 Välkomna till Balkingtons idag. Jag vill tala lite om en bok som jag har läst. Mobrik, och först och foremost när jag vore med dig som Balkingtons, det är för att det är en karaktär i den här bok som heter Balkington. Så jag trodde att det var en kul väg att introducera den här videon. Så basically, innan jag började tala om den här particularen bok, jag vet att detta inte är den mest klickbätig eller relevanta. Men igen, jag har mycket av subskrivare. Du som ser detta, som är intubokter, som du gillar att läsa, du gillar litteratur, västkultur och så vidare. Ja, detta är väldigt en del av särskilt amerikansk kultur. Jag vill säga att det är en viktig jobb, så jag har decidit att läsa det. Och också, innan jag började, en jämliss plugg från mig, som vi talade om bokarna, om du inte reddade min egen glories bok, 200 pages av self-improvement och filosofi. Jag lär dig först en link i den här videon. Jag vill definitivt öka alla att läsa det. Så, det här har jag sagt. Låt oss gå in till boket. Och jag vill vara väldigt sannolikt med alla som tittar. Jag vill inte vara pretensiös. Jag vill inte att jag gillar saker som jag inte riktigt gillar, bara för för säkerhet av att komma omkring en kultur. Jag vill alltid vara sannolikt med vad jag gillar och vad jag inte riktigt gillar. Så detta bok, har jag gillar att läsa det? Var det en bra bok? Nej, inte riktigt. Jag gillar inte att läsa det, particulär mycket, för att vara sannolikt. Och det kan vara för några olika reasons. Det kan vara för att det har skrivit 150 år senare, så det är lite svårt med det. Men jag tror mer på det. Det har medfattat att det inte är en particulär immersiv bok. Det är mer skrivit som Wailers erfarenhet i Wailing. Och det är också en av de bra poängs av boket. Det är baserad på en extremt episk incident, eller tragisk incident, depending på hur du vill se det. I Wailing, när Atlantic Power ventured out into the ocean in search for whale oil, because you needed it for lamps. Not these kind of lamps, but the lamps you had during the early 1800s, or to mid 1800s. So whale oil was a treasured commodity. And this book is written by Herman Melville, who had a past in the American Wailing fleet. So he had plenty of experience to draw upon. And that is one of the things that makes the book, in my view at least, worthwhile to read. It's a great time document. So even though it's not an immersive book that makes you want to hit the gym, it's a great piece of history, especially American history. So if you ask should I read this book, it depends a bit. If you're interested in 19th century western world culture and history, it is an important work. And after all it's been a classic for such a long time. So and it is that for a reason. And also the event that I mentioned that it's based upon is actually a whaling ship called Essex, was sunk by a sperm whale. It got rammed and sunk by a whale. This is something that really captures the imagination. It's like something out of a legend or a myth or some strange fiction. But it happened and the book is based on that. And the share feel of that, if you just hear this for the first time, there was a ship that got sunk by a whale. So you have this great beast from the deeps of the ocean coming up to attack humans. It is interesting. It is epic. It is something that really catches your imagination. So that was basically why I thought it was a cool read, even though I didn't enjoy it. So it's a bit of a not enjoyable, but enjoyable at the same time if it makes any sense at all. So it's not immersive as a book by Connie Gilden for example or the Horus Heresy. But it's also a book that is based on something real and you get to see from an actual whaler how things were back in the day. So as a time document, as a historic document, it's very valuable to have. And also a note on the author. I have saved a few quotes from it and it's very clear that he is first and foremost very proud of having been a whaler. He thinks it's a noble pursuit and perhaps it was during the time 1850s when western man at least really conquered the planet. Went out into the ocean, went out into the world explored, found new species and you didn't really have that same sense of knowledge that we have today. Now we know exactly every species. There are almost at least and we know every spot on the map basically. This was a time of exploration and there is something really appealing in that feel of it, the feel of exploration, the feel of not knowing the unknown. There could have been even more horrendous monsters lurking in the deeps, who knows. But you have that sensation at least and that is also what makes it interesting. And also seeing how he, the author, reviewed the world back then. And yeah, the book is full of references to mythology and culture and history and it's clear that the author is very well read. So I will take a few examples which I thought were cool. And this is one quote, it actually reminded me of Bronze Age pervert on Twitter or yeah, Bronze Age mindset you might know the book in its epicness in the feel of the text. So here goes the quote. Especially the Oriental Isles to the east of the continent. Those insulated immemorial territories which even in these modern days still preserve much of the ghostly aboriginalness of Earth's primal generations. When the memory of the first man was a distinct recollection and all men his descendants. So you have that sort of feel that there are still unexplored territories and yeah, that is appealing. Getting that sense through a book is quite attractive in terms of a reading experience and then also in terms of having it as an historic document you can see the relationship between the British whalers and the American whalers so he says besides, the English whalers sometimes effect a kind of a metropolitan superiority over the American whalers regarding the long line nantucketer with this non-descript provincialism as a sort of sea peasant. So it's also interesting again to when you read this sort of older books you get a historic window to look through so this is what the British semen thought of Americans during that time and another quote something I've mentioned briefly especially if you follow me on Twitter is is physiognomy and he mentions it briefly physiognomically regarded the sperm whale is an anomalous creature physiognomy is basically you can look upon a person's features and see what kind of man he is I used to believe this was the most ridiculous of bro science but it actually has quite a bit of truth to it and during the 19th century it was even more regarded as something legit and this is if you look upon bugman for example or new males etc with their soy faces they look you can see that they don't have good healthy moral views and people kind of knew it back in the day too just thought to mention that it was fun and another note on the sperm whale he definitely admires the sperm whale as a king monster of the ocean and this is also something that highlights his knowledge of the world of western culture so I thought it was a fun quote and I am convinced that from the heads of all ponderous profound beings such as Plato Pyro, the devil Jupiter, Dante and so on, there always goes up a certain semi visible steam while in the act of thinking deep thoughts so he just throws out some random beings there such as Plato, Pyro, I think he means Pyro, Pyros, the Greek general who fought the Romans then the devil because why not and then Jupiter and then Dante, the Italian author so yeah in good company you can say the sperm whale is and then another quote which I put up on my page thegoldenone.se I also shared it to Legi Glorias Instagram is the following real strength never impairs beauty or harmony but it often bestows it and in everything impossibly beautiful strength has much to do with the magic take away the tide tendons that all over seemed bursting from the marble in the carved Hercules and it's charms would be gone as the Vout Ekerman lifted the linen sheets from the naked corpse of Goethe he was overwhelmed with the massive chest of the man that seemed as a Roman triumphal arch when Angelo paints even God the father in human form what robustness is there and that was the absolute most epic quote from Moby Dick so I had to share it so basically you have a lot of cool references and quotes etc in the book and again it is a valuable time document historic document and it is based upon most epic incident indeed there is also a film with Chris Hemsworth that is being made out of this particular incident that I saw a year ago can highly recommend that as well just to get that epic 1800s feel so that was just me rambling a bit on the book I have just read so the final verdict is yeah if you are interested in that time period if you are interested in wailing because it is a very lengthy book about wailing after all and I don't regret reading it some cool passages feels nice to read classic like this but if you are starting out to read books I would not recommend it and I don't think you should have this sort of literature in schools either because it might turn people off from reading because as I said it's not a good book it's not an immersive book in that regard it's not something in that you want to continue reading unless of course you are interested in the time period but I suppose most people are not so in terms of just an enjoyable reading experience perhaps not but for those of you who are interested in the time period can definitely recommend it xxoboo