Have you always wanted to read Moby-Dick but were afraid to dive in? Well, fear not, scaredy-cats, because we've got the next best thing—Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea.

This nonfiction book depicts the mind-blowing Essex disaster: an event that directly inspired Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick. In 1819—at the height of Nantucket's booming whaling industry—the Essex sets off for a run-of-the-mill whaling trip. The ship is meant to spend two to three years at sea, collecting as much whale oil as possible before returning home to critical acclaim. Oh, how we wish it were that easy.

A few freak storms and one whale attack later, the Essex has sunk, leaving its surviving crewmembers to traverse thousands of miles of open ocean to the South American coast. That's more difficult than playing Dark Souls without cheat codes.

As the crewmembers struggle with this completely unforeseen situation—not to mention their increasingly raging appetites—we watch as formerly civilized men sink into cannibalism (oh dear), as they're forced to eat their companions just to survive. It's like the Donner Party meets Deep Blue Sea, with an extra helping of awesome.

Beyond depicting a thrilling tale, In the Heart of the Sea delves in-depth into the socio-political climate of the 1800s. Author Nathaniel Philbrick injects boatloads of insightful commentary on class, racial inequality, and the Industrial Revolution into the book without taking his focus off the intense action that is at its heart.

And hey, if it's good enough for Herman Melville, you can be darn tootin' that it's good enough for you.

Listen, if crazed whale-hunters, brutal aquatic battles, and multiple instances of cannibalism aren't enough to get you interested, then we don't know what will.

But hey, you'll also learn a bit about history from In the Heart of the Sea. The whaling industry depicted in the book is one that literally fueled the modern world—before we were digging wells or fracking, we were draining oil from whale's skulls. We're not making this up.

With this in mind, In the Heart of the Sea can tell you a few things about problems in the modern world. It shows us the value of environmentalism. It reveals the pitfalls of social and economic inequality. It exposes the horrendous consequences of Big Businesses being left to run awry. This stuff sounding familiar to you yet?

Whether you're reading the book to understand these big socio-political issues or simply to enjoy a riveting true-life tale, there's one thing we can guarantee—In the Heart of the Sea will not disappoint.