Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

"Call me Ishmael." With that famous opening, a restless young man signs onto the whaling ship Pequod expecting hard work and salt air. What he gets instead is a place in Captain Ahab's private war. Ahab lost his leg to a white sperm whale called Moby Dick, and he has turned the voyage into a hunt for the creature across the world's oceans, dragging his crew toward a reckoning none of them chose.

Melville's masterpiece is far stranger and funnier than its reputation suggests. It's an adventure story that keeps stopping to think, part philosophy and part encyclopedia of the sea, all carried by Ishmael's warm, digressive, endlessly curious voice. It was written in an age when books were read aloud by the fireside, and it shows. The rhythm of the sentences is half the pleasure. A long voyage, and worth every hour.

At roughly 212,700 words, Moby Dick; Or, The Whale runs about 23½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

Moby Dick; Or, The Whale is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “Moby Dick; Or, The Whale” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.