Wisdom and Woe

• Kindle
• Gutenberg
• Google books
• The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
• Librivox 6h 50m

Supplemental:

• On Compulsory Vaccination Doyle's letter published 27 July 1887

Trivia:

• The Stark Munro Letters was finished at a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps (later made famous by Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain) while his wife was being treated for tuberculosis. During his stay, Doyle pioneered the trend of Alpine skiing.

Extracts:

• "Now, our doctor was a serious old fellow, much given to metaphysics, and used to talk about original sin." (Redburn, 17)
• "A sick philosopher is incurable.... [b]ecause either he spurns his powder, or, if he take it, it proves a blank cartridge, though the same given to a rustic in like extremity, would act like a charm. I am no materialist; but the mind so acts upon the body, that if the one have no confidence, neither has the other." (Confidence-Man, 16)
• "Well knowing the enthusiasm of the Surgeon for all specimens of morbid anatomy, some of the ward-room officers used to play upon his credulity.... Once, when they had some sago pudding for dinner... they deposited it on the gun-room table, with a note, purporting to come from an eminent physician in Rio, connected with the Grand National Museum on the Praca d’ Acclamacao, begging leave to present the scientific Senhor Cuticle—with the donor’s compliments—an uncommonly fine specimen of a cancer." (White-Jacket, 61)
• "Connected with the sick-bay... was a regular apothecary’s shop.... displaying tiers of shelves on all four sides filled with green bottles and gallipots; beneath were multitudinous drawers bearing incomprehensible gilded inscriptions in abbreviated Latin.... And there you would see him, with a green shade over his eyes, seated on a stool, and pounding his pestle in a great iron mortar that looked like a howitzer, mixing some jallapy compound. A smoky lamp shed a flickering, yellow-fever tinge upon his pallid face and the closely-packed regiments of gallipots." (White-Jacket, 77)
• "Several times when I felt in need of a little medicine... without speaking a word, this cadaverous young man would mix me my potion in a tin cup, and hand it out through the little opening in his door, like the boxed-up treasurer giving you your change at the ticket-office of a theatre...." (White-Jacket, 77)
• "... is it not remarkable, to say the least, that a shore apothecary should actually charge you money—round dollars and cents—for giving you a horrible nausea? ....I always got sea-sick after taking medicine and going aloft with it. Seldom or never did it do me any lasting good." (White-Jacket, 77)
• "A miserable world! Who would take the trouble to make a fortune in it, when he knows not how long he can keep it, for the thousand villains and asses who have the management of railroads and steamboats, and innumerable other vital things in the world." ("Cock-a-doodle-doo!")
• "I mean, sir, the same ancient Catholic Church to which you and I, and Captain Peleg there, and Queequeg here, and all of us, and every mother’s son and soul of us belong; the great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshipping world; we all belong to that; only some of us cherish some queer crotchets no ways touching the grand belief; in that we all join hands." (Moby-Dick, 18)
• "Flask, alas! was a butterless man!" (Moby-Dick, 34)

This meetup is part of the series Circuses and Snake Oil.

[These virtual sessions are hosted by the New Bedford Whaling Museum. To register and to download reading guide(s), go here.]

Join the Moby-Dick Book Club, a virtual three-part series exploring Herman Melville’s iconic American novel. Whether you're reading it for the first time or returning to it with fresh eyes, all are welcome to take part in engaging, thought-provoking conversations led by some of the world’s leading Melville scholars.

Marina Wells, Assistant Curator of History & Culture, will moderate the series, which meets virtually on the third Tuesday of the month in September, October, and November 2026 from 5:30 to 6:30pm (EST). These sessions will prepare readers for the 31st Moby-Dick Marathon at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, taking place on January 9, 2027.

Each session centers on a guiding theme and includes a suggested reading schedule—but participants are encouraged to read at their own pace and join when they can. Bring your thoughts, questions, and interpretations to share with fellow readers and Melville experts alike.

Virtual Session Schedule:
Tuesday, September 15, at 5:30pm (EST)
Etymology to Chapter 40
Featured Guests: Professors Mary K Bercaw Edwards & Tim Marr

Tuesday, October 20 at 5:30pm (EST)
Chapter 40 to Chapter 90
Featured Guests: Professors Bob Wallace & Jennifer Baker

Tuesday, November 17 at 5:30pm (EST)
Chapter 91 to the Epilogue
Featured Guests: Professors Wyn Kelley & Tony Mcgowan

[This event is hosted by the Melville Society. To register, go here.]

⛵️Sailors and🐋Whalers, mark your calendar! Join The Melville Society and Tin House on October 21st at 6pm EST to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Moby-Dick with Hester Blum and Matt Kish! The event is free and open to the public.

Four attendees will be randomly selected for our giveaway. One winner will receive a copy of Moby-Dick in Pictures (courtesy of Tin House) and three will receive annual memberships to the Melville Society (with special thanks to Johns Hopkins University Press). You must be present in the zoom at the time of the drawing to win.

• Kindle
• Gutenberg
• Google books
• The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
• Librivox 6h 50m

Supplemental:

• On Compulsory Vaccination Doyle's letter published 27 July 1887

Trivia:

• The Stark Munro Letters was finished at a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps (later made famous by Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain) while his wife was being treated for tuberculosis. During his stay, Doyle pioneered the trend of Alpine skiing.

Extracts:

• "Now, our doctor was a serious old fellow, much given to metaphysics, and used to talk about original sin." (Redburn, 17)
• "A sick philosopher is incurable.... [b]ecause either he spurns his powder, or, if he take it, it proves a blank cartridge, though the same given to a rustic in like extremity, would act like a charm. I am no materialist; but the mind so acts upon the body, that if the one have no confidence, neither has the other." (Confidence-Man, 16)
• "Well knowing the enthusiasm of the Surgeon for all specimens of morbid anatomy, some of the ward-room officers used to play upon his credulity.... Once, when they had some sago pudding for dinner... they deposited it on the gun-room table, with a note, purporting to come from an eminent physician in Rio, connected with the Grand National Museum on the Praca d’ Acclamacao, begging leave to present the scientific Senhor Cuticle—with the donor’s compliments—an uncommonly fine specimen of a cancer." (White-Jacket, 61)
• "Connected with the sick-bay... was a regular apothecary’s shop.... displaying tiers of shelves on all four sides filled with green bottles and gallipots; beneath were multitudinous drawers bearing incomprehensible gilded inscriptions in abbreviated Latin.... And there you would see him, with a green shade over his eyes, seated on a stool, and pounding his pestle in a great iron mortar that looked like a howitzer, mixing some jallapy compound. A smoky lamp shed a flickering, yellow-fever tinge upon his pallid face and the closely-packed regiments of gallipots." (White-Jacket, 77)
• "Several times when I felt in need of a little medicine... without speaking a word, this cadaverous young man would mix me my potion in a tin cup, and hand it out through the little opening in his door, like the boxed-up treasurer giving you your change at the ticket-office of a theatre...." (White-Jacket, 77)
• "... is it not remarkable, to say the least, that a shore apothecary should actually charge you money—round dollars and cents—for giving you a horrible nausea? ....I always got sea-sick after taking medicine and going aloft with it. Seldom or never did it do me any lasting good." (White-Jacket, 77)
• "A miserable world! Who would take the trouble to make a fortune in it, when he knows not how long he can keep it, for the thousand villains and asses who have the management of railroads and steamboats, and innumerable other vital things in the world." ("Cock-a-doodle-doo!")
• "I mean, sir, the same ancient Catholic Church to which you and I, and Captain Peleg there, and Queequeg here, and all of us, and every mother’s son and soul of us belong; the great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshipping world; we all belong to that; only some of us cherish some queer crotchets no ways touching the grand belief; in that we all join hands." (Moby-Dick, 18)
• "Flask, alas! was a butterless man!" (Moby-Dick, 34)

This meetup is part of the series Circuses and Snake Oil.