Moby Dick

A while back, after reading a lucid book review by a Mr. Defective Yeti, I thought to myself, "I think I will read Moby Dick, perhaps it will enlighten me, and for sure, people will think I'm smart." So I got a cheapo version at Chapters and start reading. About one-third of the way through, I pondered a bit, and made the conscious decision to abandon the novel, my reasoning being "GAHHH, THIS STORY IS SO STOOPID AND I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT ANYONE'S SAYING!"

Well, Moby Dick didn't make me smarter, but at least I found a bunch of links in the process:

Here's an online copy you can read for free.

Here's a list of Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick! This is based on the decoding technique used by the Bible Code hoaxters.

Here's a factual account that inspired Melville: Mocha Dick: Or The White Whale of the Pacific: A Leaf from a Manuscript Journal. (More here.)

Here's a nice QUEEQUEG Scrimshaw on antique sperm whale tooth. Queequeg was one of the main characters of Moby Dick.

How Capitalism Saved the Whales. The invention of kerosene eliminated the need to use sperm oil candles for indoor lighting. (Kerosene is what made Rockefeller one of the richest men in history, links here and here.)

Whaling Ban and Lubricant:

Sperm oil not only works as the best quality lubricant, but also does not freeze down to minus thirty degrees. Both the USA and the Soviets used it for missiles and space ships, and huge amounts of oil were in stock in preparation for possible future war in Siberia. When the US government enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1971, and banned its own whaling, and also banned imports of whale products, the Japanese defense policy people wondered how the US would supply sperm oil. But the problem had already been solved for the USA through the development of a new lubricant by Sun Oil, as well as a huge stock of sperm oil.