Melville brought to the task a sound knowledge of actual whaling, much curious learning in the literature of the subject, and, above all, an imagination which worked with great power upon the facts of his own experience.
Too much detail can bog down any story. Enough with the history of gunpowder, the geology of Hawaii, the processes of whaling, and cactus and tumbleweed.
We commend President Obama and his administration for taking this strong action against Iceland and its barbaric whaling industry... and we urge the President to take similar action against Japan and Norway as well!
It is of great importance to our country generally, and especially to our navigating and whaling interests, that the Pacific Coast and, indeed, the whole of our territory west of the Rocky Mountains, should speedily be filled up by a hardy and patriotic population.
Besides all those whaling details, Moby Dick is about someone who's looking for something so huge, something they've wanted all their life, yet they know when they find it, it will kill them.
On my second swim at Deception Island, the water was very clear and I was looking at hundreds of whale bones beneath me. It was a graveyard from the whaling some time in the 1920s-30s.
Alexa 'Lex' Woods: It's an abandoned whaling station. According to your satellite imagery, Mr. Weyland, the pyramid is located directly beneath it.
Alexa 'Lex' Woods: [while exploring the abandoned whaling station, Miller is startled by a penguin] Careful. They bite.
