iPhone ebook review – In the Heart of the Sea

After reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I was looking for another book about survival, facing incredible odds, and cannibalism. I found it in a book called In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.

The book tells the true story of the tragedy at sea that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick. In 1820, the whaleship Essex had the tables turned when a sperm whale became the aggressor. The sperm whale rammed the ship not only once, but twice, sinking the ship and forcing the crew to make an attempt to reach South America in the remaining small open boats. The story is a gripping tale of survival.

Here’s an excerpt:
“First they saw the bones – human bones- littering the thwarts and floorboards, as if the whaleboat were the seagoing lair of a ferocious man-eating beast. Then they saw the two men. They were curled up in opposite ends of the boat, their skin covered in sores, their eyes bulging from the hollows of their skulls, their beards caked with salt and blood. They were sucking the marrow of their dead shipmates.”

Along with the exciting narrative, the book is speckled with very fascinating tidbits such as :

• Dr. Ancel Keys (the K-ration was named after him) conducted a WWII study on starvation using conscientious objectors. The study was used in aiding POW’s and concentration camp victims.
• Pablo Valencia survived almost seven days without water in the Arizona desert – “His lips had disappeared as if amputated, leaving low edges of blackened tissue; his teeth and gums projected like those of a skinned animal, but the flesh was black and dry as a hank of jerky.”

The book was a great read.  It would be a terrific companion book to read along with Moby Dick.  The notes in the book also lead me to another wonderful discovery Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors by Edward E. Leslie and Sterling Seagrave.