Allied Commander with responsibility for Afghanistan, Libya, the Balkans, Syria, counter piracy, and cyber security. He served as Commander of U.S. Southern Command, with responsibility for all military operations in Latin America from 2006-9. Admiral Stavridis earned a PhD in international relations and is Dean Emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Stavridis's newest book is The Sailor's Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea.
At Shepherd he tagged five of the best books to know the sea, including:
Moby-Dick by Herman MelvilleRead about another entry on the list.
In my home are five copies of Moby-Dick, or The Whale, which was published in 1851 to so-so reviews. Yet I consider it thegreatest novel of the sea ever written, and I have returned to read it again and again over the years. The central storyline of Moby-Dick is loosely based on the destruction of a whaling ship, Essex, in 1822. The plot centers on Captain Ahab’s quest to harpoon the “white whale” of the title, and the prose soars to beautiful rhetorical heights that echo Shakespeare and the King James Bible. Once a reader has climbed the mountain of Moby-Dick, it is a book that stays with you forever, especially in terms of understanding the oceans. Like the sea itself, this epic novel will get into the heart of a reader who is open to its unique structure and tone.
Moby-Dick appears among Robert McCrum's top ten Shakespearean books, Bridget Collins's top ten Quakers in fiction, John Boyne's six best books, Kate Christensen's best food scenes in fiction, Emily Temple's ten literary classics we're supposed to like...but don't, Sara Flannery Murphy ten top stories of obsession, Harold Bloom's six favorite books that helped shape "the American Sublime," Charlotte Seager's five well-known literary monomaniacs who take things too far, Ann Leary's top ten books set in New England, Martin Seay's ten best long books, Ian McGuire's ten best adventure novels, Jeff Somers's five top books that will expand your vocabulary and entertain, Four books that changed Mary Norris, Tim Dee's ten best nature books, the Telegraph's fifteen best North American novels of all time, Nicole Hill's top ten best names in literature to give your dog, Horatio Clare's five favorite maritime novels, the Telegraph's ten great meals in literature, Brenda Wineapple's six favorite books, Scott Greenstone's top seven allegorical novels, Paul Wilson's top ten books about disability, Lynn Shepherd's ten top fictional drownings, Peter Murphy's top ten literary preachers, Penn Jillette's six favorite books, Peter F. Stevens's top ten nautical books, Katharine Quarmby's top ten disability stories, Jonathan Evison's six favorite books, Bella Bathurst's top 10 books on the sea, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best nightmares in literature and ten of the best tattoos in literature, Susan Cheever's five best books about obsession, Christopher Buckley's best books, Jane Yolen's five most important books, Chris Dodd's best books, Augusten Burroughs' five most important books, Norman Mailer's top ten works of literature, David Wroblewski's five most important books, Russell Banks' five most important books, and Philip Hoare's top ten books about whales.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
