Author and SEA professor Richard J. King talks about his new book, “Ahab’s Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick” and its connections to Falmouth whaling captain Lewis Lawrence. Captain Lawrence sailed the Pacific in the same era as Melville. His unique, data-heavy logbook and chart reveal how 19th-century whalemen understood their impact on whales and the rest of the global ocean. “Ahab’s Rolling Sea” tells the story of Melville’s relationship with the watery world: what he witnessed and read, and what he twisted for Ishmael’s view of the early years of the Anthropocene. Books will be available for sale. The author, also an illustrator, will personalize each book with an original watercolor cartoon.

Richard J. King is Visiting Associate Professor in Maritime History and Literature at the Sea Education Association. He is the author of “Lobster” and “The Devil’s Cormorant: A Natural History,” rated a Library Journal best sci-tech book of the year.

“Ahab’s Rolling Sea is a wide-ranging, highly personal, richly eclectic, and extremely well-researched book. There’s a Melvillean romance here, and it sits especially well with King’s love and empathy for human as well as natural history. A contemporary, witty, almost postmodern field guide.” –Philip Hoare, author of “The Sea Inside and The Whale”