Moby Dick: or, The Whale (Classics)

Moby Dick is among the greatest books ever written. This edition, however is just pathetic. The size and print size are fine, but there are multiple lazy copy errors. The back of the book was clearly written by a non English speaker using google translate. The footnotes are lazily pasted into the text and neither in the bottom tray nor at the end of the chapter. For a 7 dollar thrift edition this would be fine....but at 14 dollars this is an outrage. I implore the “publisher” of this book to remove it from circulation. You are a shame to the world of literature.

This edition begins with “Call me Ishmael.” Great, right? Nope. The complete text should include a couple of sections before chapter 1: “Etymology" and "Extracts." This edition leaves them out, which also makes me mistrust what else might be missing. There’s little detail about the source of the text. A more minor criticism: the typeface is thin and light, so harder to read than it should be. I love the cover design, but the insides are disappointing.

Yeah, you learn more about whales than you probably want to to know, but the writing is lively and so often very funny. Didn't see that when I tried to read it in college. Thirty-three years later, I found it engaging and a fun read.

Melville is certain that the reader is fully educated in Whales and Whaling but he is equal to the opportunity to assure that whaling is a very masculine effort. Women, wives and heirs show in the background generally to demonstrate these hunters also had a human life. Sometimes his ornate and detailed explanations can frustrate but like any masterpiece the grandeur of the whole is supported by deeply precise details. This book I have read at various stages of my life and I have a sense it is something you should never stop reading.