Leviathan

Philip Hoare is the author of six works of non-fiction, including Leviathan or, The Whale, which won the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. Most recently, The Sea Inside (2013) was published to great critical acclaim. Hoare is also an experienced broadcaster, a Visiting Fellow at Southampton University, and Leverhulme Artist-in-residence at The Marine Institute, Plymouth University, which awarded him an honourary doctorate in 2011. He lives in Southampton.

'This history of man's dealings with whales is respectful, even mystical.' Daily Mail 'A scintillating, scattershot, blunderbuss of a book. Throughout the book, Hoare's unbridled enthusiasm for his subject is infectious!this thoroughly engaging, rigorously researched and often revelatory book is a joy to read and one which Melville, surely, would have appreciated.' Independent on Sunday 'So compelling and all-encompassing that it cast a spell on me that endured for days after I had done turning its beautifully illustrated pages!This is the book he was born to write, a classic of its kind!What poetry there is here and what a balm for the soul.' Observer 'Enjoyable trawl through the history, literature and lore of whales!As well as being a showcase for descriptive prose of great beauty, "Leviathan" is full of fascinating facts.' Guardian 'An elegant writer with a sharp eye for quirky detail!A lyrical and timely reminder of what we have to lose if we don't change our greedy ways.' Mail on Sunday 'In Hoare's hands, whales are almost limitlessly strange and interesting.' Sunday Times 'Hoare's idiosyncratic mingling of autobiography, anthropology and archaeology has reached its zenith!an enthralling volume. Hoare has the skill and humility to make this work, to him, great art and the Leviathan are both inexplicable, unknowable forces from the deep, wherein lies their wonder.' Daily Telegraph 'Insights and images rise in plumes from almost every page.' Daily Telegraph (Book of the Week) 'With "Leviathan" -- a cultural, personal and natural history of whales and whaling, richly stocked with whale lore and written with admirable intensity and elan -- Hoare might be said to have literalised his interest in surface and depth!Shuttling between inhuman actuality and anthropomorphism, Hoare breaches the surface of his subject in the most profound fashion.' Brian Dillon, Irish Times 'Wonderful illustrated biography of this most magnificent beasts is studded with glittering shards

'This singular, magnificent book inspires both awe and shame - awe of the whales, shame of the human species that has tried to destroy them. In the end, Hoare's virtuosic sympathy for his subject makes you believe in the better angels of our nature.' Alex Ross, bestselling author of 'The Rest is Noise'

'This history of man's dealings with whales is respectful, even mystical.' Daily Mail

'A scintillating, scattershot, blunderbuss of a book. Throughout the book, Hoare's unbridled enthusiasm for his subject is infectious...this thoroughly engaging, rigorously researched and often revelatory book is a joy to read and one which Melville, surely, would have appreciated.' Independent on Sunday

'So compelling and all-encompassing that it cast a spell on me that endured for days after I had done turning its beautifully illustrated pages...This is the book he was born to write, a classic of its kind...What poetry there is here and what a balm for the soul.' Observer

'Enjoyable trawl through the history, literature and lore of whales...As well as being a showcase for descriptive prose of great beauty, "Leviathan" is full of fascinating facts.' Guardian

'An elegant writer with a sharp eye for quirky detail...A lyrical and timely reminder of what we have to lose if we don't change our greedy ways.' Mail on Sunday

'In Hoare's hands, whales are almost limitlessly strange and interesting.' Sunday Times

'Hoare's idiosyncratic mingling of autobiography, anthropology and archaeology has reached its zenith...an enthralling volume. Hoare has the skill and humility to make this work, to him, great art and the Leviathan are both inexplicable, unknowable forces from the deep, wherein lies their wonder.' Daily Telegraph