Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (356)

Call me happy!
Our reading group wanted an edition of Moby Dick (we are in Australia) that would give us some background, good notations and print that was on decent paper and legible.This edition is all that and more.With so many editions to choose from and most of them not available to view before buying, this was a very lucky find and a credit to Amazon and to Norton's for producing it.

No editor needed: long sermon, long survey, long voyage, long story
Talk about what "a good editor" could do is silly where MOBY DICK is concerned. I'm on my fourth reading, but from my first I saw one thing: if you don't like the book page by page, you don't like the book. Reading it for the story is a doomed enterprise, even though the story is very good.

The book is like a sermon, and there's a real live sermon in one of its earliest chapters. The preacher of that sermon has a style like Melville's, and his preaching shows the kind of thing Melville is trying to do.

Melville's long descriptions of how, for example, a whale's body is beheaded while the whale hangs off the side of a whaling ship, are informative and make moral points all along the way. These may be, as many reviewers say, "the hardest parts to get through," but every single page of them is funnier and deeper than any NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC article you ever saw. If you are reading these pages just to "get through," you're missing how wonderful a stylist Melville is.

Isaac Asimov wrote science-fact articles for twenty years before he turned back to science-fiction. Asimov fans like both his science-fact and his science-fiction books, because Asimov is always the same charming writer. It's the same with Melville. He writes whaling-fact and whaling-fiction, only he does both at the same time. His most factual chapters draw moral lessons, and when in one chapter the narrator and Queequeg assemble to work on the whale's body, that chapter is a story and a documentary all together.

The book is about a voyage that is intended to take years, and does. Letters are delivered from one whaling ship to another so old and mildewy that it looks, says Melville, as if death itself had carried them. Is a book that makes a point like that supposed to be fast-moving?

If you can't read good non-fiction, you can't read MOBY DICK. For that matter, if you can't read the Bible, which also has a lot of non-fiction in it (and some say equally out of date non-fiction) you can't read MOBY DICK.

Take a deep breath. Slow down. Read a page at a time. When you're bored, quit and come back later. You probably know the story already anyway. Find out if you can get to know the book a page at a time.

One of the Most Imitable of Classics
Among my friends and most of the people with whom I've spoken, this book has one of the worst reputations of any of the many classic novels. This book is well-known by virtually everyone; however, almost no one reads it, and many who have wish that they hadn't. This is the case for a number of reasons: the book is often marketed as an adventure novel, and it is often forced upon young readers who are much too young to understand the novel, much less remotely appreciate it. Despite the fact that it is seen as an adventure novel, it serves almost as an inverted adventure. The novel primarily consists of philosophical musings, with the whale serving as more of an abstraction than the subject of an adventure quest. The discrepancy between the expectations and the actual book leaves many readers to be unprepared for the experience of reading the book. The book is often taught to high school students and children in some cases. However, in most cases, it should only be read at college age or above.

This all likely makes the book sound intimidating and unfun; however, there is much to be enjoyed about the book. The humor of the book is often very underrated: Ishmel (if that is his actual name) is a particularly witty narrator who often finds himself in many absurd situations. For one thing, he is a terrible whaler, as he is more given to philosophical musingthan the physical components of whaling. The novel often comes across as a parody of the propensities of the American romantic literature that was popular at the time. The most incredible feature of the novel is the extent to which it is ahead of its time. Moby Dick is certainly a precursor to modernist novels. The novel is particularly protean in form, just as Ulysses would be later. The style often shifts from that of a typical first-person narrative to that of a Shakespearian play to that of an encyclopedia. Moby Dick was heavily derided at the time of its publication for this reason. This bookis best compared with those of later writers like James Joyce and Joseph Conrad rather than the works of Melville's contemporaries. Moby Dick proves to be a very rewarding reading experience for those who stick with the novel at an age at which it can be appreciated.

Great Reader--Great Book
If you are interested in hearing Moby Dick rather than reading this very long book, this book on CDs is for you. The price is more than reasonable and Anthony Heald has a wonderful voice quality that keeps one's interest even through those dry passages.Recently my family took a cross-country road trip and listened to most of the 24 hrs of discs.We very much enjoyed listening to this Melville classic.

Truly a classic
It really is an amazing novel.True, it takes time, dedication, and a vast vocabulary to read it.However, it is funny, touching, engaging, and insightful.A groundbreaking work of fiction. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (12)

Thar she blows! It's a classic!
I had always been hesitant to begin reading this book, knowing about its celebrated history and crucial place in American literature. Now having read it, I can't imagine why I was ever hesitant. This book ROCKS!!!!! In nearly every page Melville imbues his work with a sense of lyricism and even chivalry. His description of the Pequod's officers likening them to heroic knights of the Medieval period took my breath away. And while the scientific chapters on whales and whaling were boring, I did find myself being enraptured not by the information, but by the expectation of meeting the famous White Whale himself. By the time Ahab was in site of his quarry, I was obsessed with the Whale too. Too me, this was a near-perfect book, and worthy of the epithet "epic.". I would say that you shouldn't pick this book up until you've reached adulthood and had experience reading classic works of this caliber. Otherwise, you won't be able to appreciate it as much as I did.

imperfect - but very much a classic
First the bad: The author goes off on tangents that seem to have little or nothing to do with the rest of the book. If he reduced the volume of text by 20% this might be the best book ever written!

Now the good: Moby Dick is fascinating, riveting, entertaining, amusing, imaginative and very educational (at least when it comes to 19th century whaling - and life aboard a whale boat). Melville brings the characters alive and gives them depth as unique, vibrant individuals, each with a fascinating story of his own. You feel that you know the crew as real sailors rather than fictional characters - and near the end, it hurts to know that they're sailing aboard a doomed ship. . .

After reading this book I'm inspired to seek employment on a Japanese whale boat, just to personally "know what whaling is." (For all you whale lovers, I'm kidding about going out on the whale boat.)

Disjointed
There are a lot of fascinating things in this book: reflections on the nature of civilization, religion, obsession. A lot of it is surprisingly nuanced for a mid nineteenth century account, and delivers a story with a lot more ambiguity than I was expected. Unfrotunately, none of those are the central focus of the book, the essence of the authorial intent. That main intent is focused on providing an array of facts on whales and whaling. This element really grinds down the conventional story, both in the sheer length given the minutia of detail and the stalling of momentum the back and forth goes.

It's interesting to read this work in the light of hard science fiction, which similarly often carries huge amounts of exposition and background setting. I'm not sure if I can hold this piece as objectively more flawed because it's talking about details I'm not interested in, but at the end of the day I'm not terribly interested in whales, and feel the author went too far into his own specific interests in representation. That gives the book a strange kind of meta element to the Ahab obsession for which it is best known.

Still, I can't dismiss it entirely, and am at a level curious to see how similar Melville's other stuff is. I can believe from the strength of concept in visualizing many of the characters and the dramatic build that there's a great novel in him, but in the end this text is too padded, slow and disjointed to be a success.

A classic--for the 19th century.Now, verbose and not to the point
This book is a classic.Many high schoolers and college students are made to slog through it.Not that it is bad, but it is verbose, and tells you all that you ever wanted to know about whales.And, a lot that you didn't care to, nor even wanted to.Like the difference between all species of whales.(At least, the important ones.)How their appearance varies, both with and without their heads.Why you want to put one head on one side of the ship, and another on the other.Detailing of the "filleting" and rendering of the whale blubber.Why the ambergris is so valuable (it smells good).Why some whales are more desirable to the whaler than others.There's even some hint of the impending extinction of whales, and some empathy for them.It seems as if Melville was trying to show off his knowledge of whaling.Of which he, admittedly, had a lot, considering that he had been on whaling expeditions previously.

There's even a chapter written like a musical, with staging, characters (like The Irishman, the Welshman, the Scot, the Arab, and virtually every nationality known at that time, whether their difference makes any difference to the story or not), everything but the music.Why, I don't know.But, there's a lot about this book that I don't know.Like the use of early 19th century English, full of thees and thous, and a lot of other antiquated terms.

But, the thing that I did not like about the book mostly is that the story, itself, (if you are familiar with the Gregory Peck movie of the '50s) is compacted into the first few chapters, then skips to the last two.Considering that the book consists of 135 chapters, you can see how much of the book contains "filler".Except to the early 19th century reader, perhaps.

If you want to, or have to, slog through this book, you will see why it is a classic.I don't.But, I am probably literally illiterate.(See?) If you want the essence of the story, from the famous "Call me Ishmael" through the end, read the first three or four chapters, then skip to the last two, and there you have it.A short story, without the filler.But then, what's the purpose of reading the book, if that's all you want?

The frustration, the grandeur
If it were possible to simultaneously give a book one star and five stars, this book would deserve it. It's easy to see how people could hate it, and any teacher who assigns it is either brilliant or as mad as Captain Ahab. Being forced to read this could only be punishment. A friend of mine who had to read it years ago said it read like a whaling encyclopedia with a short story injected into it. This is pretty accurate. Indeed, the overwhelming amount of whaling data broke Melville's streak of commercially successful novels and his popularity never recovered in his lifetime.

For the first eighty or so pages, Moby Dick comes across as probably the queerest of nineteenth-century American novels, but then suddenly there is a chapter outlining all known whales and their physical characteristics. This is followed by chapters discussing things like the awfulness of Moby Dick's whiteness, which includes an exhausting list of every symbolic connotation for the color white that Melville can remember. And it doesn't stop. Ninety pages towards the end, when the Pequod finally encounters a ship that has recently spotted Moby Dick, you'd expect the next chapter to describe the crew racing to Ahab's nemesis. But no! There is a discussion of the skeleton of whales, including physical measurements and the location of known skeletons (like the whale museum in Hull, England). Not kidding. And then towards the end the dialogue starts sounding like Shakespeare and becomes extremely difficult to understand. I guess this was an attempt to convey a sense of tragedy, but it violates the realism the work had up to that point. In short, historians of nineteenth-century sailing might wet themselves over all the detail about onboard life, but it's easy to imagine a coerced student crying in mind-numbed frustration instead. And if more people could get through it, there would be a lot more one-stars. But they give up and don't write reviews.

Okay, so that's why someone might hate this novel. But let's say you've read the sea stories of Joseph Conrad or Patrick O'Brian or simply have an overactive imagination and some patience.This doesn't feel like a novel as much as a relentless succession of brilliant images. Like the shark frenzy around the whale carcass tied to the ship or the little hole in the deck where Ahab secures his peg leg or the deck tilting at such an acute angle as the weight of the whale pulls down one side of the ship, or Moby Dick coming up out of the deep, starting with this little white blur. Melville seems perfectly aware of how powerful these images are when he abandons all pretense of plot and writes experimental chapters that read a lot---a lot---like mood-establishing excerpts from modern screenplays.

My favorite part is a chapter called rather innocently 'The line'. It describes in painstaking detail where all the rope is stored in the little boats used to attack the whales. Then it describes how that line unfurls once a harpooned whale tries to flee. The rope goes flying off so fast---smoke comes off of it---that the crew momentarily feels like it is trapped inside a steam engine. My description is clumsy, but the chapter is brilliant. But it's hard to process all the brilliance because the chapter is where it mentions in passing that these attack boats are made out of wood a half inch thick---the same thickness as my bookcases---and they're going after the largest toothed predators on the planet. I would have to say that it's the only novel I've read that's so vivid that I could `hear' a soundtrack to it.

And the feeling you get that Moby Dick didn't only get Ahab's leg but also accidentally swallowed a whaling version of Wikipedia? Personally, I felt that the long descriptions of sea life helped with the pacing, that they gave the sense of the passage of time, of giving the Pequod the opportunity of crossing half the globe.

I'm pretty sure everyone who might read this novel knows the ending, but I was still floored by it when I read it. Knowing what happens doesn't protect you against the suspense. Once I was done with it, I felt battered and bruised myself, torn between a sense of "That was amazing" and "Please don't ever ask me to read another line of Melville again in my life." But it's been over a week since I finished it and its images linger. I've started to accept that sooner or later, I will read it again.

So this is a high risk book, provoking strong reactions. But Thrift Dover edition is all but giving the book away, so it's not an expensive risk. (The font size could afford to be slightly bigger, but it's not a huge issue.)
... Read more

Product Description
Written by one of America's greatest authors, Moby-Dick is a work of tremendous power and depth--one of world literature's great poetic epics. In the novel, published in 1851 after sixteen months of writing, Herman Melville recounts the Promethean quest of Captain Ahab, who, having lost a leg in a earlier battle with White Whale, is determined to catch the beast and destroy it. By the time readers meet Ahab, he is a vengeful, crazed, and terror-provoking figure, for Moby-Dick has come to represent for him all the evil in the world. The relentless voyage of Ahab and his crew, a finely etched group of weird and wonderful characters who seem both flesh-and-blood individuals and symbolic of the varying qualities of men, becomes a masterful drama of life at sea. The drama is made more fascinating by Melville's eloquent style--a combination of the journalistic, colloquial, and poetic--and the themes and subjects he pursues--whales and whaling; man's need for love and comradeship; and the fury of Ahab for the whale. Through realistic storytelling, symbolic allegory, and allusive and figurative language, Melville achieves in Moby-Dick a special intensity that readers will marvel at, and not soon forget. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Quaker talk.
I really enjoyed this until the voyage started and Ahab came on the scene. Than I couldn't understand them talking back and forth. Is this the way Quakers speak ? I'll probably try again but if the rest of the book is this way I can't finish it. ... Read more

Product Description
Moby Dick (1851) is an epic tale of the conflict between man and his fate.Captain Ahab's obsessive quest to destroy the great white whale that tore off his leg leads the Pequod and its crew to disaster. Melville's extraordinary narrative defies classification: it teems with ideas and imagery and the passion of its author.

Patrick McGrath was born in London and moved to New York in 1981, where he now lives.He is the author of a story collection, Blood and Water and Other Tales (1988) and four acclaimed novels: The Grotesque (1989), Spider (1990), Dr Haggard's Disease (1993), and Asylum (1996) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pinnacle of American Literature in My Opinion
Skimming some of these reviews I see a lot of descriptions of 'Moby Dick' as being "grueling," "confusing," and even downright "boring." I don't deny that Moby Dick is all of these things, at times. Conversely though Herman Melville's masterpiece also contains some of the most beautiful writing that one is ever likely to come across. This is no doubt at least a small part of why this novel is one of the most divisive in American literature and why there are still such widely diverging views as to its meaning. Either way you don't get to just cop out and write this one off simply because there are sections that are difficult to sift through.

The cast was, I believe, intended to be symbolic of the American idea, the American dream. The crew of the Pequod is sort of a rag-tag hodgepodge of folks from all corners of the globe. It's a ship where folks who had maybe gone bankrupt or previously experienced failures and hardship earlier in life can come to start over again. Ishmael perhaps representing the archetypical American "cowboy," joining the Pequod without any real purpose other than for the adventure, the freedom afforded by the open seas, and the excitement of venturing out into the unknown.

More than this was intended to be symbolic of the changes going on in American society the Pequod's expedition was, I believe, intended to be deeply representative of the issues that are at the heart of man's place in this world. While ostensibly the story is about whaling, it is more symbolically a story of each man's personal odyssey to give purpose to his own existence amidst sneaking suspicions (brought on by science and philosophy) that this life might ultimately be meaningless.The frequent encounters that the Pequod has with other ships reminds me of what Karl Barth called "sign posts" which are more or less symbolic events in our lives that point to something further, that beckon us to continue on our path.The captains of other vessels mention having heard of the "White Whale," so there are signs that the Pequod should continue though the general sense amongst all with the exception of Ahab is that they're chasing a phantom, a myth, nothingness.With God in exile and religion out of most peoples lives there has been a similar feeling by many that life might be pointless.That all of our daily toil and efforts might be for nothing all the while never falling quite so deep into despair as to give up on this world completely.

Ahab shows the most obvious manifestations of some people's growing mistrust of technology. Of how science can quantify our world without really telling us anything meaningful about it. His rage at having lost his leg is a reflection of the growing sense of despair over what seems to be the sheer randomness of events in our lives, at the way nature seems to act without reason, and how the most terrible tragedies can befall us without any provocation. Ahab's futile attempts to kill the White Whale are violent lashings out at the world, at nature; they are frustrated and misguided attempts to push back on the forces acting on him. This is an intrinsically human reaction, namely we seek to destroy whatever we can't bring under our thumb.

Obviously this book is just loaded with symbolism and allegory so there are many ways in which to interpret this book. One shouldn't forget this fact because Moby Dick is a book that was meant to be read more than once. I personally have only read it once but it is a book that begs to be gone over repeatedly in order to get the most out of it and I do sincerely hope to read this wonderful book again someday.
What probably prevents alot of folks from going over it again are the seemingly endless descriptions about whales and the 19th Century whaling industry. Like, about half this book is a treatise on whaling. It's difficult to understand exactly why this is done. I'm guessing one reason could be that this was written at a time when alot of folks didn't have things like "Free Willy" or the Discovery Channel that would allow them to truly appreciate the majesty of the whale or even what a whale was or looked like. Another reason could be that this whale chronical may have been another way to show how we can quantify nature, we can describe it, but we still end up powerless against it in the long run.

Whatever his reason's for adding this I don't think Melville made his novel any more compelling or meaningful with all the whale talk. To be perfectly honest it can be a real chore to get through some of those parts. Still, I'm giving this book a 5 because of it's exquisite imagery and because of its incredibly insightful look at humanity, at our contradictions, and how the intensity of our desires seems to blind us to how fragile and vulnerable we really are.Melville is able to express modern man's confusion and despair without leaving the reader in a state of hopelessness.Quite an incredible accomplishment really, something few philosophers seem capable of.Also, I would think the collective weight of the world academic community outweighs alot of these negative reviews.

Classic.

Worth the effort
Yes this is not for the faint of heart...tough sledding at times but thereward of allowing Melville's poetry to seep into your soul makes it wellworth it. I read this in my 20's and didn't get it. Reading it again 20years later I found the prose to be less dense and the story stands on it'sown as one of the greatest. Forget the symbolism and enjoy the ride.

The best things in life come to those who wait
Patience is a virtue;and if patience is needed to truly appreciate Melville's Moby-Dick, then virtuous am I.I admit, there were many places in this novel where I "just wanted to get through it".However,when the reader takes a step back to truly examine this work, it soonbecomes an obvious masterpiece.For myself, the most interesting aspect ofMelville's writing is his tendency to use Biblical characters:Ishmael,Ahab, and even the ship "Rachel" searching for her children. There are literally hundreds of links to their Biblical counterparts.Thiswas most fascinating for me to discover.I challenge readers to see thisnovel as more than just a story, but rather, a work which calls forin-depth examination. ... Read more

Product Description
When Ishmael sets sail on the whaling ship Pequod one cold Christmas Day, he has no idea of the horrors awaiting him out on the vast and merciless ocean. The ship’s strange captain, Ahab, is in the grip of an obsession to hunt down the famous white whale, Moby Dick, and will stop at nothing on his quest to annihilate his nemesis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Timeless, Priceless, and all the other lesses
Obviously, this is a piece of American literature that no home with any position in academia, or a position as a human being, should be without.

This publisher does a good job too. Penguin, Barnes and Noble--they all work hard to bring you the modern library classics, but vintage is still doing it. The never needed to start.

Read something of Melville's if you don't have the gusto to read Moby Dick. And try reading it from a savvy publisher. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (49)

Someone just SHOOT ME....PLEASE!
I've been wanting to read this book for decades!But now, all I can say is someone just shoot me....PLEASE!I am 100% convinced that Melville was a mentally ill whack job!His writing style is nothing but a bunch of babbling that goes NOWHERE!I'm often wondering....WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT NARRATIVE!Most of the book can be glanced over, and you STILL are wondering if Melville will ever get to the point!OMG!

I think the ONLY thing that made this book a "classic" is that it was written during a time where not much was known about creatures of the ocean, and yes, whales are facinating...., and that a battle between man and unknown creature was something exciting.But yeah, Melville, had many spots missing off his dice!The guy probably wrote this while in a padded room in some unknown psychiatric ward!

I only gave it 3 stars...not because it was OK, but yeah....battle between man and whale is an adventure....but this one was so poorly narrated, that keeping interest was a chore, and I only read it because I was bound and determined to read it.But it was torture!Pure torture!

An American Classic
An American Classic

Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is, without question, the greatest single work of American fiction ever written. With good reason the novel has been a staple of our culture, from the English classroom to popular culture. Melville's compelling story of obsession and revenge, his rich cast of characters, his varied and experimental style, and above all his masterful use of symbolism and pregnant imagery make Moby-Dick a book that no educated man or woman can afford to miss.
The storyline, though somewhat unevenly paced, builds steadily into a first-rate tale of human struggle. The book is narrated by Ishmael, a young man who joins the crew of a whaling vessel to combat his depression, or, as he puts it, the "drizzly November" in his soul. Though Ishmael narrates, Ahab, the captain of the Nantucket whaling ship The Pequod, is the book's main character. Prior to the beginning of the story, Ahab is attacked by an albino sperm whale, named Moby-Dick. Moby-Dick chomps off Ahab's leg and sends him into a feverish madness. Ahab swears revenge, and over the course of the rest of the novel, he brings his crew with him on his doomed quest.
Melville crews his ship with a huge and diverse cast of characters. The domineering and remote Ahab provides a natural foil for the care-free and easy-going Ishmael. The three mates of the ship - Starbuck, Stubb and Flask - encapsulate the range of man's responses to life's trials. Starbuck's sensitivity, Stubb's nonchalance, and Flask's prickly nature mark each character as distinct (though archetypal). In addition, the crew contains New Englanders of all types, natives from remote islands around the globe, and the sinister "hair-turbaned Fedallah [who] remained a muffled mystery to the last."
Melville's style, like his characters, is varied. There are sections of the book - particularly the "Whiteness of the Whale" chapter that are lyrical and poetic, alongside technical chapters addressing the types of whales or the proper manufacture of whaling rope. Certain scenes are written almost like a play, with stage directions and character names followed by their lines. When the Pequod leaves Nantucket, the mastery of Melville's prose shines through: "Ship and boat diverged; the cold, damp night breeze blew between; a screaming gull flew overhead; the two hulls wildly rolled; we gave three heavy-hearted cheers, and blindly plunged like fate into the lone Atlantic."
Moby-Dick is a landmark in American Literature, but because of its complex structure and poetic style, it's better suited for older or more patient readers. In addition, many readers might find an abridged version useful - one that removes the less plot-oriented chapters (like the infamous "Cetology" chapter). Still, for the discerning reader, there is no richer find than Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. I give it 10 harpoons out of 10.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

TOOK A WHILE TO GET THROUGHT THIS, AGREE, I SHOULD HAVE JUST GOT AN ENCYCLOPDEIA ABOUT WHALES. STORY LINE WAS THERE BUT GOT LOST IN THE MANS KNOWLEDGE OF WHALES.SOMETIMES, MOVIES FINISH THE STORY BETTER THAN THE AUTHOR.LIKE TO HAVE GOTTEN MORE OUT OF IT THAN JUST TO SAY I READ IT.

Very nice edition, excellent introduction
I read (or tried to read) Moby Dick in high school, like many American students. I loathed it. Decades later, I have returned to the book and it is fantastic. It is alternately dark and light, almost always vivid. With more years under my belt, I have a far greater appreciation for the sense of life and living conveyed by Ishmael.

You might want to consider either or both of "The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale" -- a first hand account by survivors -- and "In the Heart of the Sea", also about the Essex and by the author of the introduction to this edition of Moby Dick.

This is an excellent edition, as good as a paperback can get. Far poorer books on far worse paper with far worse binding are sold for as much or more. My only gripe is that the paper does not appear to be acid-free, but the paper stock is certainly very good.

The introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick is excellent -- personal, well-informed and insightful, very worth reading before reading the novel. It will increase your enjoyment and understanding of Melville's writing.

The American Testament, Iliad/Odyssey/Paradise Lost/Tragedy
Forget about the Great American Novel. Let us just agree that Moby-Dick is the Great American Book, and the rest of our literature can sort itself out. Like The Bible it contains narrative, poetry, philosophy, comedy, and finally tragedy. It is the American book of books.

I actually read it in an undergraduate lit class, and could not put it down. I came to it at exactly the right time in my life; I just got lucky.I read it again, years later, and was amazed at how much I had missed in my first reading. A man in his forties will be closer to Ahab than a young man of twenty, but I do not regret the early exposure to this book.It changed the world for me. At sixty-four I am ready to take it up again. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

bewildered
my mistake! i didn't realise pages were 3 1/4" x 6". need a magnifier to read miniscule print. I'll read fine print in ad next time.

Moby-Dick
My son was very pleased with this book. It is a classic in hardcover and lives up to it's reputation.

Tiny book
I was not expecting this book to be so small. It is in great condition and very nicely done. Just be prepared for small print. It made a fun stocking stuffer for Christmas.

BUYER BEWARE
This book is TINY! It's actually even smaller than the product details state (3.5" wide, NOT 4.1"). I already ordered a bigger copy from a different publisher, and I'm considering trying to return this one. I'm just not sure if the hassle is worth the $10 I spent.

Why they would try to cram a 600+ page novel into a package this small is beyond me. It's an uncomfortable read to say the least. Also, the gold edges cause the pages to stick together. I made it through the first two chapters and gave up.

There are plenty of other editions on amazon. I'd recommend avoiding this one.

You will enjoy this great classic.
Herman Melville is a great writer. I hope you will enjoy this classic. My words can not express the detail in his writing. Amazon shipping was fast. Book arrived in perfect condition. Great value at this site. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Hubris and Whales
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRU9A/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img

Saying that Moby Dick is about whales is like saying the Old Testament is about keeping kosher. Whales are a very tiny amount of a complex whole.

First, it is about obsession. We think first of Ahab's obsession about killing the whale, but careful study of the book shows that there are many obsessions present. Contained within the obsession is that kind of hubris which challenges gods to do their worst.

Second, it is about piety and impiety, about religious belief and sacrilegious beliefs--beliefs plural, because there are idolaters aboard the ship.

But most important, it is about human beings. Everybody is distinguishable from everybody else, unlike many novels in which it is virtually impossible to tell who has what relationship with whom. It is realism of the American, Andrew Jackson, line, not of the European line.

Deconstructionists say that there is at least a hint of homosexuality in the book. They may be right; certainly Queequeg's calling Ishmael his wife is such a suggestion, even though there is no evidence that even Queequeg, much less Ishmael, ever acted upon such a suggestion. However, temporary homosexual activity even among normally heterosexual men is known to be, if not common, certainly not unheard of in any situation in which a group of males are isolated together, without access of any kind to women. A whaling ship, which might not touch land for two or three years, certainly was such an environment.

I cringe when I hear it described as an adventure novel. It is not one, and the abridged editions which remove all of Ishmael's comments which seem extraneous to the book should be burned and replaced with unabridged editions. Those "irrelevancies" are part of the heart and core of the book.

My husband, when at UCLA, was told by friends that Moby Dick was an extremely difficult book, so he decided, for the only time in his life, to buy Cliff Notes. Halfway through the Cliff Notes he decided that Moby Dick was the best novel ever written in any language. He threw away the Cliff Notes and settled down with the book. At the beginning, before the celebrated line "Call me Ishmael," there is a long series of quotations about whales, none of which are really about whales. He is of the opinion that you could remove whales from the book and still have a good novel, but you could not remove Ahab.

Hollywood has made at least two movies about Moby Dick. Both are good movies, but it is clear that the screenwriters did not grok the book.

I recommend this novel not to children, not to undergrads, not even to graduate students unless they are willing and able to take the time to study Moby Dick, using their own contexts as well as the context in which the author was working, to attempt to get a whole on some of the meanings of the text. This assumes that the reader understands that in so complex a novel, and there are few novels more complex, there is not one right meaning. There are multiple meanings which interweave themselves inextricably, while other meanings seem to grow up not from context or subtext but from intertextuality, particularly intertextuality the Bible and specifically the Old Testament.

This is not an easy novel. But it is one worth reading by a reader willing to put in the work necessary to comprehend it in part, realizing that comprehending it in toto is impossible for anyone.

Excellent.And it worked on my iTouch.
Having spent my teens and twenties with a paperback in my hip pocket, I'm still amazed that I can carry hundreds of books--big books if I want to--on the iTouch in my front pocket--I didn't have the problem with clipped words.That said, I feel that Moby Dick is a book that was waiting for me to read it.I didn't know how funny many parts of it are; for me, it was not a slog through a thick tome, but an adventure shared with others who have also read it.It stands the test of time and is very readable.Has it been waiting for you to read it?Now's the time.

(P.S. The iTouch Kindle app is also good for middle-of-the-night reading without waking my wife.)

Moby Dick - Kindle Edition
A classic.Who am I to criticize a literary great?The Kindle certainly helps - the dictionary is invaluable when reading a book written in "olde english" - being able to look up words I'd not seen before, while in the flow of reading, was invaluable.

Not properly formatting on iPhone
This version is not displaying properly on my iPhone, using Kindle iPhone app. Words are cut off either side of screen.

Exaclty Almost The Same
I listened to the audio cds on this book and there are only a few different words. if you are going to buy this book. mine as well get the same thing for free! ... Read more

Product Description

Herman Melville's peerless allegorical masterpiece is the epic saga of the fanatical Captain Ahab, who swears vengeance on the mammoth white whale that has crippled him. Often considered to be the Great American Novel, Moby-Dick is at once a starkly realistic story of whaling, a romance of unusual adventure, and a searing drama of heroic courage, moral conflict, and mad obsession. It is world-renowned as the greatest sea story ever told.

Moby-Dick, widely misunderstood in its own time, has since become an indubitable classic of American literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

moby dick
Tthe book came as promised, and in the advertised condition, but it is NOT part of the Enriched Classic Series.
It's an Airmont Classic, which only includes an intro by a PhD.It's a wicked old version, which is actually
kind of fun 1964--- to read an american classic with old and yellowed pages.I like that part.

It is complete and unabridged,but I thoughtI was getting a lot more "Enrichment"
when I ordered.

Sadly, it's just a copy of Moby Dick, a bit weathered... lacking the scholarly info
i thought I had ordered.

:(

all-time great narrator
Huck Finn, Holden Caulfield, Scout Finch - they're all classic American narrators. But for my money, the king of them all is Melville's Ishmael. Listening to him tell this story is like listening to a rakish old grandpa tell his half-remembered, half-made-up stories of youthful adventures, complete with rambling, yet interesting, digressions. Sometimes the details can be confusing to modern minds, but once you've fallen under Ishmael's spell, it doesn't seem to matter much; the point is listening to that voice and hearing the way he says things. Sure, at some points you might feel like saying, "Get on with the story, Grandpa!" But at the end of the story you'll be saying, "Tell me another one!" Ishmael's what I'd call a considerate narrator; for all his wandering asides about whales and what not, he always makes sure you know where you are in the narrative. After all, he only digresses during those long stretches of time when the Pequod is sailing along and not much is happening. The minute something happens, he stops rambling immediately, and then you're right there in the boat, catching a whale. I love Ishmael! To spend time in his company is well worth any effort the reading may require.

Book club selection
This is a select for a book club I am a member of.This book is our October selection and we are meeting on a members sail boat.I recently saw the Greggory Peck movie on the book and I look forward to reading and discussing the book on the lake under sail.

This book will cure all types of insomnia
I am in the middle of reading a number of classics and this book was on my list. I've moved on to War and Peace (thankfully). I can't imagine a more rambling, nonsensical, self-indulgent piece of tripe than this horrid book.

If you don't believe me, just read the reviews written by the journalists in the prologue. Even they thought the book was exhausting and convoluted.

If you want to read the classics, I suggest you read this. Once complete, you can spout your intellect by shouting "WHAT A TERRIBLE BOOK!!!"

A sometimes incomprehensible, always masterful story containing everything you ever wanted to know about whales and whaling.
This epic story begins, as most readers are aware, with, "Call me Ishmael." Unfortunately, that is where the easy reading ends. It follows the adventures of Ishmael and his friend, cannibal and harpooner Queequeg (my favorite character), as they first meet in Nantucket before heading off on the Pequod with a vengeful Captain Ahab and his crew. The chapters run chronologically, although some find the narrator going off on tangents about whales, whaling and other related subjects. Those involving encounters with whales are the most easily read and comprehensible. Others are extremely detailed and difficult to follow. Although nowhere near the top of my list of favorite novels, the time, energy and concentration required to get through Moby Dick are well worth the effort, even if one is unable to fully appreciate or understand each and every word. It might be better read as part of a high school or college course, where the nuances of the symbolism and goings on in various chapters could be studied and discussed in great detail. An excellent but challenging read - better swallowed with a dose of Cliff Notes. Other interesting sea creature-related books include: The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, The Devil's Teeth (sharks) by Susan Casey, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch and The Grim Grotto (book 10 in the series) by Lemony Snicket (for its Moby Dick-related plot elements).
... Read more

Product Description
Three American masterpieces in dazzling graphic packages

These novels played a unique and lasting role in the development of American literature, and each one remains a beloved and widely read work of fiction. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-arguably the great American novel. Ethan Frome-an enduring rural tragedy. And Moby-Dick or, The Whale-a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception. Now, Penguin Classics is proud to present these three novels in gorgeous graphic packages featuring cover art by some of the most talented illustrators working today. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Another neat children's adaptation!
I though I had all the Moby Dick's, until I saw this new Classic Start.Anything that gets kids turned on to that book is fantastic! ... Read more

Product Description
While the plot of this Great American Novel, the story of a sea captain's obsession with a white whale, is fairly straightforward, the possible interpretations and meanings of it are immense and unknowable in scope. With its myriad of metaphors, symbols, and characters, Moby Dick is as immense as the world itself.

CliffsNotes helps you understand the overall structure of the novel, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Husband appreciated them as a gift
Nothing much to say except my husband says "they were fine," and they took a lot of time out of reading the complete book!

Well, it is shorter....
Kids, think of this as an ice cream sundae with only the vanilla film and a speck of fudge on the inside of the sundae glass. It'll be enough for you to report on the significant parts of the sundae in great detail to Mr. English Teacher, but you'll have none of the feeling of having eaten an ice cream sundae, perhaps the finest food on Earth, if not the finest thing. Let's call this a loan. Use old Cliff to get through the test, but promise yourself that you'll at least pull up a chair to the book when you have the chance.

Well, it is shorter....
Kids, think of this as an ice cream sundae with only the vanilla film and a speck of fudge on the inside of the sundae glass.It'll be enough for you to report on the significant parts of the sundae in great detail to Mr. English Teacher, but you'll have none of the feeling of having eaten an ice cream sundae, perhaps the finest food on Earth, if not the finest thing.Let's call this a loan.Use old Cliff to get through the test, but promise yourself that you'll at least pull up a chair to the book when you have the chance.

The original is better
This volume skims over too much. I didn't like it as much as the original ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (10)

Moby Dick: A Pop-Up Book
This Pop-up book about Moby Dick is truly outstanding. I collect pop-up books and this one is a GREAT addition to my collection. Highly recommended for children and adults alike.
Iris Nichols

pop ups are great format isn't
I purchased this book for my 6 year old grandson along with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.Both were created and written by the same author. The reason I am giving it only 3 stars is that the pop ups are well done.What I did not like is the format.It is in a comic book format which is difficult for a 6 year old to follow. It also takes away from the pop ups. Very helter skelter just like most comic books are.This book in my opinion could have been much better and more professional looking if the format had been written without the characters and the bubbles over their heads containing what they are saying. It can be compared to perhaps taking a diamond and putting it into a cheap gift box. In my opinion the format as it is presented does a great book with well done pop ups an injustice. I returned both of them to Amazon and bought 2 other pop up books that complemented the pop ups rather then cheapening them.

Moby-Dick: A pop-up book
What a wonderful and fun book.I am museum docent and purchased this book to use with a piece of art work that is in the BMA's collection.However I found that I love this book for its beautiful color and 3 dimentional pop-up pictures.My 5 year old grandson also loves this book and never wants to put it down to go home.He recently moved away and wanted to take the book with him.Of course, I am going to order one for him so that he never has to put it down and can take it with him when ever he moves.

Moby Dick: A Pop-Up Book
My grandson loves the story (and movie- with Patrick Stewart). I was hoping I could find a pop-up book for him. (I always find what I'm looking
for on Amazon.com.) I was thrilled when I found the book!! My grandson was really pleased with the book!! You open the book to a great pop-up of
the ship. The construction and the details are great!! He had so much fun
looking at all the pop-ups, and all the extra little things just waiting
to be discovered. Thanks for such a wonderful book!!--Helen G

intricate artwork, great tranformation of novel to graphic novel
This is the most elaborate pop-up book I've ever seen.
There's actually rigging run through the masts and sails
on the pop-up ship!The artwork is beautiful, imaginative,
and thoroughly amazing.The storytelling preserves the
essentials of the novel, in the best graphic-novel style.
This book might be too intricate for a very young child
to appreciate on their own, but it would be a fine thing
for a literature-loving adult to share with them.
... Read more

Product Description
A revelatory tale of science, adventure, and modern myth.

When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories.

Moby-Duck is a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable. With each new discovery, Hohn learns of another loose thread, and with each successive chase, he comes closer to understanding where his castaway quarry comes from and where it goes. In the grand tradition of Tony Horwitz and David Quammen, Moby-Duck is a compulsively readable narrative of whimsy and curiosity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

wonderful edition of a true classic
For those who are fans of classic American Literature, Moby Dick is certainly one of the greats and the easton press edition does the story service by binding a wonderful novel in gold embossed leather for a look and feel any book collecter would be proud of. ... Read more

Product Description
An award-winning author and illustrator bring Melville's masterpiece to life for a new generation of readers in a stunning gift edition.

A tragic tale of obsession and revenge set against the unforgiving sea, Herman Melville's MOBY-DICK has now been expertly edited and generously illustrated for the twenty-first-century reader. Here are the mad whaling captain Ahab, the all-observant narrator Ishmael, and the mysterious, invincible white whale himself, and here are scenes of peril and carnage, nobility and redemption — presented in Melville's original language, threaded together with passages of summary by renowned author Jan Needle. Lavish artwork by Patrick Benson, one of the finest children's illustrators working today, captures the timeless spirit of this extraordinary classic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Moby Dick
Purchased for an 8 year old gifted reader.It is a beautiful book, and she is enjoying it very much.The book arrived quickly, in good shape and for an excellent price. Excellent purchasing experience from beginning to end.

Not the real book!
Abridged.This is not the real book!It's a coffee table book meant to make people think you have read the book.If you are looking for the "real" Moby Dick, you need to look else where.

Beautiful book with many "helps"; abridged well
I bought this book for my kids, after reading about it in (I think) the Wall Street Journal. I'm in the middle of reading the unabridged book, and I unexpectedly found this book a wonderful supplement for me as well, with a map of the Pequod's journey, diagrams of whaling ships, helpful information on whaling and life in the 1800s, and evocative illustrations. It's clearly a labor of love for the author & illustrator. Any abridgement has to cut much of Melville's delightful detail (I love the line in the very first paragraph about "stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off"), but this abridgement is particularly well done; preserving much of the flavor of the original language, Mr Needle has put (shortened) versions of the original text in one (old-fashioned-looking) typeface, and bridges between these in italics. I think this will whet my kids' appetite for reading the "real thing." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Look no further for a dynamic ensemble script!
I first worked on Moby Dick-Rehearsed as a project at West Virginia University.At the time I was in graduate school and wanted to direct an ensemble piece with potential for creative movement.In MD-R we found that the language, the inherent movement (the storm, chasing the whale)was exactly the sort of "heightened" piece we sought.The play offers a multitude of challenges in characterization, ensemble casting and poetic language/drama.Everything that makes an excellent play is here: conflict, depth of character, environment, clear objectives and definable obstacles.The play is easily cast with women and men, a gender blind jewel.In our production we even cast three actors to play Ahab. (When you read the script it is easy to find out how this can work). Two of the actors were women who played "facets" of Ahab.This is a play that needs more attention.An ensemble production of Moby Dick-Rehearsed is in the planning stages for a New York showcase in January of 1999. ... Read more

Product Description
"SparkNotes Literature Guides" is an invaluable series tackling some of the most important novels ever written and studied. Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, these indispensable study aids are thorough and informative. They feature explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols, detailed analyses of major characters and important quotes, plot summaries and analysis, an exploration of historical context, plus key facts and potential essay topics - everything a student needs to be thoroughly prepared! ... Read more

Product Description
You may think you've read Moby-Dick, but this new edition reveals a text you've never seen: the first American edition as Melville wrote and edited it himself, enhanced with unprecedented discussions of the revisions which Melville, his British editors, and 20th-century scholars later made to his book.

Bryant and Springer, both Melville scholars, bring this classic into the 21st century with the first critical edition in forty years - presented in a beautiful design which wears its elegant scholarship lightly for the general reader. Throughout the book, a special typeface indicates passages in Moby-Dick that were later revised.On-page revision narratives describe the exact changes Melville or his British editors made to the 1851 American text and those made for the 1967 Northwestern-Newberry edition (the version most widely read today), and explain the story behind each revision. Minimal footnotes offer lively explanations of key glossary and other terms right on the page, while more extensive, often entertainingExplanatory Notes and Revision Narratives are found at the back of the book. The result is that readers are immersed in the personal, social, and cultural context of Melville's novel and his writing process

Customer Reviews (6)

The Very Small Prints
The two stars are for this edition, not the contents, of course.

Edition: A LONGMAN CRITICAL EDITION, Edited by John Bryant and Haskell Springer

1. The major problem with this edition is the small print. When I received the book and started to read, it appeared to me that I am going to need a pair of reading glasses. However, this wasnot the case. Other people who looked at it agreed with me that the print is extremely small and reading is an unpleasant experience.

2. Apart from the print size, the color of the letters is grey, not really black - which makes things even worse.

3. The explanatory notes are fine, butbecause these notes are located at the end of the book, it is impractical to read these explanations while reading the book. I suggest to the editors to place the explanatory notes at the bottom of each referred page.

Moby-Nick
Moby-Dick is the overindulgent, homoerotic tale of the lust that surfaces between two English men, an enormous whale and an American harpooner aboard a whale ship called the HMS Serapis.It's stock full of rich slang, metaphor and jaunty old English that most readers won't understand, (especially in America since the education system is laggard and no one bothers to read books there anymore).

If you're from Europe, you'll love the portrait of American sailors as "smug, self centered prejudiced scoundrels".

Moby-Dick is classic of adventure.

Excellent rendition
It's a great book, with clarifications that my 14 year old can use; as well as myself.Thanks

Ishmael, the Scientist
One of the challenges many readers find in "enjoying" Moby Dick is the plethora of knowledge about the whaling industry that Melville provides through the voice or Ishmael. Those chapters, I readily admit, will only be enjoyable to people to appreciate "lore" as such, or who relish Ishmael's sarcastic side-comments about the foibles of humanity. Another challenge is the tongue-in-cheek science of "cetology" as expounded by Ishmael. The reader has to know enough current science to recognize when Melville is playing fast and loose with the scientific method, satirizing the science of his own day. But in chapters 104 and 105, science-minded readers would be wise to pay close attention to Mr. Ishmael, and to remember that Moby Dick was published in 1851! Ishmael expounds - almost as if it were self-evident - the basic Darwinian theory of 'descent with modification'! He also ASSUMES deep time -a geological scale of time involving millions of years, a necessary first step toward understanding evolution. He presents fairly accurate notions of the role of glaciers! He actually posits the "snowball earth" hypothesis, that is, that the whole planet was once locked in a ice age! This self-educated seaman was no mean scientist! And since we can assume that anything Ishmael 'knew' and cared about, Melville also knew and thought about, it's no wonder that Herman Melville found himself on the brink of abandoning his Christian beliefs.

Ishmael is the main character in the novel, you know, the one who sets the pace and calls the tune. It's Ishmael who goes questing; Ahab's quest is just a bright projection of Ishmael's, a particularly fantastic shadow puppet on the wall of Ishmael's cave. It's mostly Ishmael to tells us what Ahab is all about, though betimes Melville lets Ahab rage in his own plenipotent Shakespearean dialect. It's Ishmael who leads us, in the reverse of Dante, to paradisal seas and proper Christian faith first, then to the purgatory of the butchery, and then the depths of hellish annihilation. If I ever had to teach a high school English class - an honor I don't aspire to - I'd tell the little blighters straight off that in any novel with a first-person narrator, that's the chap to watch. Finally, it's Ishmael who LEARNS. In his first encounter with Queequeg, he learns human relativity. Through all the pages and chapters detailing the nature of the whale and of whaling, he learns and learns, and shares his learning in his ever-bemused, ironic style. Of course, he learns eventually that HE is the sole survivor of his own quest. And don't be fooled for a moment that he hasn't learned the metaphysical truth that he set out to learn in the symbolic guise of the White Whale...

Moby Dick is a book about the dread Melville felt at his increasing religious uncertainty, his fear of the infinite, and particularly of an infinite that might well be empty, that might be as void as the color white. He says as much in the key chapter 42, 'The Whiteness of the Whale': "...a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows -- a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink..."

But Moby Dick is also a rollickingly funny book, ripping anything it touches with its sarcasm and satire. If one chapter seems wordy, dear reader, keep your eyes open and you'll be rewarded by a side-splitter in a few pages. Melville perhaps still wrote under the illusion that he could sell profundity to the parlor readership of Victorian America; a good thing for us, since he gave us full measure of adventure, of humor, and of personal anguish all in one unforgettable book. What each reader notices as she/he reads Moby Dick will be as different as what each hiker sees while descending into the Grand Canyon. I've read it three times now, decades apart; this time, with my own metaphysical quests all logged, I found it more hilarious, more picturesque, more a grand display of virtuosic wordsmithing than I recalled. Anyone who finds Moby Dick boring isn't worth his/her hard tack biscuit.

Nicely done critical edition
The essays appended on to this edition added to my enjoyment of the book.A good edition of a classic work for one's home library. ... Read more

Product Description
602 pages ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great fishing tales
Better than Babe Winkleman.This guy knows how to write about a fishing trip.SPOILER ALERT!!: Kinda thought he would have landed that big one in the end... ... Read more