Moby Dick Pod

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Read by Josh NordmarkOne chapter once a day with wrap ups on the weekends.

Josh Nordmark


    • Jun 3, 2024 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 10m AVG DURATION
    • 91 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Moby Dick Pod

    Chapter 88 - Schools and Schoolmasters

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2024 7:44


    "As ashore, the ladies often cause the most terrible duels among their rival admirers; just so with the whales, who sometimes come to deadly battle, and all for love."Ishmael discuses the differences between the sexes of the whales. 

    Chapter 87 - The Grand Armada

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2023 28:42


    "Owing to the density of the crowd of reposing whales, more immediately surrounding the embayed axis of the herd, no possible chance of escape was at present afforded us. We must watch for a breach in the living wall that hemmed us in; the wall that had only admitted us in order to shut us up."The Pequod discovers a pod of whales in the pacific and go on a long hunt. Cows & calfs.

    Chapter 86 - The Tail

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2023 11:52


    "Dissect him how I may, then, I but go skin deep; I know him not, and never will." We're talking about the tail of the whale. 

    Chapter 85 - The Fountain

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2022 12:42


    "And how nobly it raises our conceit of the mighty, misty monster, to behold him solemnly sailing through a calm tropical sea; his vast, mild head overhung by a canopy of vapor, engendered by his incommunicable contemplations, and that vapor—as you will sometimes see it—glorified by a rainbow, as if Heaven itself had put its seal upon his thoughts."Ishmael considers the spout of the whale and its larger meaning. 

    Chapter 84 - Pitchpoling

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2022 5:50


    "The agonized whale goes into his flurry; the tow-line is slackened, and the pitchpoler dropping astern, folds his hands, and mutely watches the monster die."Description of another weapons used to kill whales. 

    Chapter 83 - Jonah Historically Regarded

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2022 5:30


    "Possibly, too, Jonah might have ensconced himself in a hollow tooth; but, on second thoughts, the Right Whale is toothless."We're still talking about Jonah. 

    Chapter 82 - The Honor and Glory of Whaling

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2022 7:42


    "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method."A literary comparison of whaling heroes and myths. 

    Chapter 81 - The Pequod Meets the Virgin

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2022 26:27


    "For all his old age, and his one arm, and his blind eyes, he must die the death and be murdered, in order to light the gay bridals and other merry-makings of men, and also to illuminate the solemn churches that preach unconditional inoffensiveness by all to all."The Pequod meets a German ship at the same time a whale is spotted. A hunts ensues and the whales is killed but is too heavy and sinks. The whale is old and an easy target. Cruelty is on display. 

    Chapter 80 - The Nut

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2022 6:00


    "I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul."Ishmael talks whale phrenology. 

    Chapter 79 - The Prairie

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2022 6:39


    "As on your physiognomical voyage you sail round his vast head in your jolly-boat, your noble conceptions of him are never insulted by the reflection that he has a nose to be pulled."We discuss the pseudo science of Physiognomist or Phrenologist, which Ishmael also calls pseudo science and says he doesn't quite understand but tries anyway. 

    Chapter 78 - Cistern and Buckets

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2022 10:20


    "...smothered in the very whitest and daintiest of fragrant spermaceti; coffined, hearsed, and tombed in the secret inner chamber and sanctum sanctorum of the whale."Tashtego has a terrible accident. Queequeg saves the day. 

    Chapter 77 - The Great Heidelburgh Tun

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2022 4:35


    "Attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and—in this particular instance—almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm Whale's great Heidelburgh Tun is tapped."We're still talking about the guts of the whale. 

    Chapter 76 - The Battering-Ram

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2021 5:56


    "But clear Truth is a thing for salamander giants only to encounter; how small the chances for the provincials then?"Not gonna lie, I have no idea what this chapter was about. 

    Chapter 75 - The Right Whale's Head—Contrasted View

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2021 7:37


    "I think his broad brow to be full of a prairie-like placidity, born of a speculative indifference as to death."We're still talking about Whale carcasses. 

    Chapter 74 - The Sperm Whale's Head—Contrasted View

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2021 10:14


    "This whale is not dead; he is only dispirited; out of sorts, perhaps; hypochondriac; and so supine, that the hinges of his jaw have relaxed."We examine the difference in whale's heads. Eyes & ears. 

    Chapter 73 - Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk Over Him

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2021 14:33


    "And so flinging off its drippings, that the drops fell like bits of broken glass on the water, while the whale beyond also rose to sight, and once more the boats were free to fly."Flask and Stubb kill and whale and gossip about Fedallah and how much they think he's the devil. 

    Chapter 72 - The Monkey Rope

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2021 10:18


    "That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life; those sharks, your foes; those spades, your friends; and what between sharks and spades you are in a sad pickle and peril, poor lad."Ishmael holds Queequeg vertically by a rope while he works on cutting up the whale and contemplates their connection. Some ginger tea gets brought out and tossed overboard. 

    Chapter 71 - The Jeroboam's Story

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2021 14:21


    "lo! a broad white shadow rose from the sea; by its quick, fanning motion, temporarily taking the breath out of the bodies of the oarsmen."The Pequod encounters another ship, The Jeroboam, which has been taken over by a madman religious fanatic who believes himself to be the archangel Gabriel. 

    Chapter 70 - The Sphinx

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2021 6:12


    "That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has moved amid this world's foundations."The Whale is beheaded and Ahab asks the whale to speak. Which... the whale does not do. 

    Chapter 69 - The Funeral

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2021 3:45


    "Thus, while in life the great whale's body may have been a real terror to his foes, in his death his ghost becomes a powerless panic to a world."Thoughts on the death of a whale.

    Chapter 68 - The Blanket

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2021 8:08


    "Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter's, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own."Ishmael talks about the whale's skin and marvels at its extraordinary qualities. 

    Chapter 67 - Cutting In

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2021 5:18


    "The ivory Pequod was turned into what seemed a shamble; every sailor a butcher. You would have thought we were offering up ten thousand red oxen to the sea gods."The sailors cut the blubber off of the whale. A gruesome sight.  

    Chapter 66 - The Shark Massacre

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2021 4:35


    "These two mariners, darting their long whaling-spades, kept up an incessant murdering of the sharks*, by striking the keen steel deep into their skulls, seemingly their only vital part."The nearby sharks want a piece of that whale and the sailors must keep them away by stabbing into the water. 

    Chapter 65 - The Whale as a Dish

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2021 6:45


    "Who is not a cannibal?"Stubb eats whale. Which may or may not be civilized. And why do we eat the things we do?  And who's to say? 

    Chapter 64 - Stubb's Supper

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2021 18:26


    "If you have never seen that sight, then suspend your decision about the propriety of devil-worship, and the expediency of conciliating the devil."Stubb teases and torments the ship's cook, Fleece, about the proper way to cook a whale steak. Fleece gives a sermon to the sharks down below. 

    Chapter 63 - The Crotch

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2021 3:39


    "Out of the trunk, the branches grow; out of them, the twigs. So, in productive subjects, grow the chapters."We learn about a tool used by whalemen. 

    Chapter 62 - The Dart

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2021 3:55


    "The vast majority of failures in the fishery, it has not by any means been so much the speed of the whale as the before described exhaustion of the harpooneer that has caused them."We learn of the fortitude and superhuman strength of the harpooner. 

    Chapter 61 - Stubb Kills a Whale

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 5, 2021 12:27


    "Whole Atlantics and Pacifics seemed passed as they shot on their way, till at length the whale somewhat slackened his flight."The title says it all. 

    Weekend Wrap Up #2 (Chapters 24-60)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2021 9:02


    What is this book anyway? 

    Chapter 60 - The Line

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2021 9:00


    "All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life." Ishmael describes the horrors and subtleties of the whale-line. 

    Chapter 59 - Squid

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2021 6:32


    "Almost rather had I seen Moby Dick and fought him, than to have seen thee, thou white ghost!"A squid is mistaken for Moby Dick. 

    Chapter 58 - Brit (feat. LaNora Hayden)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2021 7:25


    "Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself?"Ishmael pontificates on the cruel and unpredictable nature of  land, life, and the sea.

    Chapter 57 - Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2021 6:23


    Thus at the North have I chased Leviathan round and round the Pole with the revolutions of the bright points that first defined him to me.Ishmael talks about other images of whales. 

    Chapter 56 - Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2021 8:14


    From the ship, the smoke of the torments of the boiling whale is going up like the smoke over a village of smithies.Ishmael reviews different art and artists who have tried to capture whales in pictures.  

    Chapter 55 - Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2021 11:38


    "Wherefore, it seems to me you had best not be too fastidious in your curiosity touching this Leviathan."Ishmael tells us how everyone does the Whale wrong. 

    Chapter 54 - The Town-Ho Story (As told at the Golden Inn)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2021 45:29


    "The next instant the lower jaw of the mate was stove in his head; he fell on the hatch spouting blood like a whale."In which Herman Melville needs an editor. Haha. Just kidding. A story heard from a person, who then repeated the story in his sleep and Ishmael overhears it, in which, a mutiny occurs on another ship named The Town-Ho, and after that some people get killed by Moby Dick and basically the head mutineer, a BA guy from Buffalo, New York escapes to France. Also, it's told to a bunch of random guys in Lima, Peru. 

    Chapter 53 - The Gam

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2021 10:00


    "In the case of pirates, say, I should like to know whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar glory about it. It sometimes ends in uncommon elevation, indeed; but only at the gallows."Ishmael tells us about the Gam, a tradition where sailors trade information and chit chat.  

    Chapter 52 - The Albatross

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2021 5:04


    "Ahoy there! This is the Pequod, bound round the world! Tell them to address all future letters to the Pacific Ocean!"The Pequod passes another ship, The Albatross and they attempt to brief conversation but nature seems to have other plans. 

    Chapter 51 - The Spirit-Spout

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2021 9:51


    "Beneath all its blue blandness, some thought there lurked a devilish charm."The crew all witness a whale spout and there's the feeling like nature is personifying and turning against the ship. Probably nothing to worry about. 

    Chapter 50 - Ahab's Boat and Crew; Fedallah

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2021 6:33


    "And all men his descendants, unknowing whence he came, eyed each other as real phantoms, and asked of the sun and the moon why they were created and to what end." Ishmael ponders Ahab's phantom crew of whale hunters. 

    Chapter 49 - The Hyena

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2021 5:31


    "There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own."Ishmael rethinks his voyage on the Pequod and makes Queegqueg the inheritor of his possessions. 

    Chapter 48 - The First Lowering

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2021 24:13


    "Devils are good fellows enough."They hunt the a pod of whales in the middle of a squall, Ahab has a secret whale-boat crew unbeknownst to the rest of The Pequod until now. 

    Chapter 47 - The Mat Maker

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2021 6:22


    "There she blows! there! there! there! she blows! she blows!"The Pequod spots a whale. 

    Chapter 46 - Surmises

    Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2021 7:08


    "To accomplish his object Ahab must use tools; and of all tools used in the shadow of the moon, men are most apt to get out of order."Ahab walks a fine line between dominion over the ship's crew and chaos. 

    Chapter 45 - The Affidavit

    Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2021 21:25


    "For God's sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man's blood was spilled for it."Ishmael reviews other times whales have attacked ships. 

    Chapter 44 - The Chart

    Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2021 13:00


    "And when, as was sometimes the case, these spiritual throes in him heaved his being up from its base, and a chasm seemed opening in him, from which forked flames and lightnings shot up, and accursed fiends beckoned him to leap down among them; when this hell in himself yawned beneath him, a wild cry would be heard through the ship; and with glaring eyes Ahab would burst from his state room, as though escaping from a bed that was on fire."Ahab's got a chart of the seas and is also insane. And also has a demon inside him which doesn't sleep. Definitely the qualities you'd want in your captain.  

    Chapter 43 - Hark!

    Play Episode Listen Later May 25, 2021 2:33


    "There is somebody down in the after-hold that has not yet been seen on deck"There's a mysterious noise. 

    Chapter 42 - The Whiteness of the Whale

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2021 22:58


    "What the White Whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; what, at times, he was to me, as yet remains unsaid."Ishmael talks about all things white. 

    Chapter 41 - Moby Dick

    Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2021 23:47


    "Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing."We learn of the sailor's lore surrounding Moby Dick and also of how Ahab came to lose his leg and his return to Nantucket. 

    Chapter 40 - Midnight, Forcastle

    Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2021 11:07


    "Go it, Pip! Bang it, bell-boy! Rig it, dig it, stig it, quig it, bell-boy"The crew starts dancing, drinking, getting horny, and starting a race war. 

    Chapter 39 - First Night Watch

    Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2021 2:31


    "Ha! ha! ha! ha! hem! clear my throat!"Stubb's thoughts. A true Melville-needed-an-editor chapter.

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