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> Moby-Dick remains perhaps the best reading experience of my life. I sometimes half-jokingly maintain that Moby-Dick was really written as part of an early BO

> Moby-Dick remains perhaps the best reading experience of my life. I sometimes half-jokingly maintain that Moby-Dick was really written as part of an early BOOK-IT [1] reading incentive program to improve literacy among whalers by disguising a novel as a cetological guidebook. There are entire chapters devoted to the harpooning process, sperm whale anatomy, maritime legal disputes over whale harvesting, etc. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Hut#Book_It https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Hut#Book_It!

quercusa 1y ago
Moby-Dick really is a great book. If you want a dolphin-sized taste of Melville, try Billy Budd.
- InitialLastName 1y ago
  For a salmon-sized taste, Bartleby the Scrivener. Great annotated version here: https://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2015/10/herman_melville_s_bartleby_the_scrivener_an_interactive_annotated_text.html https://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2015/10/herma...
  - jamiek88 1y ago
    Wait? That was the moby dick guy?! Loved that Bartley story.
  - billfruit 1y ago
    Both Billy Bud and Bartleby are very focused on the human drama. If you are more interested in the sea rather, I'd suggest Typee and its follow up Omoo.
NoMoreNicksLeft 1y ago
You suckered me into reading the article by mentioning Moby Dick.
hearsathought 1y ago
Not unless elementary kids were whalers back then. > [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Hut#Book_It https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Hut#Book_It! Talk about nostalgia. Haven't thought about pizza hut and book it in ages.