I am madness maddened!

Pretty awesome from Ahab here.

(Or the greatest “what I should have said” reflection of all time?)

As Ahab first harangues the crew to go after Moby Dick, he takes a drink, saying:

Why, now, this pewter had run brimming again, wer't not thou St Vitus' imp

Meaning he's frenzied and shaking. St Vitus, it seems, was born in 290 and died in 303. Unclear how he got associated with the shakes...

In which (call me) Ishmael complains he’s too distracted by deep thoughts to be very good at looking for whales.

Wonder what he’d think of doom scrolling?

In case you ever wondered where crow’s nest came from. Love all the details. So much more than a spot on top of a pole…

“moot point” being used to mean “open topic for discussion”. Wonder how it came to mean the opposite…

Took a minute to meet Ahab… his leg is ivory! Was always wood in my head.

Here, “native American” means white dude born in America.

Melville throwing down in defense of whaling and creating the great whaling book the straw man says doesn’t exist

…plunged like fate into the lone Atlantic.

(Such a thrilling section as the ship gets ready to sail! Nice work Mr Melville.)

… am quite content if the world is ready to board and lodge me…

… pressed his forehead against mine …

… sin that pays its way can travel freely …

Salut au monde!

No one has ever love the United States as much or as well as Walt Whitman

OK but wtf is this picture and caption😅

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843)

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

I'm reading 1000 books from 20 decades, starting with Moby Dick and the 1850s.