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Leviathan [Hardcover]

Philip Hoare
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Book Description

1 Sep 2008

Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction

An extraordinary journey into the underwater world of the whale – to tie in with a BBC film-length documentary hosted also by the author.

Moby Dick is a book made mythic by its whale; but the reverse is also true. After Melville published his book in 1851, no one saw whales in quite the same way again. Melville created a modern myth out of an already legendary beast. But what is the true nature of the whale? Why does it fascinate us? All his life, Philip Hoare has been obsessed with these creatures, from the huge skeletons in London’s Natural History Museum to adult encounters with the wild animals themselves. Whales haunt him, as they seem to elide with dark fantasies of sea-serpents and other antediluvian monsters that swim in our collective unconscious.

In ‘Leviathan’, he seeks to locate and identify that obsession. Why does the whale so vividly inhabit our imaginations? Is it a symbol of Edenic innocence in a time of threatened species and climate change? Or an older emblem of evil, the grotesque fish which swallowed Jonah? Travelling around the globe in search of the whale, Philip Hoare sheds light on our perennial fascination with the strange creatures of the sea, whose nature remains tantalizingly undiscovered.



Product details

  • Hardcover: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Fourth Estate; First Edition edition (1 Sep 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007230133
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007230136
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.4 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 449,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Reviews for Leviathan:

‘A wonderfully idiosyncratic book, passionate zoology counter-pointed with the glories of Moby-Dick…This is a deep book about the deep: an inspiring book about inspirational beings…If you can’t board a ship this week, read this book.’ Simon Barnes, The Times

‘Successful as Hoare’s book is in expanding and its encyclopaedic sources, it also has a personal thread, detailing his own fascination with whales. The author describes his experiences swimming with sperm whales off the Azores, and his prose rises admirably to the demands of the encounter.’ The Financial Times

‘As well as being a showcase for descriptive prose of great beauty, Leviathan is full of fascinating facts…These are tough times for whales, but Hoare brings to light an endangered world of cetacean savoir vivre that mocks our best efforts to be happy.’ The Guardian

‘A celebratory study of the gentle giants that have for so long gripped the human imagination…This book is a lyrical and timely reminder of what we have to lose if we don’t change our greedy ways.’ The Mail on Sunday

‘Anyone who loves the sea will love this book…a Sebalesque triumph, in which the author meditates on his obsession with whales…it is one of those books into which you can dip at random and find something interesting.’ The Sunday Telegraph

‘Philip Hoare’s wonderfully illustrated biography is studded with glittering shards of natural history and social science but it’s also an exploration of the potent place whales occupy in the collective imagination.’ Metro

‘A superb book…This is the book [Phillip Hoare] was born to write, a classic of its kind.’ Rachel Cooke, The Observer

‘…studded with generous illustrations and poetic details…In Hoare’s hands whales are almost limitlessly strange and interesting.’ Bee Wilson, Sunday Times

‘A scintillating, scattershot, blunderbuss of a book. Throughout the book, Hoare’s unbridled enthusiasm for his subject is infectious…this thoroughly engaging, rigorously researched and often revelatory book is a joy to read and one which Melville, surely, would have appreciated.’ Independent on Sunday

‘Written with consummate style, impeccable research and brilliant insight, is an original and fascinating piece of work. The Big Issue

‘Much of (this book) is fascinating. The empathy he shows, particularly with Melville in his obsessed writing of the great whale novel, and in his love of and admiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne, is exemplary and moving. And his amazement at the huge bodies seems perfectly real.’ The Spectator

Praise for ‘England’s Lost Eden’:

‘No one who is interested in the complexity of our society could fail to be thrilled and quite possibly entranced by this remarkable volume.’ Robert mcCrum, Observer.

‘Quite startling beauty.’ Sunday Times

‘Arresting…Hoare writes with a mesmeric facility.’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Philip Hoare’s writing is quite untrammelled by convention and opens up astonishing views at every turn.’ W.G. Sebald

‘Hoare's personal pilgrimage, wandering, reflective, frequently very personal, owes much to WG Sebald, including the device of peppering the text with black and white pictures. Whales have a very intimate and troubled relationship to man, one which this elegiac book does much to illuminate.’ Waterstone’s Books Quarterly

Review

'Philip Hoare has long been acclaimed as a brilliantly unconventional writer...This is the book he was born to write'

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully eclectic, engrossing read... 19 Nov 2009
By C. Ball TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
This isn't my usual kind of reading - as much as I like whales I wouldn't say I was so fascinated by them as to want to read an entire book on them - and yet this had me spellbound. Philip Hoare has a wonderful, poetic way of writing, and his own love for and fascination with whales come over with every word. This isn't just a scientific book about whales; it's an exploration of the whale in human history, religion, literature. He talks about Melville's Moby-Dick as much as whaling and the whale itself, and it just works. It's an incredibly moving read at times too, particularly when he talks about what man has done to the whale. This is a wonderful book.
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars My top book of the year so far 15 July 2009
Format:Paperback
This book absolutely blew me away.

I'm a sucker for books that meander through different areas of human knowledge and Leviathan does this with almost effortless aplomb. Hoare delves into literature, history, science, anecdote, anthropology and art to explore our long and often difficult relationship with whales. Hoare manages to dive between poetic lyrical writing and the harshest of scientific facts with only an occasional misstep.

His writing just soars - I was alternatively speechless with wonder, livid with anger, enraptured with awe and on several occasions weeping with shame at how we've treated and continue to treat whales.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By J A C Corbett VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Whales exert a huge presence in modern consciousness - `Save the Whale' has been a clarion call of the environmental movement for as long as I remember - and yet comparatively little is known about them. Indeed only recently have accurate anatomical drawings been made, and for years scientists and natural historians were reliant on guesswork.

This is Philip Hoare's history of his own fascination with whales. It starts with his childhood encounters with life size replicas at London's Natural History Museum and ends with his adult encounters, a stunning and poignant account of swimming with sperm whales in the Azores. Throughout he mixes literary criticism (invariably Herman Melville features heavily), social, cultural and natural history - much, alas, until recently bloody and driven by man's profit motive rather than his passion for nature - with his own profoundly moving experiences of these great beasts.

It is in so many ways a perfect book: accessible, evocative, brilliantly written, expertly portioned between Hoare and the great Leviathons (and never, as so many of these sort of books are, self indulgent) and superbly illustrated; a worthy winner of this year's Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and informative
I've recently read a variety of books about sea adventures and voyages of discovery and was keen to find out more about human endeavours at sea. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Cardiff
5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerising
I was disappointed at reading the one-star review this book received, as I thought this was one of the best reads I had last year. Read more
Published 18 months ago by noobular
3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, but rambling
Part biography of the author of Moby Dick, part social history of the whaling industry, part natural history of whales, the book contains a wealth of superb facts and anecdotes and... Read more
Published 23 months ago by K. Ennis
3.0 out of 5 stars A meta-Moby-Dick?
In "Leviathan", Hoare attempts a sort of "meta-Moby-Dick". Taking Melville's controversial giant of a book as his starting point, he weaves around it a tapestry of fact, myth and... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Peasant
3.0 out of 5 stars Only for the enthusiast
Moby Dick is my favourite novel, as a result I found large parts of this book interesting and worthwhile. Read more
Published on 4 May 2011 by TMC
2.0 out of 5 stars Pale imitation
The best thing about this book was that it motivated me to finally get around to reading Moby Dick which the author quotes extensively throughout. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2010 by Angelica Pickles
5.0 out of 5 stars Book for Intellectual whale lovers everywhere
I absolutely adored this book, digesting every page thoroughly and never wanting it to end. It perfectly balances the natural history of whales with literary analysis of... Read more
Published on 10 Nov 2010 by Kate FS
1.0 out of 5 stars I am (still) waiting the book
I am (still) waiting the book. So I can't writte the review at the moment...
:-(
Published on 9 Nov 2010 by Daniel Gonzalez
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting indeed
As a fan of Moby-Dick, I was attracted to this book as it has a lot to say about that great work and its author Herman Melville. Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2010 by D.Buttery
5.0 out of 5 stars A Whale of a Book
Philip Hoare's wonderful book is a meandering meditation on the great cetaceans and on mankind's troubled relationship with these extraordinary creatures. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2010 by Ian Richardson
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