This might be the greatest book in American literature but for me (as a modern writer) it falls short of that preposterous title.

What this work can claim to be is an incredible effort by the author to encompass and represent everything it was ever worth knowing about whaling voyages and on the way, make very lucid observations on mankind.

My only problem, and hence the four stars instead of five, is with the subject matter. The exploitation and destruction of whale populations is one of man's many shameful acts. I was so pleased when Moby Dick won the battle in the end, and in taking down the ship, got revenge for the millions of his kind that perished.

I realise I'm approaching this with an ecological mind which did not exist when the book was written, but I can only be here and now.

If you like a lengthy read with lots of description, then this will be for you. It is indeed a classic in so many ways.

I wasn't impressed with the cover of my paperback.  A humpback whale on a book about a sperm whale.  Annoying.