HackerNews Readings: Moby Dick: or, the White Whale

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DubiousPusheronApr 16, 2021

Agreed. I would not find this kind of life hack approach to reading satisfying. On occasion certainly but I pick up a book explicitly to inhabit it. I don't pick up books I don't wish to become apart of and have become apart of me. The first 200 pages of Moby Dick were phenomenal to me. The book really drops off when the chapters atomize into non-fiction and lose the story. But I was not going to miss one word of what happened to the Pequod or the friendship between Ishmael and Queequeg. It doesn't really pick that story up as I'd like but I wasn't going to risk it. Parts of 'Les Miserables' felt like a slog but it was worth it to truly inhabit the world. I'll probably never read a 1,000+ novel ever again but I wouldn't have read it any other way.

For a reference book sure. They are often best digested out of order.

dotcommandonAug 13, 2021

> that has stubbornly been able to avoid being conquered by the major empires in world history.

Was reading Moby Dick the other day and came across this excerpt...

'Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States.

WHALING VOYAGE BY ONE ISHMAEL.

BLOODY BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN.'

The more things change...

> But here we are, 2+ Trillion burned and nothing to show for it.

Other than another grateful nation basking in the glow of the democracy we've bestowed upon them. Mission accomplished.

weinzierlonApr 14, 2021

Moby Dick was one of the first "real" books I touched as child.
I got it from the school library over the summer vacations.
I have to admit that I too found the asides boring and only managed to get about halfway through until the end of the vacations. At the beginning of the new school year I had to return it but had the intent to borrow it again to finish it. I never did and this must be the longest open point on my personal to do list. I wonder if - after so much time has passed - I still would find the asides boring...