Leviathan or, The Whale, By Philip Hoare
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.How rare to encounter any book that holds you utterly in its grasp from first page to last. Reading this cetacean love letter, the everyday world falls away. Beguiled by the mammoths of the deep, your mind moves through oceans.
Like Melville, who permeates this book, Hoare is obsessed by the sperm whale. Literally in a class of its own, the creature's nearest land relative is the hippo. It is, however, decidedly carnivorous, consuming 300 to 700 squid per day. It has the largest brain of any animal (19lbs to our seven), has sex in the missionary position, will die to protect members of its family, lives as long as us and can produce a 200-decibel click that can be heard for 100 miles.
Hoare's account of man's devastating exploitation of the whale is fascinating, saddening and heart-thumpingly exciting.
The harpooned creature hauled its tormenters at 25 mph, "the fastest man had travelled on water". Finally, the shout "There's fire in the chimney" indicated it was spouting blood.
Hoare has produced a book of oceanic scope and endless interest. The fag-puffing Natural History Museum dissector pictured on page 95 also appears in Richard Fortey's book on the museum Dry Store No.1. A legend in his time, Peter Purves is described by Fortey as "habitually sozzled... In this condition he could perform the delicate slicing [of] whales. Apparently he was much less adept when sober."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments