Even though it's assumed I've read all of the classics, I haven't. I've spent the last few weeks reading Herman Melville's Moby Dick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick
As a child I read Treasure Island and enjoyed adventure stories but as an adult I didn't think I'd like Moby Dick. Without a female lead, or romance, I can lose interest so I put it off. Not so in this case. The voice of Ishmael, the novel's narrator caught me by surprise. He sounded like a friend, a beloved soul mate and adviser. Not only is he funny, wise and bighearted, but he is the consummate survivor, for he alone lives to tell about Ahab's encounter with the great whale. Moby Dick is not only a great classic, it's a metaphysical survival manual. Published at this time of year, 160 years ago, it's a guidebook for us now facing an impenetrable unknown; the future of civilization in this storm-tossed twenty-first century, with all the conflicts and ideals of America.
After hearing of Turkey's earthquake and thinking how can we help them when we haven't helped ourselves? I ran across Ishmael's advise, “Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.”
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