plato, Pyrrho.
I think he means Pyrrho, Pyrrhus, the Greek general who fought the Romans, then the Devil, because why not?
And then Jupiter, and then Dante, the Italian author.
So yeah, in good company, you can say the sperm whale is.
And then another quote, which I put up on my page, thegoldenman.se.
I also shared it to Lady Gloria's Instagram.
It's the following: Real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but it often bestows it.
And in everything impossibly beautiful, strength has much to do with the magic.
Take away the tied tendons that all over seem bursting from the marble in the carved Hercules, and its charms would be gone.
As devout Eckermann lifted the linen sheets from the naked corpse of Goethe, he was overwhelmed with the massive chest of the man that seemed as a Roman triumphal arch.
When Angelo paints even God the Father in human form, mark what robustness is there.
And that was the absolutely most epic quote from Moby Dick, so I had to share it.
So basically, you have a lot of cool references and quotes, etc., in the book.
And again, it is a valuable time document, historic document, and it is based upon a most epic incident indeed.
There is also a film with Chris Hemsworth that is being made out of this particular incident that I saw a year ago.
I can highly recommend that as well, just to get that epic 1800s fill.
So that was just me rambling a bit on the book I have just read.
So the final verdict is, yeah, if you're interested in that time period, if you're interested in whaling, because it is a very lengthy book about whaling after all, and I don't regret reading it.
Some cool passages, it feels nice to have read a classic like this, but if you're starting out to read books, I would not recommend it, and I don't think you should have this sort of literature in schools either, because it might turn people off from reading.
Because as I said, it's not a good book, it's not an immersive book in that regard, it's not something that you want to continue reading, unless of course you're interested in the time period, but I suppose most people are not.
So in terms of just an enjoyable reading experience, perhaps not, but for those of you who are interested in the time period, can definitely recommend it.
